Yi Mei Ren

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.

I’m gonna go ahead and say it… Raisinetes! Or maybe more like chocolate covered apricots or golden raisins… Good dry Sherry… Silky texture, slightly viscous mouthfeel, long sweet finish. This gets my current “favorite black tea” award! Brewed 2g in a small gaiwan. Quick 4 second rinse then combined the next 5 infusions in a mug. Inf. times: 25s,35s,50s,70s,100s

It’s a bit tricky to pin down the aromas and flavors that this tea offers, but the wet leaves smell of dark chocolate and unripe plums while the flavor is a complex array of dark chocolate, plums, wood and toasted nuts.
The effect is overall delicious and fruity, with a light brisk mouthfeel. Highly recommended!

Backlog from this morning.

I’ve had this tea a few times, and I’m still trying to sort out how I feel about it. It’s definitely not a bad tea, but it’s maltier and breadier than I like. It reminds me of whole wheat bread, of bread crust.

It’s rich, but I tend to like my black teas a little sweeter/spicier. However, I will keep this because sometimes you just need a strong kick in the pants.

I thought I enjoyed the last harvest I tried, but this Spring 2015 is amazing! Honestly one of the best teas I’ve ever tried. It tastes so strongly of pastries it almost tastes flavored. Holds up well even in a travel mug. I just picked up another 100g but am considering updating my order to get 250 instead. I don’t think it can get much better than this

I’ve wanted to try this for a while! I really wanted to like it, but part of my assumed I wouldn’t since I have such bad luck with teas sometimes. xD
So this one was a pleasant surprise for me! :D
The main flavor is bready. It’s very bready-Which I absolutely love! There are notes of honey too, but isn’t overly powerful. Really really enjoyed this one!
Not sure I’d buy it since I have a super bready tea from Tao Tea Leaf that I’m blanking on the name of at the moment…But it’s amazing!
But Terri sent me a really generous sample so I will have a few more cups to decide if I should ever pick this up!
Thank you so much for the sample, Terri!! Happy I liked this one! :D

Gongfu method
5g 100ml gaiwan 205F
Rinse/pause/10/10/15/15/20sec etc
Revisiting this tea, but couldn’t find my previous note. It’s very nice. Chocolaty, lychee aroma, some muscatel notes, raw nuts. It reminds me Ai Lao Mtn teas or even Taiwanese teas. Delightful.

Stephanie threw this one into our swap as a bonus tea. Thank you! I’ve been eyeing the teas on Yunnan Sourcing’s website recently. Everything looks delicious, but I really better wait on buying more tea. ;)

This is a nice black tea. It was malty, sweet potato-y, and after looking at the description, I think I’m convinced I tasted molasses as well. Sometimes I wonder if I actually taste a note listed, or if I’m just easily persuaded! Ha! Overall, though, a very enjoyable tea.

This sample is from Nicole. I’m still working on your box, I promise! :P The leaves are very dark and spindly, a look that I associate with Taiwanese blacks. The leaves themselves are very large, and there are a lot of broken pieces too, which I can see being unavoidable with a tea this fragile. There are also some stems included. The dry scent is all honey and pastry with some dried fruits. I steeped for 2 minutes, but I think I could’ve gone for 3.

The brewed tea smells very dark and malty, with cocoa and sweet raisin notes. Very different from the dry leaf! The taste is not super heavy, most likely because of the shorter steep. It is definitely malty, and there’s a nice dark grain note that isn’t quite like bread. There’s something roasty and toasty about it. I definitely get a bit of bittersweet cocoa, and there’s a lovely rich molasses flavor combined with slightly sweet dark dried fruits (cherries, raisins). I definitely taste an herbaceous spice note, and it reminds me of fennel seed. I notice as this tea cools, I get less of the fruitiness and more of the spice.

A very lovely tea! It reminds me in some ways of Full Steam by Hugo, mostly because of that savory spice. I think next time I’ll try 3 minutes and see how it changes.

I am drinking the Autumn 2013 harvest of this tea, which I believe came to me courtesy of boychik :) :) :)

I slightly underleafed this but I can tell it is a winner. Nice and sweet and malty with cocoa notes. Heck yeah! Next time I will use a lot more leaf. Big leafed teas are hard to measure and I need to get in the habit of weighing them.