Yunnan Sourcing

This tea was a pleasant confection of fruit beginning with longan dominating over a plum note and than switching dominance during the later steeps, consistent cocoa notes, butter caramel, that morphed to honey in the middle steeps, and ended in cane sugar, a roasted grain note, cashew butter, and malt that really only became strongly apparent in the later steeps and blended well with the plum cocoa notes. The early steeps were really buttery in texture and the flavours blended well together creating the impression of a sweet nutty, caramel cocoa confection with a bit of tartness. The broth does become thinner and slightly astringent in later steeps. Although this is a light tea it really does have a nice intensity flavours with my favourite steeps being perhaps the second and third one.

I steeped one heaping TSP of this tea at 92*C in 225 ml of water. The leaves are long, dark roughly wound, wiry strips that smell of cocoa and longan. My steeping times were 60,60,80,120,180,240s and 5 min. Onced brewed I had a golden broth touched by brown which became redder in later steeps. The tea smelled of longan, butter caramel and cocoa. Altogether a nice light tea. I especially like the nutty tones and the way the tea blends the cocoa, longan and caramel tones so that neither becomes dominant over each other. Thanks boychik for sending me the fall 2013 harvest for me to try. I am happy I have some of the spring tea heading my way!

Given the choice, I prefer the Imperial Gold Needle Yunnan over this one, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love this one as well. I enjoy them both. This one is a more masculine gold needle than the other, more robust, not as golden in appearance, but still beautiful, not honey sweet, but still quite delicious. It provides a very satisfying malty rich cup,with a dark chocolate undertone. And who doesn’t love malt & chocolate?

I’m headed out to see my hand surgeon…hoping to get the pins removed today…

It’s not fair for me to be reviewing this tea now, at 9pm, when I drank it 12 hours ago.
5G + 4oz (rinse) X 15/30/45/60/75/90 seconds, then 2/3/4/5 minutes.
Some of the steeps were drank on their own, others were combined in a larger cup.
All in all, it is a delicious tea, richly flavored with Malty goodness.
That’s all I got!

I probably should have more to say about this one, but I’ve had a rough time with tea this morning! I had to be out the door at 9am to go play a wedding, so I started a cup of this one, & forgot to set the timer. I was making breakfast, changing a broken string, & other multitasking activities, so it probably steeped 10 minutes. Needless to say, it was bitter, so it was dumped. I made another cup, took a sip too soon & burnt my tongue, loaded my harp, changed into my gig clothes, & it was tasty, but lukewarm at that point.
I got back from the wedding & made a third cup, and then sat with it until it was cool enough to sip. It’s quite good. Nicely malty, the floral aspect is a little more on the savory side, just a little bitterness, with a nice milky kind of mouth.

I am suffering from not enough tea, & I need food too. The only real decision I have to make is what teas I’m taking to Tony’s house & which pjs I want to spend the next 36 hours in.

Origin: Yunnan, China. Early Spring harvest, 2014
Dry Leaf: Cute, tiny, twisted threads that are golden and dark in color and sweet-smelling like brown sugar with malt.
Method: I played with this one a lot before finally switching from a small 3.38 oz gong fu pot to a tokoname kyusu pot that I use for gyokuro. These leaves are so small and delicate that I found it best to brew it like gyokuro to bring out its best. So this is immediate rinses and pours. I used 1 1/2 tsp/2 grams tea in my tiny 2oz tokoname pot.
I brewed it at a low temperature as you would a delicate green tea as well, 170F. These are all very delicate buds that were picked a few short days after sprouting so they do not like heat and sitting in hot water.
Wet Leaf: Still tiny and thin after opening up, all very tiny buds. When I was using my other little gong fu pot, the leaves were escaping and causing uneven brewing by getting into the little pour holes. My tokoname has a fine mesh strainer built in so it was perfect to achieve an even brewing exposure for the tiny leaves.
Liquor: Golden orange color with scents of honey and malt.
Flavor: Lightly and subtly sweet and malty. Very lovely and delicate tea!
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7/14/14
Had some Gong Fu style this morning. Good stuff!!!
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8/7/14
Gaiwan style this morning!!!!! This is a good method to brew this one. 185F

Well, this is really different. Thanks for sharing boychik :)

I steeped this Western style for about 2 minutes. It DOES have some really strange tongue numbing effects. I’m not getting any bitterness, but it does have a strange under-ripe veggie flavor. The liquor SMELLS really sweet though. There are some complex notes I’m having trouble identifying. I am enjoying this. And the dry leaf is really twisty and fuzzy and pretty. I’ve gotten so many beautiful teas lately, I think I want to do some artsy tea photography this weekend. Doesn’t that sound fun? :)

I drank this earlier today:
1T + 8oz X 3/5min

Like nearly every YS tea I’ve tried, it’s delicious! A pleasant thick mouth, nicely malty, creamy, sweet, & slightly savory at the same time. There is a chocolate sensation, but it doesn’t really taste chocolaty to me. I think the 2nd steep was just as good as the first!

I got back in town from a 10 day road trip on Sunday and this whole week I’ve been lagging, just not really on my game, dragging myself through weed pulling (maybe my garden IS too big?), errands, and a few household things. After my meditation this morning I went out into the garden & collected a few volunteer white turnips, a bunch of red carrots, a beet, and a pile of Kale. I had a student for an hour, ate a bowl of leftover Asian greens and chicken soup, and a cup of some unimpressive but drinkable black tea. One of the perks of being a self-employed musician is teaching from home. It’s a mellow job that can include pj like clothes & lots of tea. I only had one student today, so the rest of the day and most of tomorrow are mine. No gigs this weekend either!

That means I have time for a gongfu session or 2, and this tea was long overdue for some quality time. I had a love affair with Purple teas 3 years ago, and bought a ridiculous amount of this one, because it’s just SO awesome! It’s one of those teas that defies explanation, because although it is technically a black tea, it has qualities of an amazing oolong, with incense like aroma’s and after aromas and a fruity taste, but it also is kind of like a sheng puer with a real mind clarifying kind of energetic tea buzz, and like a sheng, it will help clear out your sinuses a little if you have allergies. For me this tea is more about texture, which is ultra smooth & clean, and the overall ambiance of how I feel. It’s a feel good tea. And it also tastes good, sweet and fruity in the early steeps, more herbacious near the end.

I’ve been enjoying this tea all morning, through many steeps.
This is one of those teas where you really want to heat up the yixing (or Gaiwan), put about 5G or so in there to warm up the leaf, and be prepared to instantly be addicted to the aroma. Heady, fruity, rich…it really is a treat to just sit there, eyes closed, slowly breathing in & out, savoring both inhale & exhale (the after-aroma). I could almost skip drinking the tea & just linger in this mindful breathing…for an old addict like me (32 years clean on Oct 1st…except for tea of course) this is what I consider a healthy addiction…but alas, I need tea in my system!

tangy dark fruits, cannabis, a rich incense, aged rum… In some ways this tea is almost like a decadent oolong…in other ways a sheng….it’s really loaded with features, including an awesome tea buzz…

I’m gongfuing my way through some of my Purple black teas today, starting with this one, which was my companion whilst watering & observing the garden, fixing & eating breakfast, & teaching my first student of the day. I accidentally let the 10th steeping go way too long, so now it’s time to move on… Fruity, heady, herbaceous

I went to bed at midnight, slept like a vampire at dawn, although I vaguely remember a zombie walk to the bathroom at 6 or so, Ms Theresa trying to convince us to get up & “get things done”. Little Terri flipped her off, somebody set an alarm for 10 am, & we returned to deep sleep & weird dreams, finally waking up at 9.

Shower, pick baskets full of produce from my neglected garden, (photos sometime later today on FB, for those interested), breakfast, & this tea.

I love this tea. I need this tea. A nice long relaxed gongfu session, loaded with serious chaki, as if I were drinking a good sheng. This tea is savory, like Master’s Han’s Wild picked, but fruitier, like concord grapes, & juicy. There’s much more to it, & I’ve reviewed it before, & now I have a student warming up, so I’m gonna go teach. I’ll be multitasking all day: Seasoning yixings, washing laundry, roasting tomatoes, making food for tomorrow, hopefully knitting on my newest pair of socks, playing my harp a bit, & then sleeping like a vampire again. I’ll be drinking tea throughout (except for the sleeping part, LOL)

I continue to be very impressed & happy with the teas I get from Yunnan Sourcing, & this one is no exception. I sipped on it all morning, & although it reminds me of the Wild Purple of Dehong & Master Hans Wild picked Yunnan, that is more in the energy that the tea brings, than in the actual flavor.

The leaf material is beautiful, both dry & wet, & it features a light tanginess, but not as sweet & plum-like as the Wild Purple is. The most notable quality is a wonderful satisfying mouth & mind.

Origin: Spring 2014. From Feng Qing area of Lincang prefecture. This wild tree varietal grows in the mountainous areas, west Feng Qing township near the Da Si village at an altitude of 2000-2200 meters.
Dry leaf: Very beautiful, appear blackish brown with a purple tint. Look flattened and then twisted. Scents of malt, cocoa, dried fruit.
Method: 4 oz Gong Fu pot 190F 4 grams tea
20” rinse / 45” / 45”
Wet Leaf: More flattened ribbons of dark brown with a smoky cocoa scent.
Liquor: Deep Golden
Flavor: Bright, fresh, lighter flavor than expected. Not too thin or thick on the mouthfeel, just right. Citrus, cream, tiny hint of smoke. Cha qi,,, SHENGadelic !!!!
Absolutely delicious, beautiful, complex, fragrant, fantastic!!!
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7/24/14
Have had this lots of times now, gong fu style but today I tried it Western style in a new little Western teapot that is cup size with an infuser the same size as the pot so it really lets my leaves have room. This tea is always delicious and one of my top ten favorite teas. It is just as good Western style. The flavors are so balanced. You have a lovely citrus note up front, then a creamy note takes you to a smoky effect but very subtle smoke on the nose. This tea is really fantastic to me.
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7/30/14
Brewed this Western style again today. I am waiting for my Gong Fu tray from China to come to me in the mail and I should only brew this tea Gong Fu style. This tea is delicious Western style but it is so perfect to me that it deserves Gong Fu as all teas do really. As soon as I get my cool and large tray,,,I really don’t want to Western brew too much bc Gong Fu is the way!!!!!!!
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8/8/14
My favorite day, my favorite tea. Gong Fu style with my Yixing dedicated to this tea!!!!!!!!!!

Ye Sheng is the tea varietal. Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. assamica (J. Masters) Kitam." is a primeval varietal that pre-dates Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica and is a naturally occuring non hybridized varietal. (from Yunnan Sourcing)

ye (Ye4) = leaf (叶 or 葉), or whole-leaf grade of hong cha

hong (Hong) = (红 or 紅) 2 Red, usually in hong cha; or (烘) 1 Bake[d]

Another sample from Scott at Yunnan Sourcing. The soup is a light gold in color with a nice floral smell. The taste has everything I like about a young Sheng: kuwei, astringency and an earthy/grassy taste with a hint of smoke. Unlike the 2012 Yunnan Sourcing “Impression” Raw Pu-erh tea cake that I sampled, this Sheng is very bold and I really like that. After two steepings I really wished that the astringency would back off a bit and the kuwei would step up a bit more. By steeping four I got what I asked for and the smoke flavor had also become more pronounced. If steepings one thru three had tasted like steepings four plus, this tea would have rated higher. An excellent Sheng that is at the top of my order list!!!!!!

Preliminary Review

Interesting note: when I bought this tea a few months ago it was priced at $4.00. Now it is $4.80.

150ml easy-pour gaiwan, boiling, using my standard times for pu-erh: rinse/30/60/90/120/360, Stevia added.

Yesterday I finally tackled the task of compartmentalizing all of my pu-erh; I decided to keep my sheng (raw) in a cardboard box that four Teavana teacups came in (the size of a small shoe box) and my shou (cooked) in a tall terra cotta wine brique with a cork top I found at a goodwill recently. Unfortunately, I found that this mini-cake almost fits in the brique. Then I thought, “Well, almost is not going to stop me from putting this cake in here!” Anyway, I had yet to try this tea, so I decided this was as good time as any to take some tea from the cake by trimming some off one ‘edge’ so it could fit, and then brew up the ‘trimmings’; in the process of trimming a little at a time while seeing if it would fit it turns out I had to take enough tea for about three steeping sessions; so I decided to brew up about 5-6 grams right away and then put the rest in a plastic bag (I plan to brew the trimmings sometime over the summer.)

I am sitting here writing this after the tea is all gone, as I wasn’t planning on writing this review. So, my observations here are general. Later this summer I plan to pay more attention to the flavor and aroma for a more thorough review.

This tea is different than any of the other cooked pu-erhs I’ve had: it was lighter in flavor, smoother, and even seemed to have a kind of fresh quality to it without any of the musty-ness that most of the other cooked pu-erh seems to have had. It wasn’t harsh, edgy or too fishy either, as I was expecting from reading about how young cooked pu-erh can taste. It had a beautiful reddish-brown color that was much lighter than the color of the cooked pu-erh I had just yesterday. This is my first mini-cake and I have to say, overall, I am impressed with the entire experience; it’s very different than brewing up a sample or a mini tou. I may try brewing this up in my Yixing next time.

Although I still don’t find cooked pu-erh to be something I would drink for pleasure, this is probably the best tasting one yet. As varied as I understand the selection of pu-erh teas to be, and as deeply rooted in Chinese culture as it is, I decided to invest my time and energy into exploring this class of tea hoping to unearth a least a few of it’s hidden treasures. For me this is a kind of long- term experiment, undertaken in large part because of how pu-erh seems to not only captivate tea enthusiasts worldwide but to hold their attention for a lifetime.

Sad swap sample sip down! I think this was from Terri? Anyway, it was much appreciated :)

So malty and delicious! Apparently Jin Jun Mei is a style I really like…and alas now there is none left in my cupboard. Good stuff though! I will get more from somewhere someday :D

Another delicious tea from my box from Terri HarpLady :D

This is a nice Jin Jun Mei for sure. I love the honey sweetness and bright sparkling clarity. But it also has enough malt for a well balanced and crave-able flavor.

Ordered a sample of this a while back and now I am finally around to it. It has a very nice aroma to the dry leaf when opening the bag. I got 10 grams from it and broke out the Gaiwan.
I gave it a quick 5 second wash and took off with it. The first infusion was a little weak as i probably didn’t let it steep long enough. 5 seconds short. Tried again doing 10 second steeps and it brought out the punch of this one.
It has an almost fruity aroma to the infusion. It has a good bit of bitterness and a thick mouth feel. The bitter fades and leaves the mouth watering a bit with a semi-sweet tongue tingling after taste. Very stout cha qui in this one , it almost leaves the mouth buzzing in response. Good stout leaf in this one.

(239) This was my first cup of the day, and I had it courtesy of Sil! Thanks!

It was delicious, even though I ended up steeping it for 8 minutes while I had a diaper disaster to deal with. It was dark and malty and sweet. I would definitely like to try this again some time!

This tea is a sample from Scott at Yunnan Sourcing. The soup is a light gold in color with a nice floral smell. The taste has everything I like about a young Sheng: kuwei, astringency and an earthy/grassy taste with a hint of smoke. What I don’t like about this tea is the flavors are too muted for my liking, I really wish they were stronger. Having said that, is this an excellent tea, no. Is this a really good tea, yes it is. Would I buy it, yes I would. In my opinion only, this is an excellent tea for those who want to try a young Sheng but are afraid of the tastes overpowering them. Oh, Scott is only charging $15.50 for a tea that could easily go for twice that amount!!!!

Preliminary Review

UPDATE: I did three more steepings, the last one at about 6 minutes to test it’s endurance, and it help up well with flavor. The last one I didn’t add sweetener and I was more easily able to identify the most prominent flavor: hay. It’s not a flavor I really enjoy, but it’s not a bad one either. The fifth had a bit of bitterness such that I could feel the dryness on the roof of my mouth, reminding me of the dryness I experienced recently from a few red wines I tried at Trader Joe’s.

150ml easy-pour gaiwan, boiling, rinse/30/60/90/120/360, Stevia added.

I have tried this pu-erh at least twice now, and I think so far it is my favorite cooked pu-erh. Admittedly it’s one of the few pu-erh’s I’ve tried that is not a mini toucha or a sample. There is nothing off putting about it, the liquor has a very dark red color, a strong aroma, and a bold, somewhat spicy, flavor.

Right now I have been using a little screw driver to break apart the tea, but soon I will have these tools from JK Teashop; I can’t wait to use the real thing!
http://www.jkteashop.com/simple-pu-er-cake-pick-needle-pick-solid-wood-with-yunnan-colorful-ropes-p-460.html
http://www.jkteashop.com/stainless-steel-pu-er-opener-with-cha-dao-curving-p-461.html

I think the last rating of this tea was a few years ago by another person, so this is somewhat of an update, though of course we are different reviewers. This is now 5 years old. It is a nice gentle and interesting tea with good staying power. Somewhat fruity, especially in later steepings. It has probably mellowed out since it’s youth. It lacks a little on body and punch, but is a nice tea nonetheless.