Yunnan Sourcing US

Another cup from this morning. So delicious and malty. So good to be home.

somehow this wasn’t in my cupboard. added it yesterday so my number’s up a little. this was a malty delicious cup from what i recall.

Just needed to drink something I knew I would like this afternoon.

Couldn’t make a tea decision this morning, so I pulled out a baggie of this that I had stored at work. Leaves still have that nice, spiced scent. I didn’t really plan to write a tasting note for this, but upon tasting it I didn’t have a choice.

The first steep is way sweeter than I remember this being the past times I drank it, and I’m getting a sweet scent that lingers in the cup afterward. The second infusion is like a medley of sweet spices. Thick and smooth, just as I recall. I’m finding this experience with this blend to be /much/ more like what YS describes on their site than the first time I tried this. I am enjoying it much more than I did the first time, as well.

The third infusion is so sweet and spiced that I’m actually a bit shocked. Finished this up with a couple more steeps, the last one long. All-in-all, much happier with this session than the first!

This is a very pretty cake, and layers of it break off without too much effort.

Very fragrant, spicy scent. The first infusion is kind of watery, though, so maybe I didn’t go long enough or it needs hotter water. That spiced taste lingers on the tongue, however. Not much of a scent lingering in the cup afterward.

Second infusion, same fragrance. The taste is like drinking some herbal infusion moreso than drinking tea, at least for my taste buds. The liquor is a little thicker-feeling in the mouth this go round.

It’s funny. From a distance this tea smells sweeter than it does up close. I think I found the third infusion thicker than the first two. Didn’t have time to enjoy any more after that cup, unfortunately.

drink drink drink…. heh thanks for all these terri!

It’s been awhile since I made myself a cup of Tibetan Yak Butter tea, and this Heicha is perfect for that! Of course, any black or shu will work as well, but heicha tends to have a bit of a sour rye taste (in my opinion) and that goes really well with the salt and ‘butter’.

Since I follow an Auto Immune Protocol (AIP), and am also allergic to animal milks of all kinds, my recipe used the milk of the coconut. Here it is:

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 T of tea. Most recipes say to add the tea to the boiling water and let it simmer for a few minutes, but to be honest most of the time I just brew it in a teapot and let it sit for 4 or 5 minutes.

In your blender combine 1/4 cup coconut milk or cream, 1 T coconut oil (you can use MCT oil if you have it, but I just use the regular stuff), 1/8 tsp salt, and the strained tea. Blend on high for 2 – 3 minutes and enjoy. This makes 2 servings, but I usually drink it all myself.

If you don’t like the salty savory version, add some sweetener instead, or us both!

If you can have real milk, go for it! I’ve heard that canned condensed milk is especially awesome. Or use any of the alternative milks you like.

Warning: This might be habit forming, and it’s a really nice and easy snack if you’re following a ketogenic type way of life. There is something really satisfying about it, and it always provides me with a real energy boost!

I enjoy Hei cha. I don’t drink it every day, but generally speaking, when I order from YS, I like add some Heicha samples to my order. They are nice to have around for variety, and not expensive.

This one has a bit of a sour rye bread flavor, which I find typical of this type of tea. It’s not sour in a bad way, and this quality is part of what makes it interesting, palette cleansing, and different from both Black and Red teas. Lightly smokey pine, tobacco, & a sweet tart aftertaste with a lingering juiciness complete the picture & make this a pleasant end to my tea drinking day.

This is a tasty tea. Some sweetness, some sour, but well balanced. The taste lingers on the back of the tongue. A thick feeling tea.

It’s got some bite to it when left to steep. :)

bready, smooth tasty tea. heh. A non smoky version of ZSXZ. I haven’t tried this version from Yunnan sourcing, so happy to see it in my box from my tea sister. Enjoyed this one while finishing up the last of the household crap in MUCH nicer, sunny yet cool weather. Here’s hoping fall is here to stay and that the humidity is over!

Final count:115

The other 2015 autumn version from my comparison today. Hot and cold this one is more up my alley than the spring 2014, however it’s not as delicious as i remember it being.

This is my last session with this tea, about which I said someplace else that I don’t see myself spending $190/bing on it.

I had a single chunk of beenghole material that clocked in at exactly 8g, I was able to slip in the pick and separate it into a half-dozen or so flakes pretty easily. When I warmed these by putting them in a heated gaiwan, I didn’t get much smell. Sort of generic maturing raw puer, with a bit of sweet hay or grass. I rinsed with boiling water for about 20s while pressing the leaf flakes with the edge of a teaspoon.

The first five or so steeps are mostly a sort of light-fruit sweetness, like white grape or apple. There is a nice enough mouth feel but not a real coating effect for me. I’m steeping with 208F water like 5, 10, 15s… and it takes until the 6th one before the leaves are really unfolded/unstuck from one another. A little bit of aged (OK, partially matured) flavor starts to show up at this point.

My previous couple of sessions with this portend that it’ll last 10+ steeps of gradually downhill from here. It’s nice tea, but does not have any special power that I feel, or taste that knocks my socks off. If I hoped to find why people rave about LBZ by drinking this tea, it was not successful. Maybe a Spring pressing of the same material would be more impressive.

It’s rare that I drink flower infusions, but this one really intrigued me, so I purchased from the Chinese site (not the US one despite title here).

Firstly, the cake itself is beautiful; I’d be happy to have this on display..but drinking is even better.
Steeped aroma is of milk chocolate, dried strawberries and musty earth (the mustiness is not unpleasant nor a fault).

Very rich on the palate, coating all parts of the mouth with honeyed sweetness, chamomile. Long finish.

quite delicious

I make this in a gaiwan. It requires a bit of coaxing to get a thick liquor on the first steep.

The Trails of LBZ, Case 8 of 6
(Liquid Proust search for his favorite laser beam zensheng)

So… I got on Steepster and looked around to see if anyone owned some of this because the samples were and are sold out. Being that it is $190 a cake, it’d be a gamble that if good would be a steal for what it could cost but if not it would be a whole $190 out; or just saying an opportunity cost of possibly 2 Dong Ding cakes and a Jingmai cake.
So, I found someone and tempted them with the now sold out 2009 LBZ that YS had which was at $240 but I doubt that is what it would be sold for now. That tea set the bar for everything else period. As the best sheng I ever had, I’m still upset I cannot buy it as it’s the first cake I’d pay a few hundred for: http://steepster.com/Proust614/posts/335389

The leaf looks like nothing special and has a scent of old tobacco and whorish storage; it’s been places :P
The first few sips were odd because it was like a tea that was made from wood and then aged in a tobacco jar that wasn’t fully cleaned. With those thoughts aside, and being authentic on my experience, I found that the storage notes faded at around steep 3ish. Now it was time to play with this : )
So… this is darker than I would like it to be, which has something to do with being 11 years old and the storage that it has gone through, but I was able to push through multiple steepings of this because of those feels. Taste wise it stays with that grandpas old tobacco that grandma hid 30 years ago so he couldn’t have it and then someone stored some sheng in it not knowing that it needed to be cleaned.
So why are those feels what am I talking through keyboard? Yes, something as if that sentence you read correctly and now I recollect thyself.
breathe
Okay: This tea did a few things for me. Number one, my eyelids are heavy and I look like I fell asleep in a hotboxed car and just woke up. My arms are really light feelings so I can be one of those outdoor floats if I wanted to be right now. This is a calming tea for me, like a … relax and let time continue on slower than it really is passing by; I could talk about the perception of time and the time that Data encountered this complex issues in The Next Generation, but now is not the time.
So the taste of this is not what I prefer but this feeling of just floating on a cloud and letting the cotton candy caress me is quite enjoyable as well is the clarity of my imagination that I’m trying to hold back on while I write this up.

I hope that the same that I sent to my friend ends up being favored over this as well so I can find more confidence in myself in evaluating tea. As the world of evaluating tea is very scary when it comes to pu’erh, I want to establish myself as a laid back dude who knows taste accommodation with people who will vouch for me as I start to bring people in and make recommendations.
Wait did I begin blogging on this tasting note? Okay, so back to watching the end of The Flash and Arrow; wish these shows didn’t have to take a whole year to start watching again, I’ve really enjoyed the nightly discussions my dad and I have while watching them.

I mean, it was good, but I didn’t see the point of buying this brick when I could’ve gotten better quality loose black tea material that didn’t have to be broken apart. Meh.

Inky and rich. This is a delicious and aromatic Yunnan black tea that oozes light brown liquor. The fragrance is full of malt and caramel with allusions to cocoa or carob. This isn’t super complex, but the richness does pull me in more so than other similar Yunnan teas (like pure bud bi luo chun).

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #50
Three teas today that were the last servings in the teabox that I removed. For two teaspoons of leaves, this brewed up quite light. Though there was a chewy breadiness to it. I didn’t think to classify it like the Fujian it is (not really caramel to me). I also thought it would be smokier but it isn’t at all. This one is a bit of mystery. Happy to have tried it, but I’d rather have something in stock that actually seems like a Fujian tea to me.

I’ve heard the saying “Tea Drunk” many times in the past, but I’ve finally experienced this feeling today. I have had two full 24 ounce pots of this, and I’m working on a third. The great thing about this is that I’m still working on the same leaves. However, for this third pot, I’m going to take it slow. I’m so bloated right now, but it’s a good kind of bloated: the tea kind.

I mean this tea is nutty, cocoa-y, rich, and delightful. I think I might finally give up chocolate. Seriously, I am fond of pure teas that could really replace all desserts. My Yunnan Sourcing selection is that and everything. I’ve tried two out of the six teas that I bought, and I can’t seem to move on to anything else at the moment. I’m really enjoying this selection.

Thank you to Nicole for giving me a sample of this tea (Ya’ll should probably get used to that for the next week or so as I review all of the teas she sent me ).

I enjoyed this tea this afternoon while my son was finishing up his nap before we went to pick up my daughter from school. I guilty pleasured this tea by enjoying it with some shortbread cookies. And what a fantastic pairing. The tea itself is pretty solid. Nothing that is a game changer but a really nice drinking tea.

I have to say, more than any tasting notes I picked up from this (of which were some malty tones and bright woodsy notes) this tea actually gave me a feeling more than anything. On the drive to get my daughter, it was such a clear headed, peacefulness. I wanted to give graduation speeches on the importance of kindness and gentleness. I had thoughts of continually teaching my children the power of spreading happy selflessness.

Sounds goofy, sure. But I felt and thought these things and I feel very certain the tea helped my mind achieve this very serene and peaceful sensation from which I am still coming down from. That works for me.

Can’t imagine how I haven’t reviewed this yet. It’s sweet and deep and savory at the same time. Longer steepings bring in that not unpleasant sour note along with a deeper savory nature. Maybe a little ash in the background. And I am not buying more tea this year. Which makes me really sad to note tonight that my supply of this is getting dangerously low.

Having tea with all the pets tonight and using a repaired pot. I didn’t get all the crack sealed, apparently, as it is still leaking a bit. I don’t like the JB Weld repair much since it is shiny. But, it’s better than never using this pot. Maybe if I get back out to Seattle some time, the Market Spice Tea shop will have another one that might not be cracked. :)

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