Yunnan Sourcing

Welcome to day 27 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!
I haven’t really been quite as productive this past week as I had hoped to be, however I’m now at 301 teas, which is 100 teas less than where I started from on the 1st of May (not counting all the teas that have arrived in the last few weeks, which will be added into my database over this coming week, heh)

There are about 36 teas that I’d like to finish off this week: remnants of tea trades, small samples, remnants of TOMC, etc. I’m only trying to finish off teas that are just one serving left, but I’m still also committed to enjoying every cup! No point rushing through things, right?

With that in mind, I’ve started the day with this wonderful Jin Jun Mei, & although it is the last of the tin, it’s not really a sipdown because I have more. It’s one of those teas who’s warmed leaf aroma alone can make me feel cozy & comforted. It’s rich toasted bread with honey & bee pollen, & I can drink it on an empty stomach!

Started the day with a 3 minute steep of this one, with it’s notes of Boston Brown Bread, which I guess really translates to Molasses. I was gonna return for a 5 minute steep, but my son drew, who has really been getting into tea more lately, had dumped it (what???), & was the steep basket for something else. Teas he’s been enjoying a lot:
Spring Cherry – R of T
Jasmine Pearl – Art of Tea
Bolder Breakfast – Tea Spot
My other son Leif went to Teavana & bought himself a few teas, his current favorite is Strawberry Rose Peach Tranquility (blend of 2 blends). I took a sip, & although it’s not something I’d be into stocking, it’s actually not bad.

This morning’s black tea gongfu session was with this one.
5G + 4oz X 15/30/45 sec/1min/2min/1min…

This started out lovely – a warm crusty bread, honey, malt, bee pollen…
But I increased the steeping time to quickly & it became bitter. When I backed it off, it was more enjoyable. In previous gongfu sessions with this tea I went with shorter steeps of 15 second intervals, & I’ll hopefully remember to keep it that way in the future, with this one!
A lesson learned :)

I’ve been sitting at my desk for the last hour or so, paying bills, reading emails, balancing bank accounts, & sipping this tea. The warmed aroma of toast drenched with honey is so enticing, and the cup of tea reminds me of boston brown bread.

I love a good Jin Jun Mei, & this one qualifies, as far as I’m concerned.
It really reminds me of a nice grainy toast, & also of boston brown bread. It’s very re-steepable to!

Off topic, but if you’d like to see the annual New Year’s Day photo of me & my kids, along with photos of my mini-fruit trees in my sunroom, drop by my FB. https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak

I shared a pot of this with a student. I love it. Today it is reminding me of Boston Brown Bread. Or a really dense whole grain toast. Very lovely, very malty, very delicious!

I love Jin Jun Mei. I’d like to drink all of the Jin Jun Mei’s in my collection, together, comparing their colors, fragrance, taste, nuance, etc. Maybe during the HoliDaze I’ll set aside a day for that, but for today, I’m drinking 2, from the order I received yesterday from Yunnan Sourcing.

I started with this one. The leaf is small & thin, having the characteristic ‘eyebrow’ shape, with spots of gold, but mostly a dark almost black color. I steeped a heaping tsp in my mug for 3 minutes, followed with a 5 minute re-steep in a smaller mug. The resulting cups were sweet, with a feel that I get from Jin Jun Mei that always reminds me of Bee Pollen. A little malt, a little fruit (not sure what kind, but with a slightly bright tanginess), & a floral sense as well.

A tasty sweet yet savory cup! Next time, Gongfu!

mmmm thanks for sharing this one terri! I think that i’ll have to look into placing an order with yunnan sourcing in the new year. I’ve enjoyed the few that terri has shared with me so i think a few more samples are likely in order :)

thanks for sharing this one terri! In keeping with my attempt to get through my BBB Box teas and my verdant reserve teas, I took this one shopping with me. It was pretty tasty even in a travel mug! Looking forward to being able to try this one out with my gaiwan, maybe next weekend.

Last time I had this tea was 7 months ago. I was feeling like some rough ripe pu’er before my meal and after and what a meal! BBQ beef tritip, roasted potatoes and homemade new york cheesecake with my home canned strawberry preserves ontop!

Felt this pu’er changed a bit in flavor – it was much less fermentation, clay and abrasive notes. Actually sipped in with a bit of smoothness, which was a change from the woodsy, campy, charred charizard earth notes from before.
My original review – http://oolongowl.com/2012-dragon-jing-mai-puer-yunnan-sourcing-oolong-owl-tea-review/

The tea went really well with the meal, but majority of it I drank with and after dessert. Pu’er with cheesecake? Why not. Pretty happy with this little shu pu’er cake, especially since I paid like $6 for it.

I think it’s kind of obvious I wrote this entire review completely pu’er party time tea drunk.
http://oolongowl.com/2012-dragon-jing-mai-puer-yunnan-sourcing-oolong-owl-tea-review/

This tea hits the pu’er tea drunk at the end and whoa, it hits hard! At the time of drinking, there’s some fermentation flavor in early steepings. Quite abrasive campy flavors with clay, dark wood, dirt, and tree sap. With each steeping the tea becomes sweeter amber and sap notes. Gorgeous red tea!
I’d love to try this with some aging on it, so into my dresser it goes. My husband is supposed to build me a better pu’er aging thing sometime.

Either way, $6 for a 100g cake is a steal!

Free sample. Used a 180 yixing pot with 7g tea. My better half joined as well.

Rinsed quickly twice, then first steep 5 seconds, aroma of balsa wood and malt is what I smelled, with a smoky crisp creme brulee, buttery flavor. A bit of bitter that almost dropped my hubby out of the tasting, but he’s getting better with it since I’ve cook him bitter gourd.

Second steep 5 seconds had flavors of dried cherries, less bitter and a classic red tea profile. Slightly smokey. Smooth.

Third steep 10 seconds, just ripe banana came out as the fruit note with a noticeable dryness of a good Merlot.

Fourth steep 15 seconds and the sweetness is making a push through, the fruitiness is dissipating and the aftertaste is both dry and bitter on the tongue.

Fifth steep and we took a break with a few plain hot water sips to realign the buds. 20 seconds and the sweetness is forefront with a caramel hint. There is a noticeable chi starting to clear the throws of last nights slumber.

Sixth steep 25 seconds and the sugar is replaced by a slight sweet/sour you get from an unripe blueberry. The smokiness is also waning. Now it reminds me of standard red steeped teas. The color is still quite pronounced a clear burnt sienna.

Got a total of 10 steeps which made my day very pleasant, took hubby to the airport then off to flushing for more tea adventures.

Finished this winter stash yesterday and I will have fond memories of this tea. It was my every day to get me through the snow and now spring beckons. Today I’m having a tea given to me by a shop owner in Flushing. All I know is its a black Formosa but doesn’t rival my Mojiang.

Ok, so I have no idea what I was gibbering about in my first tasting notes. This tea is great. I paid a little more attention to the amount of tea this time instead of eyeballing and used 7gm in 200ml pot as TerryHL. The soup is a nice rich red brick color and the flavors of malt and chocolate are insane. Steeped it 10 times till I could pee no more and the last one was still flavorful. Has a nice energy boost to it as well. As I have finished off all my green teas this will be my buddy for the rest of the winter.

What an interesting tea. So beautiful to look at in its dry state, golden locks, light and fluffy, like a childs unkept hair. I get a nice whiff of choclate as I sniff the leaves. Into the pot, a new ru kiln 200ml, I eyeballed about 1/4 full with leaves. I kept the temp @ 200 fearing to scorch the pretty little things and did a quick rinse. The wash liquor wash so the typical color of most red teas that I knew to keep the first steep time short.

When I poured for that 1st steep I saw the color build right away and had a brief 5 seconds in the pot. The wet leaves have malt chocolate and a slight plummy smell. The taste is equal with the aromas, with the malt being predominate. By the time I finished the first tasting I got a pleasant nudge of energy, greatly needed. First impressions are best.

Second steep for 15 seconds and I took time to appreciate the beautiful apperance of the tea in its pot. The aromas are still strong and the flavor now has a bit of a bite to it. The malt is present but the chocolate and plummy flavors have quieted.

Third steep 25 seconds and I’m wondering if they use this in pu erh? It reminds me a little of a sample pu erh I tried made from an unspecified red leaf. The liquor now coats the toungue and the flavors are pretty muted, I am thinking of sweetening to help keep it together, but alas no sugar to be found. As I finish it off I felt a bit of sadness that the beauty this tea holds in its appearance and aromas in the first two brews didnt hold up in later steeps.

sipdown! not that i’ve finished all of this, but i’m going to pass some along to the lovely dexter since she’s been good about sharing a number of teas with me. This is an interesting tea for sure terri! I’ve enjoyed trying it out!

Trying to get through at least tasting the last round of teas from our BBBBox before the next round gets here. I brewed this western style because i can’t manage two gonfu at once haha. This is a really juicy tea..there’s a hint of a taste that i’m not familiar with coming through…sort of yunnan ish but not quite. Over all this is really tasty, though i for sure need to try this gong fu style next!

This tea is easy to brew, provides multiple steeps, and has mild notes of honey and orchid. Everything you want from a dark roasted oolong in my opinion.

Light firing, charcoal and dark chocolate with a sweet fruity finish! Very nice!

10 sec rinse, 15-20 sec steep + 5 per infusion.

Ah just my kind of oolong. It needs a lot of leaves and very hot water to express itself.
6g/110ml teapot. 35"/30"/45"/1’00/1’30/2’00/3’00
Awesome smell, awesome taste : flowery with a hint of lemon or acid fruit at the end. The taste lingers in the throat after drinking.
Definitely one of my favourite, a great Gao Shan Cha.

I forgot how good this one is! So sweet! Sad to see it go, but so many more teas to drink.

This tea is one of Terri’s contributions to the BBBB. I had no expectations, good or bad for this as it’s a totally new kind of tea. I brewed it up gongfu style as Terri mentioned in her note that she wanted to try it that way. This is a great gongfu tea. Each steeping is decidedly different than the previous. The first was very sweet with a hint of the basic Yunnan flavors. The second was savory, almost like herb chicken (I know, wacky). The third so far is very strong honey and Yunnan again. This is a fun tea! Kind of like tea roulette! Never know what the next flavor is going to be! I’m curious how this brews up western style. I’ll try that next time, but I think this is probably best as gongfu. Thanks Terri!