Yunnan Sourcing

Was drinking this at work this morning. WOW – for me this is a GREAT black tea, right up there with some of my favorite black teas. Not as chocolate as some, but has hints of that and everything else that should be in a good Yunnan.
REALLY LIKE IT. Have been snooping around the Yunnan Sourcing web site- don’t like that there isn’t anything smaller than 50g (and some teas 100g).

Thanks Sil (and everyone else who’s hands this has passed through) for sending me a sample of this fantastic tea.

This morning I’ve decided to sample a 2009 Lao Ban Zhang Premium. I received this tea from a friend the other day and am very pleased to be able to sample it. I begin with approximately 4.2 grams in my gaiwan. I cannot say much as to the dry leaf appearance as it looks like your typical arbor leaf. What I can say is that it is mostly intact – very nice. A brief wash (my washes tend to be about 5 seconds) of the leaves bring out a unique nose. .. perhaps a slight smoky (not the smokiness found in Xiaguans) hayness? The nose isn’t very impressive – typical of the region. However, where the nose lacks, the soup makes up for! The soup is a beautiful light amber colour with a wonderful profile. Upon sipping, there is a kind bitterness which greets all the taste buds. In a fraction of a second, this bitterness transforms into a subtle sweetness. One can easily detect this transformation in the mouth… very dynamic. The tea is thick in the mouth and leaves a nice coating. The hui gan is a little light, but perhaps I under leafed? Perhaps the sender could comment on this. I do detect some cha qi, which, naturally, is very nice. In my opinion, this is an excellent tea. It’s dynamic, complex and tastes nice! I will give this tea an 84/100 =).

sad panda…i had this at like 6am today and it’s well after 10pm…know what i don’t remember? this tea….beyond it was good and i drank it all up….whoops!

thanks terri! I’m not sure what to make of this one. I like it, but on the other hand it’s a little weak for me. I had a few steepings of this and it never developed into something i REALLY wanted. That being said, I’m glad to try it since i’m really enjoying the Yunnan sourcing journey that terri is taking me on! thanks sister!

My 2nd tea of the days, also hours ago! Sorry for the lame review…

Here is another of the teas I shared with the BBBB. I was gonna try to compare this one to the Pure bud bi Luo, but got sidetracked, so there is not much to say.
This one doesn’t have the buttery aroma of the other, but is, in my opinion, maltier & a little more floral. Both are sweet, but this one is a little deeper.
Both are delicious.
I just noticed that Yunnan Sourcing has their spring 2014 teas up on their website now…sigh…I’ve been very happy with everything I’ve gotten from them.

This has been a delightful tea. I’m mostly enjoyed it gongfu style, but today I tried a more western version, basically a heaping tsp in a cup for 3 min with a resteep of 5min. Also very delicious this way, & without a doubt, I will re-order, but for now it is a sipdown. I’m sending the last 5 G to a friend, along with the last of the Jinggu Golden Strand from YS, another tea worthy of re-ordering.
325

First tea of the day, but that was hours ago!!
Still, a very tasty cup, & I’m running low on this one, so time to start getting serious about the YS order I keep planning to place :)

This is one of three teas that I sent to my BBBB sisters, which I hope they will both enjoy. Tender buds, hand rolled into the ‘spring snail’ shape, with a sweet aroma & a large ratio of gold. The flavor is heavenly, at least to me, with a thick creamy kind of feel, & a buttery sugarcane taste.

I’m convinced that in some past life I was a high class Chinese concubine to some emperor, laying around dressed in silk, sending some servant to some sacred spring to bring water for my teapot. In some other past life, I was a servant going to fetch that water, sneaking a sip to see if the water was really as wonderful as the legends claimed.

In some other life I was a Shaolin monk…

I feel that these past lives (& others) explain my affinity for Chinese teas over all others, & my need to do Taichi every day (or not feel ‘right’).
Yup, I think that explains it.

This sampling session is accompanied by Joao Choras O homem do Ribatejo. I enjoy Fado music. Anywho, I begin this sampling with 4.8 grams of dry leaf. Leaf appearence isn’t very impressive.. however, this may be due to the fact that the leaves I received are from the interior of the bing. The wet leaves produce an aroma that I can only describe as floral.. perhaps a grassy floral? The liquor is a light-medium amber colour… typical I suppose. The tea is well balanced with a clean, pure sweetness and pleasant mouthfeel. There is an immediate qi that flows into your body from the tea – something I detected immediately from my first sip. The hui gian and hui tian is apparent. In conclusion, I enjoyed this tea. I think an 80/100 is a fair grade.

Edit : In later steepings, a slight bitterness opens up.

This little cake is pretty tightly compressed. I broke out the needle and the flat blade to get into this one. The leaf pried off are smaller than most sheng leaves. The dry aroma is almost an oak woody scent. I did 8 grams in the yixing with a 5 second rinse. The wet leaf had an almost metallic scent to it. The first infusion of about 10 seconds yielded a dark amber color. It has a very light scent to it with a good hard hit in the flavor department. It is an upfront slightly bitter and astringent note with hints of pine and the familiar tingle of the camphor from the tea. It has a nice thick sense in the mouth. It is not an overly complex tea but it leaves a nice mouthwatering sweetness to it. The flavor notes carry on for a while after drinking a few sips of this. Nice and upfront and no beating around the bush with this one. Punchy ,upfront and drinkable to be as young as it is.

Update:

I did four more steepings: 3’, 4’, 5’, and over 10’, such that the water temp was around 180-190F, with the exception of the last steeping where I decided to try boiling. I barely detected a degradation in flavor through all of the steepings. My guess is this tea would have yielded many more steepings, especially had I done it gongfu style—starting at 20 seconds and adding 20sec for each additional steeping.

This is an amazing tea, and I plan on showcasing it tonight with those in my men’s group. When I experience a tea like this my immediate desire is to share its pleasures with others. Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t like it. Phooey on her! :p

I received this tea in the mail recently and opened it just today.

Age of leaf: Early February, 2014.

Brewing guidelines:
Ceramic 150 ml gaiwan, sweetener (on second steeping), a small handful of tea buds, 5 OZ water.
……….1st: 175, 2’
……….2nd: 180. 3’

Appearance and Aroma of dry tea leaves: Right away, I could tell this tea was a very different type of tea than I have ever had: largish green and white cluster-like buds. There were a few stems (as in, small pieces of brown twigs). Still, there were NO little bits of broken tea leaves/buds in the bottom for the bag, as is usually the case with most any other tea I have bought. Little twigs aside, Impressive (the presence of little twigs actually doesn’t bother me, I simply mentioned it here because I aim to be thorough as possible in my descriptions).

Color of tea: Very light yellowish-green, and incredibly clear.

Aroma of tea liquor: fresh, mildly pleasant forest aroma.

Flavor of tea liquor: clean, light and incredibly fresh, and as the description says (otherwise I don’t think I would have come to this my own) a hint of fresh pine needles.

Overall: So far, I’ve only done two steepings (I plan to do at least on more). Still, …, I love this tea! I brewed it up in my new gaiwan (I LOVE my new gaiwan). It is a tea with an appearance I’ve never seen before, the tea liquor has a beautiful clarity that practically glows in my clear glass 8 OZ teacup, and has one of the freshest flavors of any tea I’ve had. When I drink fresh spring teas like this one, it’s hard to explain, but it’s like, up, uP, UP all the way into the clear blue sky!

I always enjoy trying something new, and I knew I was taking a risk with this tea. Not all risks pay off, yet I’ve found some of the best things in life come from taking risks.

A nice little shu. It has good thick body, and a nice basic ripe pu-erh flavor. Not a very complicated flavor profile, but a very respectable everyday tea.

Read a couple of taste notes before trying this one. It seems to be a little “finicky” to brew as others seem to have experienced. I used a little more leaf than usual to brew with. It brews a light yellow with a mineral floral aroma. It has some astringency with a punchy flowery type of hit. It has a little thickness to as you drink it. I think in terms of some other ones this is not a bruiser tea but a little note that lets you know it’s a sheng.

Trying this tea after six years of home storage. Interestingly it had absolutely no bitterness. Very surprising given my initial review. It was thick but kind of bland. But good. Maybe it is in that awkward phase.

I really enjoyed this tea. It has a lot of power in it. A good amount of bitterness and moderate complexity. Not terribly thick, but strong and tasty. I’m going to try the 2013 version next.

An ok tea, kind of light.

Finally came around to trying out this cake. Been sitting i my cupboard for over a year ^^
But my tradition of sipping sheng whenver i watch the big bang theory is going strong!

I used 5.5grams in a 90ml celadon gaiwan.
wash/10s/15s/25s/30s/30s

Mild smoth start. This is a young sheng, still the flavour is very clean and has some complexity to it. Yet i found i have to steep it for 25-30s to get that small bite of bitter i enjoy with shengs. I might have to purchase an older sheng in the near future. I do love the insanely powerful shengs that just explodes with flavour! The ones where you can do multiple 10s steepings and no longer unless you want it very bitter.

Got my eyes on the 2002 Yong Pin Hao yiwu sheng. Tried a sample a while back and was impressed!

Another thought just struck me. Why dont i drink more sheng and good mao-cha. Everytime i do i think “wow this is good tea” I think the world of sheng will be my next project since i feel just about done exploring yunnan tea.
More assams, taiwan black tea, korean green and Sheng will be this years main attractions. Perhaps i will manage to get a hold of some japanese white as well!

I hope 2014 will be a good year for tea!

I’ve decided to revisit the beautiful Bulang mountain range this morning with a 2010 Gu Ming Xiang Ban Pen sheng. The wet leaves, which are of an impressive size and produce a delightful amber liquor, radiate an aroma that I can only describe as smoky vegetal (I believe this aroma is similar to the aroma found in the Lao Man E sheng I described not too long ago). Frankly, the aroma isn’t as impressive as say a Jingmai ,but I suppose this is expected from a Bulang. What is impressive is this teas profile and kou gan. The tea exhibits a pleasant transformation from a light bitterness to a subtle sweetness. It only takes a few sips of this tea to bring out a well balanced astringency and Hui Gan in the mouth. IMO, this tea is a fine tea. It has a lot of character. I look foward to drinking it a few months down the road! Perhaps an 84/100 is fair assessment.

Parameters : 4.5 g / 100 mL of water @ ~200 F

I received my first Lao Man E beeng (2009 Hai Lang Hao “Lao Man’E Wild Arbor”). I’ve read several articles describing the regions intense bitterness, but have never experienced it. I began by breaking off 4.5 grams of dry leaf. The dry leaves seem medium in size with a fair share of buds. I suppose its fair to say it looks like your typical arbor beeng. The wet leaves have a brownish green colour to them and are indeed intact. Very nice to look at. This tea produces a nose that I have yet to come across. Its aroma hints at the forthcoming bitterness, an aroma which I can best describe as a vegetal smokiness (I want to say that the wet leaves have an intense bitter aroma, so intense that it seems smoky. However, I dont feel comfortable using the term bitter to describe a scent. Perhaps someone trying this tea can comment on this?). A brief 10 second steep yields an amber coloured liquor with intense bitterness, much more so than any LBZ I’ve had. In fact, I think this is the most bitter tea I’ve had (not including accidental oversteeps). Accompanied with the bitterness is a pleasant floral sweetness, albeit, it is rather subtle. The body is thick and coats the inner mouth with a subtle sweetness. The most impressive aspect of this tea, as Scott mentions in the YS description, is its qi. Its cha qi is incredibly strong and I’d echo his comments on it. There is also a pleasing hui gan and hui tian. I am happy with this purchase and I will definitely be picking up another beeng as I can see this material aging very well. 85/100