Yunnan Sourcing

I’ve had trouble getting myself to wake up this morning, & would still like to go back to bed, but I goofed off for most of tuesday (the day I usually do a lot of food prep for the rest of the week), & there is just SO MUCH that needs to be done. So I got up at 8:00, dropped my car off to get a new alternator belt & check a few things, walked home, & started watering my seriously neglected garden. I’m using the small sprinkler method, where I set up a sprinkler somewhere, do a little weeding nearby, move the sprinkler, come in & drink a steep or 2 of tea, move sprinkler, pick something like tomatoes, or graze on raspberries (that was actually one of the first things I did). I’ve been doing this for the last hour or so, during which time I sipped a cup of bone broth laced with a pinch of salt & crushed homegrown garlic, sipped a smaller cup of my Elderberry Kombucha (it’s SO good!), & sipped several steepings of this tea, which is from the spring of 2014 .

I’ve really been enjoying the wild purple varietals of tea for awhile now. I think I have 4 or maybe 5 in my collection (not counting purple puerh). They are not a tea I drink all the time, because I feel like it’s the kind of tea I want to really take my time with.
This one has a dry aroma of tart plums, & once the leaf is warmed, it becomes fruity & rich, even a little malty, like some kind of baked plum dessert. That alone is a beautiful thing, just breathing the aroma from my tiny teapot. After lingering for a few breaths, it’s time to drink some tea! The tea itself starts out reminding me of congee rice, only sweeter, with a brothy quality as well. Through multiple steepings it blooms into full flavors.It is sweet, it is tangy, plumy good, with a Eucalypus sensation, an awesome tongue tingle, & a growing strong & peaceful energy that is perfect for just putting one foot in front of another: Walk to garden, move hose, pick something, enter house, pour more tea & savor. Repeat. Don’t forget to breath deeply. This is my morning.

Welcome to day 30 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!
Yup, my month long festival of sipdown is coming to a close! I’m actually glad, because I have new teas to drink, special teas that I miss drinking, etc. Tomorrow will be the final day of clearing my shelves of anything old, small, or just unloved.
I’ve been working on updating the database, & as I’ve said before, I’ll probably end the month with more tea than I started with, haha. I started with 401, & although I didn’t set any actual goal, I think I’ve been kind of aiming for 250.

This is a really interesting tea, & if you let it warm up in a hot cup, the aroma of plums is outstanding! I could sit around just huffing this, & I did for a few minutes. Something nice to wake up to. Going with short steeps, the tea itself build through layers of Congee rice, sweet plum, a little tartness, & an amazing chaqi. Some of the steeps make me think of Plum Sake, even though I’ve never had anything like that, LOL.
It also really reminds me of a sweeter sister to Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan. It has a very similar energy, & a rustic wild quality to it, but coupled with a lovely sweet aftertaste of plums.
It’s silly for me to count this as a sipdown, as I have a new shipment en route, but the newer version is from Spring 2014, so there you go. It’s legit.
277

Morning Black tea gongfu session!
The leaf is a deep redish black, with mahogany highlights, & a dry aroma that is faintly tart.
The warmed leaf brings to mind Plums.
5G + 4oz (rinse) X 15sec = Congee rice
30 sec = A rich, almost Meaty broth
45sec = A richer broth, with Plums added. A nice tongue tingle!
1min = A satisfying sensation is present, both in the mouth & in the body. A slight bitterness, but in a good tart kind of way, just around the edges. The Chaqi is soothing, I feel very peaceful.
2min = an herbaceous quality, somewhat like eucalyptus, joins in.
3min+ = I accidentally forgot to set the timer, so who knows how long this steep really went? Anyway, this is reminding me, in some ways, of Master Han’s Wild picked Black, not so much in flavor, as in savory qualities & energy.
4min = The body of the tea is gone, leaving behind a vague sweet plum essence.
5min = One final cup. I can really feel the energy of this tea, swirling around my head. My eyes have quit watering, my ears are no longer itchy. I’d like to believe that teas such as this one are my cure for allergies, the elixir of life itself, but it’s probably just my imagination…
running away with me… ;)

I’m having a great day! I just booked a wedding for May, sitting at my desk in my pajamas, eating breakfast. Contract sent, now more tea!
I love my job!
Here’s another tea from the first round of the BBBB.
5G + 4oz tiny teapot (rinse) X 15/30/45sec/1min/2min/3min
I warmed this one up in the hot but dry teapot. The aroma is very different from the Imperial Mojiang, but then it should be! Side by side, these 2 teas are like night & day!! The Mojiang is all golden & this is a deep purplish black! Night & day, indeed!

Opening the lid to my teapot, the aroma is more herbaceous, almost like a sheng, but with a hint of…cherry? Maybe sour cherry, but just a hint.
There’s something about this tea that reminds me of a Sheng. It’s a tartness, & a clean almost lemony mouth, & the Chaqi is outrageous! There is a sweet cherry, there is a little chocolate in the background, & there are savory aromatic herbs. I don’t know that eucalyptus is the herb I would pick, but maybe. Anyway, the flavors build up beautifully, complimenting one another. And now I’m wondering is YS has made any sheng from this leaf…that would also be an amazing tea, I think!

I keep planning to give this one the gongfu treatment, but once again I’m just drinking it in the mug.
1Tb + 3 min (re-steep 5min)
This is a very smooth & complex tea, with a satisfying taste & body, a sweet taste that in some ways reminds me of the sugar cane taste of a good Dian Hong, but with a clarity & vibe of a sheng.

I’m enjoying a cup of this before I load up to go play for the monthly tea at the nursing home. I just had an awesome but easy lunch that included a Cherokee purple tomato & shallots from my garden. Now I’m having a cup of purple tea for dessert.

Update: oops! I forgot to upload this before I left! Now I’m back at home. I really do like this purple tea, & just for the record, it isn’t at all like the purple teas from Kenya. I still don’t have words to describe it, but in some ways it reminds me of some other teas, such as Golden Fleece. Hopefully the next time I drink it I can really focus in on what makes the taste so unique!

I’m not really sure how to describe this tea, except to say that I really enjoyed drinking it!! I was watering my garden, carrying this cup of tea around with me. I came in for a re-steep. It was so delicious!
Next time I’m thinking I might try a gongfu session, just to see how that works out.

One of my favorite black teas. It is slightly similar to a high quality non-smoky Zhengshan xiaozhong (正山小种) or Sapsang Souchong as it is known in the local language. There are some other yunnanese teas that does so too, the difference with this one is the clear notes of chocolate and coffee. But it does have that dried fruit flavor as well. If you take two-three leaves of smoky lapsang souchong and mix with this, you will achieve a wonderful blend that is very fruity (as in dried longan, dried figs, rich and thick flavour.

DANG THIS PU’ER IS THA BOMB!

Over 13 infusions I got No smokeyness, no dryness. Great flavor notes of earthy enoki mushroom, rock sugar, creamy, apricot, green bean, buttery corn, mineral, and copper. It had a few moments that I thought I was drinking a white tea and another time a green, however with the complexity of a pu’er.

For $15 for a 250 gram cake, this pu’er is a steal, especially with the amount of resteeps I got.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2013/08/20/2012-qui-yun-wild-arbor-raw-puer-from-yunnan-sourcing-tea-review/

Leaves look very nice, bits of green and purple colour. Leaves broke apart nicely and allowed for whole breaks, very little crumbs/dust. Dry cake and leaves has a very smoky aroma, almost liquid smoke like, very overpowering. 4 gms / Yixing Pot / 200 F – Steep 1: 2 rinses / 30 sec steep – very strong and overpowering smoky aroma prevails. Tried to finish steeped liquor, just too smoky for my pallet. Will put this one away for a few months, and see if the smokiness settles.

One of the best Bi Luo Chun I had.
The tea has a strong taste with a slight hint of smokiness, without being overwhelming.
This tea is very forgiving on water temperature and brewing time, and gives good results no matter what.
My best results were with: 4g/3’, 2’, 2’, 5’, 5’.

It’s very hard to find a good winter Tie Guan Yin. This one has the same problem as the others : it doesn’t last.
The scent and taste are ok, although a bit weak.
Even with a lot of leaves and when changing the brewing time, it’s hard to have a strong taste passing the 4th infusion.

Damn I love Dan Congs, and this is a great one! It’s got that room-filling peach/apricot aroma that’s just so seductive. It’s also a bit roastier than expected too, and a hint of floral background, without getting too complex. But really it’s all about that exquisite aroma, excuse me now, my cup is empty.

Not very good, just kind of muddy and blah, get the far superior Imperial Mojiang instead.

Hi everyone! Todays morning brew is an inexpensive offering from YS. I recently ordered from their China site in order to obtain some items that were only available there. Mainly to try the highly acclaimed 2010 Hai Lang Hao “Cha Wang”. For the price this Mang Fei is a bargain. I think its 30 dollars. The intial steepings were strong and smoky but as the session progressed the teas strength and potency revealed a beautiful flavor with a returning sweetness and a penetrating cha qi. This was a winner. I believe with aging this has the potential for greatness. For me, I really enjoy the intensity and raw energy of a young sheng.

Boo my browser crashed during this note. Thanks to tperez for sending this in our swap. I was excited to see it included as I love the yabao from Verdant and this is very similar. Herbaceous and coniferous notes that remind me of sweet grass, rosemary, pine and artichoke. The only thing I can tell without doing a side by side brewing is that this doesn’t have the sparkling quality Verdant’s does, still wonderful though!

Last night I attempted to get tea drunk but did not get very far as it was close to Rowan’s bedtime and I was exhausted and ended up staying upstairs. I have revived the buds this morning and its just as good. I had an emotional breakdown yesterday after registering Rowan for preschool, not because I’m emotional about him growing up but because the class we wanted was closed and I had to choose between the morning class 8:15-11:15 or an afternoon class at a different location. I chose the latter initially for my sanity and sleep (we have some major schedule adjusting, Rowan is hard to get dressed and out the door and even though they are both three hours, 11 am seems like less of a break in my day. However this other location while part of our school district is technically in Cleveland on road I don’t care for and not at the brand new elementary school just 5 mins away).

I started sobbing on the way home, I pulled over to call the office saying I’d made the wrong decision but they had just closed so I left a message and sobbed some more, on the phone with the husband and my mom, through the drive-thru and over my shamrock shake. Anywho the lady called back this morning and switched him to the morning class at Grindstone. Crisis averted, going out to the Brew Kettle with my sister tonight anyway, beer not tea, she said there was a lot on tap right now that I would like.

Today I short steeped this three times. Overall it had a light, mellow, refreshing quality and a “typical” black tea flavour.

Normally I prepare this western style, which is better for a stronger flavour. My husband enjoys taking this tea to work, along with the other black teas we ordered from YS.

Steep parameters:
100ml gaiwan, 5g, rinse + 3 steeps (30s, 45s, 1m)

I’ve had this tea for a while, but never got around to writing a review. It was purchased along with four other black teas from YS, many months ago. This one was always enjoyable prepared either western or eastern style. Not an amazing resteeper, but pretty flavourful.
This was my first “purple” tea experience. And overall it was a pleasant experience, but it definitely impressed my husband a lot more.

Here are some quick notes about my short steep session today:

First steep- Light, fruity (melon, grapes), refreshing. Acidic-sweetness at the back of my mouth.

Second steep- Fuzzy-fruit flavour all over my mouth, not a deep or heavy black tea body. Pretty light and delicate.

Third steep- The flavours have mellowed a bit, but much of the original notes are still present. For me, this is a nice cup to end on.

Steep parameters- 100ml teapot, 5g, 3 steeps (rinse, 30s, 40s, 1m)

excellent tea. Strong, masculine character.
when brewed with care, distinct, complex aroma reminiscent of savory herbs with a touch of wet tobacco and a wonderful nutty aspect.
Can be smokey in the first infusions. less so after sitting broken up in a jar for a few weeks and brewed in yixing pot.
Long lasting, pleasant flavor lingers in the mouth. Fresh, expansive mouthfeel.

This the oldest sheng I have tried so far. It is also one of my favorites, due its strong, savory-herbs flavor and aroma. $16 for 100g of a 10 year old sheng with strong flavor seems like a decent value. I will be reordering this one.

Overall the flavor is a bit mild, yet the first 2 infusions often have decent flavor strength.

Brewing about 3 grams of this one in a competition tasting set right now.
Wet leaves after the wash have a wonderful damp forest smell.
Yummy semi-aged flavor with sour fruit notes.
Floral elements in the aroma. Fresh mouth feel.
Only slightly smoky on first infusions.
Note that the leaves were aged in mao cha form for 5 years before pressing. This is apparently a great way to speed up the aging process.

Overall seems like a good value currently at $4.50 for 100 grams.
Its nice to be able to buy a a whole cake at only 100 grams.