Yunnan Sourcing

From a sample – quite a lovely golden color, with a flavor that has mellowed over time. It tastes a hint minty and earthy at the same time. Drinking quite well in early 2013.

Man this is good! Taking a break before getting back to the finals grind.

This tea is warm and hearty like a Taiwanese black, but clean and refreshing like young sheng. There’s also some pretty interesting flavors here that I haven’t tasted elsewhere, and I really like it.

One of my favorite things about tea is the endless variety. I love trying new things, and I sort of hate to buy the same thing twice (even if I love it), and so far I haven’t bought a second batch of any tea, but I think this is one I’ll need to keep stocked in my cupboard.

But then again there IS the light roast version of this tea… :P

The dry leaves are long and twisted, sort of like a Taiwanese black or Dancong. They have a deep, full aroma of chocolate, eucalyptus, and yam.

The infusions are a slightly unexpected walnut brown, maybe this has something to do with the purple leaf varietal? Despite the deep color the flavors are surprisingly smooth and mild.

Early infusions have flavors of chocolate, eucalyptus, pumpernickel, sweet potato with a rich, malty body. The mouthfeel starts out soft like marshmallow and ends slightly ashy like Wuyi oolongs/blacks.

Later infusions become cleaner and show flavors of lemon and clover leaf. The tea is very creamy and leaves a great, fruity aftertaste of guava and lychee nuts.

This is good stuff! Pretty resteepable for black tea, and has some unique characteristics that I assume come from ye sheng varietal leaves. Seems like the love-child of Yunnan and Laoshan black, with a touch of… purple? :)

Only had a sample of this but it was enough to drink 5 different times. This is what authentic puer is all about. Still waiting for my sample from this year to arrive!

I just wanted to write this short review as an update on how some teas are responding to the pumidor. I first got this sample and the flavor intrigued me. It had a tobacco base but mainly tasted like spices and peppers. The best way to explain it is that it tasted like spilling every spice in your cupboard in some mole. I bought a couple cakes and when I tasted it, it still had the spicy flavor. According to my inventory app it says I bought the teas on February 7, 2013. Despite only having it for a month and a half a lot of change has taken place. The spicy, peppery flavors have mellowed out some and started turning into the underlying tobacco flavor. I don’t know if it’s because of being in the presence of other teas that aren’t “spicy” or just from sitting in the pumidor environment but it will be interesting to see how the other teas respond

A bold silver needle white tea taste with slight nuttiness. Aftertaste is faint green and nutty sweetness. Very good taste. Only con is the inside the leafs there are some dried brown leaf and branch I found.

Infused 3 grams of tea including the few crumbs in this sample, in a very small porcelain gaiwain. Flash rinsed x 1, then a 10 second infusion with about 40mL water at 195 degrees: a teasing impression, a little sweet, a little earthy, promising a lot more with longer infusions. It is quite nice through 10 or so infusions—where I am now—earthy, sweet, plummy. Nice stuff.

Editing to add, that this tea has an unusually nice long sweetwater phase, fruity and not just faintly sweet. Very nice pu.

This is a reliably gorgeous oolong: after buying one packet with a few other things, I bought a dozen of them to have a years’ supply of it. It’s a little floral, a lot sweet and warm and rich, and always nice.

Imperial Mojiang Golden Bud Yunnan Black Tea 2012 Autumn
Dry: Richly complex with sweet malt, spice, cedar, and elusive floral accents, finishing with a sweet, caramel note
Wet: A heady spicy, exotic wood dominance with hints Himalayan pink salt, and a juicy-roasted vegetal depth
Leaf: Lush yellow sienna hued, golden curls, light and airy and dance in the hand like fragile baby beach crabs; impossible not to be drawn to them, to handle and turn them over, to explore the delicate and textured silky down of the leaves. The leaves are deeply imbued with fragrance and this intensifies as your hands warm them and your breath draws in and out against them.
Cup: A deep, brassy hued liquor, darkening to coppery-umber with longer extractions and picking up reddish-sienna depth. The cup itself is creamy, silky smooth, sweet and initially elusive, the flavor slips along with a gentle, sweet almond-nutty threading through the citrus, malt, and lingering peppery finish. As the cup evolves with repeated extractions, waves of sweet give way to more malt and citrus, and the rise of a sea salt and woody, peppery flavor transforms the cup.
Directions: Used 4g in 8oz in 195 degree filtered water in glass tumbler for 3-4 minutes (allowing for color to dictate the adjustments in extraction time in subsequent brews. Expect 2-3 richly flavored steeps with thinner and distinct cups following.
Notes: As a lover of teas from Yunnan, I really enjoyed playing with this tea in a variety of brewing methods and styles, types of water, and steep times. I have a cured Yixing tea pot that I use specifically with Yunnan black teas (including pu-erhs) and I was surprised that this tea responded so well to other brewing methods and actually illustrated varying levels of complexity that were very clear and distinct in different brewing vessels. A tea to allow a complete chance to expand and utilizing a vessel that permits this expansion.

Importers Notes: This rare and beautiful tea can only be made from late autumn harvest is picked from established plantation bushes in the Mojiang area of Simao. The tea is carefully processed to keep its lovely appearance and guard its subtle sugarcane and malt flavors. This is an incredible and rare tea with an appearance and taste that will dazzle the drinker! Recommend using 85-90C water to brew this wonderful tea. Wash once briefly (5 seconds) and then drink the successive infusions. Keep infusion times very short initially!
Harvest time: October 2012
Harvest Area: Mojiang Town, Simao Prefecture of Yunnan

This is a great fresh green tea. I am working on my fourth steeping today, and with a one minute 30 second steep the soup is a nice green. This tea is a bit dry, but not as dry as others I have.

Awesome good white tea, the color is very pale and the flavor is bold, It does have a slight nuttiness to it and the description say “fresh and fruity” i’m not getting the fruity but instead maybe a very faint floral taste, not a specific floral taste like jasmine or any other flower that I know of just kinda generic floral type taste sensation even more so in the aftertaste, it lingers on my tongue and the back of my mouth. As far as the freshness I’m not sure that I qualify to make statement about the freshness of a tea but it taste fresh to me and the delicious lingering after taste does leave my mouth feeling “fresh”, the intake of breath following a sip of this tea is very nice too almost like i can taste it in the air and in my lungs lol just part of the aftertaste i guess.
The leafe is very beautiful, one on the prettiest teas that i’ve seen, rather large tips or needles “whatever” leaves! that are very fuzzy like a lambs ear.
I’ve never really been big on white teas but here lately I’ve been buying teas that Look pretty to me in hope that their taste would compare to their beauty and so far those have been really good and a few of them are other white teas so now maybe i’ll get into white teas a little more or at least discover some that I do enjoy like this one.

Thanks to tperez I’ve been enjoying this most of the day. I’m appreciating Dian Hongs more and more especially fine soft ones like this. It has notes of honey, cinnamon, mushroom and butter but very little pepper. Unfortunately I’m not really getting the aforementioned whiskey but that’s okay. This leaves a nice cooling, powdery sensation on the tongue, a mild camphor-like zhang experience which I suppose in a way is similar to whiskey, but much less fiery. Re-infused many times.

A nice, slightly different Yunnan black! It has a deeper, charcoal/cocoa flavor than other Dian Hongs that reminds me a bit of Fuijan blacks and the Sumatra Black Pearl from Mountain Tea Co. Instead of the sugarcane/rum type taste of some Yunnan’s I’ve had, this reminds me more of Israeli date honey or a malty Belgian ale. Its also very infusable, first black I’ve had to last an entire kettle of water.

More in depth review to come, I’ve got a headache and feeling a bit woozy today for some reason :(

Extra Notes – I’ve been trying to log this one for a while. Steepster wouldn’t let me add it for some reason and the picture (using the website’s) doesn’t seem to load either, I had to change the name in order to get it here in the site is ‘2009 Feng Qing…’

About the Tea
I won’t make extensive notes about this one. I’ll just say this is my extremely cheap to-go Puerh. Scott described it as having stronger chocolate notes, but the sample Amy Oh sent me from Mandala is way more chocolaty than this one. However, this tea is amazing, especially for the price. It has some roasty note to it that gives it the (chocolate hint). But to me, this tastes a lot like dates/raisins. Its fruitier and aromatic, like a dried fruit. I have it in a ceramic pot that with lid designed to let it ‘breath’ the scent is more concentrated there but in a good way.

This tea does NOT compare to more expensive Ripes but deserves a really high rating because for the price you are getting something nicer that you’d expect. I drink it at work at every chance.

Dry Leaf – Creamy, sweet, earthy.
Wet Leaf – Thick, creamy, bitter-chocolate, dates/raisins.
Liquor – Dark Bronze to coffee bronze (looks black).

Gong Fu in 4oz Yixing Gaiwan / 6-7g * 8 seconds wash

1st 20secs – Creamy, slightly sweet, earthy, bitter-chocolate and slightly leathery up front. As it washes down it is thick, earthy and creamy with stronger bitter-chocolate and leather notes. The aftertaste is creamy, sweet and refreshing.

2nd 8secs – (cake piece opened) Creamy, bitter-chocolate, earthy (slight leathery notes) and light sweetness. As it washes down it is thick, earthy with stronger leather notes and bitter-chocolate notes. The aftertaste is, earthy creamy and sweet.

3rd 7secs – Thick, earthy/leathery, bitter-chocolate and smooth up front. As it washes down the bitter-chocolate notes become more apparent as do the leathery ones. The aftertaste is thick, slightly earthy with bitter-chocolate notes and sweetness.

4th 7secs – Thick, earthy/leathery, bitter-chocolate notes, creamy and slightly sweet up front. As it washes down the bitterness is more apparent and last through the aftertaste. The aftertaste is is thick, leathery and sweet.

INTERMISSION All the steeps from the second to the seventh are incredibly strong and dark even though the times were kept under 11 seconds. The liquor resembled dark coffee until this point. Later steeps where a dark brown hue.

8th 20secs – Creamy, slightly leathery, chocolate notes and sweet up front. Washing down it is a bit ‘cleaner’ by comparison, the bitter-notes are bit ‘fruitier’ but still slightly resemble chocolate and have a slight leathery hint. The aftertaste starts slightly earthy and thick and turns sweet.

Final Notes
This is not my favorite brick. I like ‘cleaner’ tasting ripes, this still have some earthy that I usually find in some slightly younger ripes. If you love THICK, almost smoky tasting ripes this is for you. After the cake opens up the liquor resembles coffee and it has a strong mouth feel. What I did like about it is the aftertaste. Even though the steep is mostly bitter-sweet the aftertaste slowly becomes sweeter but once it turns sweet it is really apparent.

Received a sample of this with my last YS order.

The leaves are a dark olive brown with plenty of furry white buds. I wasn’t too impressed with the first two steepings, as they were mostly tobacco-ey and bitter. After that, however, the flavor became quite mellow and sweet. The flavors that come to mind here a ginger, almond, and wheat flour. This tea is fairly similar to my 2012 Wuliang Mountain cake, but gives a stronger ‘qi’ feeling which shines on the crown of the head. Very infusible, made about twelve times.

My initial impression was “meh”, but the later steepings were delightful; this is a nice tea.

Thank you Yunnan Sourcing for this free sample!

Leaf Quality:
The smokey leaves were tightly compacted and were a bit dark, showing some degree of oxidation. The rinsed leaves were smokey, slightly earthy and reminiscent of tree bark and moss. The brewed leaves smelled very smokey and mossy as well.

Brewed Tea:
The first steeping proved to be rather strong given the short steep time. I halved it for the second brewing. Nice smokey notes as well as sweet moss and tree bark were prevalent. The light amber liquor had quite some character to it.
Second Steeping
Though the brew time was halved, I still noticed a little astringency or bitterness at the end of each sip. This wasn’t a negative quality, as I actually enjoyed the way that it blended with the other flavors. Each sip was slightly sweet, but this quality was easily overlooked by the smokiness and mossy notes.
Third Steeping
With this cup, I noticed floral notes. However, the smokiness remained the dominant flavor. Sweet, floral, and smoky were an interesting combination to drink. The bitterness was lighter than the first two brews.
Fourth Steeping
In this brew, I noticed a flavor like that of a fungus or mushrooms. This complimented the mossy and woody notes from the earlier brews. The smokiness was still present, and the floral notes grew stronger with the sweetness. This was my favorite steeping.

I really appreciate a nice Sheng pu-erh every once in a while. Again, Thank you for the free sample.

This tea definitely needs to be given some time to mellow out, but I think it will be nice given a year or so of aging.

Dry cake: The dry leaves have a nice milk chocolaty color with a good number of golden buds mixed in. The cake compression seems ideal (to this newb anyway), its pretty tight, but still loose enough to break apart without too much damage to the leaves.

1st infusion: I gave it a wash and brewed the first infusion; yuck! Tastes like a cup of fermentation. It really wasn’t worth drinking, so I transferred it to a cup to pour over my teapot.

2nd-5th: These were much more drinkable. There is still a some fermentation taste, but it was much less and joined by flavors of chocolate, celery, and oak.

5th-8th: This is where this cake shines. It still has a bit of compost flavor, but the “tea flavors” really come through with notes of date, pecan, cocoa powder, and red wine.

9th-10th: These were weaker, but otherwise like 5-8, and this is where I cut it off.

This isn’t the greatest right now, but I think it will be a nice tea.

I saw this cake on the Yunnan Sourcing website a few weeks ago, and it was very intriguing to me. This is my first review in a while.

Leaf Quality:
The tea cake is comprised completely of golden buds, and was very fragrant. The leaves were tightly compressed and looked very beautiful- I almost didn’t want to break up the cake. The brewed leaves smelled very malty, and also like a red wine.

Brewed Tea:
The brewed tea smelled very floral. It tasted malty, floral, sweet, and had no astringency. The color was a reddish brown, and the initial scent reminded me of White Peony.
Second Steeping
The second steeping was rather floral as well. The sweetness had gone down a bit, but the malty character was still present. This black tea was very mellow, and had a chocolaty finish.

This was a very good tea. I do not recommend it as a breakfast tea, but more of an “anytime” tea. This would be very good to enjoy in the afternoons. I’ve never had a black tea bing cha before, so this was quite an interesting experience.

I got a really cool new yixing in the mail today that I’ll be using for sheng :)

Currently pre-seasoning it with this tea. I gave it a boil for about 45 minutes, took it out and brushed it, and then made extra strong tea with it, which I poured into a pyrex bowl to “steep” the pot in.

I have a new roommate this summer, and I WAS trying to explain my tea obsession without coming off sounding too crazy, but that’s a hard act to keep up when you’re in the kitchen making teapot soup. I’m a fairly awkward person is it is, but so far my roommate seems like a pretty nice guy.

This is the second raw pu’erh that I’ve tried, and a very young one. In my limited knowledge, it seems like a good candidate for aging (which is good for me since I bought a whole cake).

First off I’ll have to say that this cake smells AMAZING! The smell is strong and sweet with figgy and toasted qualities that fill the box where I’m keeping the teas that I brought home with me (at my parents house home on winter break). If they made “raw pu’erh” air fresheners, I’d buy a dozen! :P

The tea brewed a light gold/green color like a lightly roasted oolong, and the leaves opened up to be fairly large, most around two inches, but some larger or smaller. The wet leaves look tender and green like a good dragonwell.

The tea is pungent and sweet, with a predominately apricot flavor, a slight bitterness, and a natural sweetness. In the earlier infusions I found notes of orchid, green olive, and oatmeal.
The bitterness faded in the later infusions leaving sweet and mellow tastes of almond and cream with more a more tropical mango flavor that lingered across the front and back of the tongue.

This is the first tea I’ve tried that had more stamina than I did. I left off at around twelve infusions, though the flavors were still coming through strong. I’m definitely feeling the cha qi on this one. I feel aware and content, and feel the need to lay back and enjoy the day’s beautiful weather. :)

To me this one was more than a let down. It isn’t a ‘meh’ is more of a ‘AGGGHHHHHhhhh’ experience in my opinion. I’ve had great experiences with Yunnan Sourcing’s mini tuos… this is not one of them.

If I were to describe the taste of an not yet ‘aged’ ripe would normally be ‘like clean earth’. This one however (in my opinion, try and judge yourself), taste like unclean earthy. Like when you are eating mushrooms that were not properly cleaned… that ‘extra’ and unwanted earthy taste.

Final Notes
I’m REALLY glad I didn’t buy this one, my friend Roberto gave me around 5 to try more than a few months ago and I haven’t and probably won’t get myself through them. As always try things yourself, also remember that Puerh ages and the earthiness MAY… just MAY, get pleasant, I wont risk it.

Tight, tippy, tobacco, and T. The four T’s. Jakub, fellow puer enthusiast and blogger, sent this 2006 Haiwan Pasha puer.

The tips are welded together…

http://www.twodogteablog.com/2012/11/23/2006-haiwan-pasha/

This tea is fresh and fruity in favor. Great Buy! It is one of the best white tea I have ever tasted for the past 10 years.