Yunnan Sourcing

Wow, I was really not expecting this to be half as good as it is. I mean, I expected it to be good and tasty and whathaveyou, but it’s kind of bugging me how high I’m rating this. I’m not a fan of singular numerical rating and it kinda makes me cringe to see this is right up against my proclaimed “favorite tea” at such a young age for a puerh.
The reason for my prejudice against it? It feels like the producers have successfully cheated. Storing puerh in warm, humid areas accelerates the aging process and when properly executed can effectively replicate up to five years’ worth of active effort in rotating storage conditions under dry storage in the course of a single year. “Hong Kong Storage” – while not necessarily as bad as “wet storage” – is practically synonymous with “musty, dirty, mildewy” tea. Tight compaction and somewhat absorbent coverings surrounding the cakes can mitigate this and make HK stored puerh acceptable or enjoyable, but it’s got a distinct effect on the flavor. Not so in this case.
True, storing in Xishuangbanna is not storing in Hong Kong and five years at origin is hardly “aging” when considering vintage puerh. However, much of the qualities of similar age sheng puerh from nearby areas have been mellowed and flavors have definitely developed at a higher rate. Still doesn’t have what I’d even consider a light “aged character” but it has a greater range of flavors, much mellower, is very sweet, and has a wonderful aroma. I keep trying to imagine some sort of mustiness, but it is remarkably clean.

I used 2g with 60ml water in a small glazed ceramic gaiwan. Single rinse really opened up the compacted leaves. Kept the temperature at 85 degrees C for the first 7 infusions and went up to 87 C for 8th-10th infusions. Steep time progressed 20. 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 55, 65, 90, 120 seconds.

The leaves are really pretty. Mostly mossy green but with brownish green patches, a ton of silvery and white down covered long buds, and a few bright golden-down and purplish leaves here and there. Compaction is pretty firm towards the center and gradually looser towards the margins, where whole leaf sets can be wriggled free. Dry fragrance is mineral-y, green zucchini skin/leaves vegetal, and somewhat stripped-bark sweet with a pervasive camphor note tingling underneath. Wet leaves look a whole heck of a lot like a twisted leaf lightly oxidized oolong – after the 7th infusion they look like phoenix pearls that have unfurled, just a shade darker. A lot of intact leaves… Actually, the only broken leaves I can find are attached to 2-3 leaf sets that are mostly intact with developing buds. Color of cooked grape leaves – a dark olive green with some slightly yellow-brown mossy green on smaller leaves and attached twigs. Just now realizing I’m not finding any twigs or stem on its own, how I’m used to seeing in inexpensive cakes (though this is more common in shu than sheng, it seems). Wet leaf aroma is squashy and tulip-floral with a bark and cacao-like sweet and a slight dried mandarin orange fruit note, similar to orthodox Nilgiri and some Sri Lankan red tea. There’s a tacky, spicy “green” aroma, like spinach or mustard greens. Liquor is clear light yellow with a faint pink tint in earlier infusions, steadily darkening to a light honey color. Liquor aroma also conveys some honey in the aroma, along with warm floral notes (most notably Cymbidium) and a sort of steamed milk and vanilla bean creamy aroma.

Rich body and sweet taste again draws similarities to Wenshan Baozhong and Phoenix/Dragon Pearls, but this is far sweeter. The fresher vegetal qualities are subdued and mostly resigned to the aroma and nose with more stripped wood and moss coming through over them. The sweetness and mouthfeel is really similar to sugar water! Not quite syrupy, but just a little less sugar than I’m used to using when making lemonade. There’s this awesome effect of spiciness inherent in the draught, surging in and out of the primary flavors like swells on the ocean. The spice and savory mixed with the subdued vegetal-floral flavors is really similar to ginger. It’s kind of funny how much the tea resembles the herbal blend I had earlier today, minus the faint hint of tannin or medicinal flavor the Laguna Blend is hiding. Even pollen characteristics and mouthwatering effects are inherent, but much more balanced in the puerh (and much more mouthwatering… sort of verging on drool status). There are cooked vegetable flavors in there too, but low key. Green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mustard greens. The range of flavors is more vertical than horizontal, as in young/fresh teas that sort of toss a splatter of flavors at your palate and you mop up the residues to see how they work in the aftertaste. This is more like digging through the mixture of flavors to unveil others hiding underneath and the flavors/nose characteristics you toss aside to get deeper pop back later in the afteraroma and aftertaste that comes back quickly and evaporates slowly. The aftertaste is sort of stepped – it comes in, fades away, and another takes its place as though precipitating from the afteraroma into a sweet aftertaste.

Clean, savory, sweeeet, and spicy with a juicy, gingery mouthfeel and serious play on the salivary glands. One of those teas that is simultaneously interesting and relaxing, going hand in hand with its dichotomy of rich yet refined character. Hmm… James Bond in a cup? More like Zorro.
This isn’t your dark and brooding puerh. While mellower than other shengs its age, it is stimulating, clean, and not far from its green roots. What’s more, it is kinder than its kin – it appears to accept a wider range of brewing parameters without risking astringency and can go for a long duration of infusions in spite of opening up really fast.

The last puerh I reviewed was a “nom nom nom” experience whereas this is much more droolalicous.

I’m feeling mighty lucky here, ‘cause I just bought three of these cakes at the same time as the samplers, with the intent to season a pair of duan ni pots with this guy as wedding gifts. The two couples I got these for are getting much tastier tea than I thought they’d be having.

Addendum:
Since the 10th infusion had this interesting barley flavor the others didn’t, I decided to really push the leaves. 11th infusion used 87 degree water for 10 minutes. Still smooth and sweet, but that barley note and a willow bark taste (yes, I’ve chewed willow bark – natural aspirin) comes through a lot more. Sweetness is much more grape-like. Actually tastes a lot like a mellower, sweeter full leaf Indian red tea, minus the astringency. Sort of halfway between full leaf Darjeeling and Kandy, Sri Lanka. 12th infusion I used boiling water and steeped 5 minutes, producing an infusion very much like three year old, dry-storage shengs brewed with cooler water. More in line with Mengku and Nan Nuo than Wu Liang or Lincang, as would be expected due to proximity. Light and vegetal with grapeskin crispness, mineral slick feel, and faint astringency in the very bottom of the throat.

I got one of these 100g mini-beengs in 2007, bought ten more at the beginning of 2009 and have been drinking them up and gave a few away as gifts. I’m down to 2 and 3/4 cakes left and will miss ‘em when they’re gone as they are great for drinking with meals (especially oily/greasy stuff like a lot of Chinese food). Tons of oompf for such a tiny package – little beengcha, little leaves, big flavor. Mellowed a bit since the first taste I had, but age has had little effect thus far and I doubt the tea will survive to a point where it’s effect is really significant.

10g with 225ml water in a seasoned “shi piao” Yuan Kuang Lao ZiNi yixing teapot. Double rinse to break up very tight compaction. 1st infusion 20 seconds; 2nd infusion 25 seconds; 3rd-6th infusions 30 seconds each.

Leaves are tightly compacted but not as absurdly tight as an iron-cake and it is possible to break of chunks using just fingers. There’s a lot of buds but grading ripe puerh is tricky – while graded piles are segregated in wo dui prep, most is done on the basis of size after being broken down in active fermentation so these fairly uniform leaf bits contain buds, rolled bits of young leaves, and thin broken twigs of the sort that connect 2 leaf and a bud sets. Still, the cakes are pretty equally brown and gold with a reddish reflection. Embedded paper has started taking on some tea oils but still an overall matte appearance. Not much dry fragrance beyond dry clay-rich loam. Same note dominates in heady wet aroma but with warm moist leaf litter base. Coppery sweetness in aroma like candied pecans/walnuts. Did I mention clay? Always reminds me of sculpting in the same room as an operating kiln. Liquor is dark red with clear transparency but the color makes it nearly impossible to see through the tea without back-lighting.

Heavy, heavy body. Mouthwatering tacky quality similar to currants/prunes but there really isn’t a fruit note except maybe a fleeting hint of prune in the aftertaste. Flavor hits at the back, near the throat first and then you notice the flavor in the rest of your mouth. This is all about the moist earth flavors. Sweetness is pleasantly metallic. Like the comforting sweet smell of bronze antiques or lightly rusted cast iron. Mmm, boy it’s rich. Lots of woody tastes – less acidic than orchid bark, but moist chopped hardwood bark a definite. Aroma suggests resin and pepper but these are not really present in neither flavor nor nose. Long finish of unglazed clay wares. For all its earthy characters, it is not dirty. These are humus and refined base soil material notes, not dust or dung. I’ve seen some people call the barnyard smell of wet-storage puerh as “pu-erh like” (or “poo-air” like the common mispronunciation of the tea category); this does not have that off-characteristic. Puerh ought to have a clarity despite its earthen qualities in shous or aged shengs. Sure, this is a wo dui processed tea and has an old building character to it, but no farm animals here and the mustiness is kept to the wet leaves. Rich, potent, and smoooooth with long lasting but clear finish.

I love this tea and it is a staple for drinking with food. So why the rating? The rating reflects the reality check of the real level of this tea – it is not a superb, must-try tea. It tastes really good and makes a good gift for folks who actually drink good tea, but it can not compare to a well-aged cake or many teas that cost 10 times as much. There is a huge presence of flavor and you can pick out all kinds of tastes if you try – ranging from toasted white oak, teak, dried bullrush, and water lily – but the complexity is not something that you really jump at and in six infusions prepared gong fu cha, there really is not much shift in flavor. On the plus side, it it reliable and can cut through the impacts of drinking alongside a meal, but monodirectional flavor doesn’t earn a high score in my book. You don’t reach for a $100 bottle of wine to drink with every meal, however much you may enjoy it; same goes for this good everyday tea.
I’d still recommend this to friends, but I can’t find any more to buy.

7g in 200ml seasoned duan ni squat shi piao yixing teapot.

Leaves are a work of art. Even when broken apart, they have great luster and preserve their shape well. If I didn’t worry about aromatic taints and light corruption, I’d have this out on display it is so pretty. Leaves smell pretty green – basically fresh mao cha. A touch of gravelly loam and seven grain bread. Wet aroma liberates some more nectar-like qualities and sandy clay aroma (not just the smell of the teapot). Reminds me of the smell of fresh mulch. Not a ton going on, but pleasant.

Mellow, balanced young sheng puerh. Liquor appearance and body very similar to 1 part honey diluted in 3 parts hot water. Smooth. Really smooth for how young it is. Sweetness is about on par with infused Chamomile. Lack of bitterness or assertive qualities has me feeling this may not age particularly well but it is very pleasant drinking for a cake that ought to be “too young to drink.” Very soft.

Nice drinking tea if you’re a fan of relatively fresh mao cha or Yunnan greens.

Woah! this tea is awesome – fresh like cut grass and that mouthfeel thing which I think you call Hui Gan. Soo thick and visceral! Only needed very short steeps at the beginning.

First time trying this tea. May become my favorite. Robust heavy smoked. 1st, 30s, 2nd 15s…

Had a nice brewing session with this tea this morning—4 or 5 infusions in a small glass teapot, the better to see the beautiful leaves unfolding. It was so delicate and floral and sweet and perfect that I fell in love all over again. I started out with about 12 ‘poles’ in a 6 oz teapot, water 160 degrees, infused 30-90 seconds in the first few infusions, then upped the temp a littele to 170 for another infusion or two (writing this in the evening, can’t be too precise). But I did count out the little poles as I dropped them into the pot. I will definitely be ordering this one again.

Drank this one gongfu cha today during a long meeting. It held up well for a good dozen infusions or so.

Used 1.8 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwan
Infusions 160°F/71°C-170°F/77°C
30”, 30”, 30”

Jade Pole Supreme Yunnan green tea from Yunnan Sourcing

Dry Leaves: long twists of intact leaves, camphor, vegetal, grassy aroma
Liquor, 1st infusion: pale ivory liquor; mild, camphor, floral
Liquor, 2nd infusion: peachy, sweet, camphor
Liquor, 3rd infusion: peachy, sweet, camphor, first astringency, hints of bitterness
Wet Leaves: beautifully intact yellow-green leaves, in pairs of one very small bud and one larger leaf

Tasting notes with photos on my site here:

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/GreenTeaTasting.html

(no ads, nothing for sale, just tea notes & pictures)

Slurp.

Still liking this a lot. IMHO, the key is using a lot of leaf.

Still on the first steep, but my, oh my, what a lovely tea! Light, delicate, smooth but not cloying. Yum.

Almost out of this tea. Sad.

I think I’ve hit the sweet spot for brewing this tea. 3 minutes.