Yunnan Sourcing

I bought a cake of this right after it was released. It has had six months to chill in my pumidor and today I felt like finally giving it a shot. This is the second Yiwu ripe I’ve tried, the first one being the Hai Lang Hao 2017 Yi Shan Mo. Premium and ultra premium ripes have been a growing trend in recent years and while not highest of the high-end, at 22¢/g Yi Wu Rooster is definitely priced above what most people are accustomed to paying for shu pu’er.

The dry material looks much more akin to raw cakes than your typical ripe. I recall Scott saying in his YouTube video for this tea that he suspects it was likely originally intended to be sold as a sheng and the decision to turn it into a shu was made later. The compression isn’t too tight at all and I was careful to maintain leaf integrity while I broke into the little pie. I used a suitable ratio of large chunks to smaller individual pieces in my trusty 160ml Jianshui clay teapot, 12g total. The tea was also drunk from a cup made from the same clay.

I gave the leaves a ten second rinse, followed by a five minute rest during which I prodded the larger pieces gently with my finger to help them come apart more easily. This was almost not necessary because of the loose compression. I proceeded to do nine infusions, the timing for these being 10s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s and 2 min.

The first infusion brewed up a cloudy diluted cola as you’d expect from a tea this young. The initial taste was that of sweet dirt. Really sweet. A really bright sweetness. There was a certain coffee/caramel vibe as well, but without any of the darker base notes that coffee has for example. Overall the flavors were really bright and forward, not veiled or obscured in any way. So far this was a quite unique tea. The aftertaste was long; coffee, caramel, insane sweetness.

The second infusion brewed much clearer. Darker, but nothing crazy. Certainly dark though. The taste was quite clean, but not 100% clean, more like 90%. The flavors were light in nature (nothing to do with actual strength), body medium or close to it, improved from before. I could taste some red berries, with some very minor bitterness in the finish. The bitterness was also accompanied by sweetness and there was some minor cooling in the mouth. The finish eventually turned into pretty typical shu flavors, but was accompanied by noticeable sweetness and the finish of berries. I might’ve started feeling the tea a little at this point. I don’t necessarily mean that in the sense of qi.

Steep three was likely the best so far. The flavors were coming across more clearly than in the previous steep, similar to the first one. There was slightly less body now, but still relatively similar to before, light+. The flavors were really lasting. One sip was enough and after that you didn’t want to drink more for a while since there was no point. The sweetness was really potent. I could feel it in my gums. I think I’d describe it as a date-like sweetness, although it’s been a while since I’ve had dates. There was some very minor bitterness in the finish. For a shu this is a quite potent tea. Not among the most potent ones I’ve had, but more potent than most. I’m not talking about flavor here. Not necessarily qi either, more just how much you “feel” the tea in your body. That being said, I did start feeling the effect of the tea on my tongue, a certain numbness starting to spread to it. Once the tea cooled it did actually get considerably thick. As you kept drinking the overall impression started veering more and more toward toffee and caramel notes, caramel coffee is how I’d describe it.

My first impression of steep four was that it was sweet. The tea was starting to develop some darker tones now as well. I could feel the tea at the back of my mouth. There was also something familiar that I was finding hard to place. A some sort of roasted note perhaps. While a gentle tea on one hand, it is also deceptively potent. I found myself having to slow down my drinking at this point. The fact that this was only steep four scared me a little.

Of course immediately after I thought that the fifth steep brewed much thinner, the tea beginning to simplify in the process. While the flavor notes were a touch “thin” now, they were still coming across swimmingly. We were now back to those berries. There was a definitive berry sweetness accompanied by underlying darker shu notes – ones I’d classify falling somewhere in the roasted category or perhaps slightly in the dirt/sand territory rather than in the woodsy or overly soily bracket. I’ve never drunk wine (I don’t drink), so I’m not entirely sure what it is people are talking about when they speak of tannins. However, right after downing the last of this infusion I could feel an unpleasant dry sensation at the back of my mouth/tongue, different from your typical astringency. This is something I’ve experienced before, in the context of Lipton black tea or bad coffee if my memory serves right, but I could be mistaken as it hasn’t happened to me recently. I’ve never experienced this in the context of quality whole leaf tea, so it was a bit of a surprise. I don’t know if it’s tannins or me developing a sore throat, so I’m not going to hold it against the tea too much. Moving on.

From this point on the tea became fairy simple and mainly sweet, but steeps six and seven still had a small amount of depth to the notes and complexity to the tea as a whole. I can easily see many people losing interest at this point, though. There was an increasing level of minerality and the tannins from steep five were still present in steep six, but disappeared after that. The last two infusions were not enjoyable anymore and I actually ended up tossing them. Steep nine was severely lacking in color as well.

Those familiar with my other reviews may know that my track record with Yunnan Sourcing’s sheng pu’ers has generally been quite good. The kind of teas Scott likes to source – strong, clean, pure – are something that appeal to me. When it comes to the Yunnan Sourcing brand ripe pu’ers, I’ve found them less to my tastes. None of them have been bad (although I hated my first session with Rooster King, it has improved since then), but all of them I’ve found merely okay, which is not enough to satisfy me. One exception is Wild Purple Green Mark, which I highly recommend, but that’s a blend of raw and ripe so it doesn’t really qualify as a pure shu. And now there’s this tea. I wasn’t sure what to expect given my track record with other YS ripes, but this tea is good. It is quite unique among ripes and highly enjoyable during the first half. The flavors are strong and well defined and the aftertaste very long-lasting in the first several steeps. The longevity is somewhat disappointing at this stage, but given the age of the tea, age of the tea trees, the region and the level of fermentation, it is not at all surprising. Hopefully this will improve with age.

In its current state, I would categorize this tea as perfectly drinkable right now. It is not totally clean tasting just yet, but unless you demand your shus ultra clean, I doubt you’ll have issues with it. Those specifically looking for those dirt notes will not find them here. For me this tea borders on being too sweet, and at some point in the future I could see it crossing that threshold. If you are eyeballing an Yiwu ripe, you know you’re most likely getting a sweet tea. Despite what I said about this tea being drinkable now, my personal recommendation would actually be to hold off for at least two to five years before drinking it. This is most definitely one of the less fermented ripes I’ve had and a lot of room has been left for it to develop. I think the potency I spoke of in my notes may very well stem from the relative “greenness” of these leaves. The steeped leaves look very much like sheng with a fair amount of age, but nothing even remotely close to fully mature sheng or much more heavily fermented shu that’s just black. Those who can find some green teas or less oxidized wulongs at times too potent or taxing on your body may want to let this tea age a fair bit like I intend to do. Drinking it now, while good, does not let the tea show its full potential.

To sum up my thoughts, while not as good as the absolute high-end ripes out there, this is a really good tea for the price. At the very least I would recommend a sample for those interested, but depending on your personal preferences this is not a tea for everyone. If you are a fan of Yiwu sheng, but have never tried a Yiwu ripe before, I would consider this a good introduction.

This was actually my most recent sipdown as I finished the last of a 50g pouch of this tea earlier in the day. Honestly, I rushed to review this tea because it struck me as being rather unique. It reminded me of some of the jade oolongs that are coming out of Taiwan, though I suppose it really should considering that the gentleman who produced this tea is Taiwanese. This tea, however, was more than just a Taiwanese-style oolong produced in Yunnan Province; it was an oolong that very skillfully demonstrated the effects that a different terroir can have on a tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 9 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of cream, vanilla, custard, and gardenia. After the rinse, I detected aromas of vanilla and sugarcane accompanied by hints of spinach. The first infusion introduced butter and soup broth-like umami scents. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of cream, vanilla, butter, and sugarcane that were backed by faint gardenia notes and hints of umami, spinach, grass, and sour apricot in the aftertaste. Subsequent infusions saw the emergence of a stronger and saltier umami presence on the nose, a stronger spinach aroma, and the introduction of subtle grass, watercress, lettuce, apricot, orange zest, and pear scents. In the mouth, stronger gardenia, apricot, grass, and umami notes were present, though I also found new impressions of lettuce, green apple, minerals, watercress, daylily, daylily shoots, seaweed, pear, and orange zest. Custard impressions belatedly emerged in the mouth as well. The lengthier later infusions offered lingering notes of minerals, daylily shoots, grass, umami, and butter that were backed by sugarcane, vanilla, green apple, and pear hints.

While this tea did offer aromas and flavors I normally associate with Taiwanese oolongs of this style, its mouthfeel was much heavier, thicker, and pricklier. The way the flavors expressed themselves was brasher and more strident. The tea almost felt as if it had a bit of swagger to it. It also displayed surprising longevity compared to some of its foreign counterparts. I actually could have kept going with this session, but it was getting late. The tea liquor was also starting to get a bit chalky and astringent for my liking, so I cut it off where I did. All in all, this was a fascinating and highly enjoyable rolled oolong. I doubt I would pick it over similar teas from Taiwan and Southeast Asia since I happen to enjoy a bit of restraint and subtlety in teas of this type, yet I would certainly not turn down a tea like this in the future. Check it out if you are looking for an oolong with a bit more bluster and liveliness.

This is easily my favorite of the Hei Cha samples I bought from YS. Unlike the others, this was not muddy or earthy at all, but honey-sweet, slightly minty, with creamy vanilla and birch bark flavors.

It’s also a powerhouse of a tea and will last all day if you keep the steeps short. Overall, this is a really nice, friendly tea that fits somewhere between a ripe and a raw pu erh.

3rd time trying it now. It’s getting better each time taste wise. I found out the problem. It’s not the taste but that my stomach is sensitive to it. Perhaps the sharpness and the sour notes at the end steepings did my tummy in the first go around. I drank it in the morning before any food. >.< The 2nd time I drank it after dinner and it was much much better. I’ll probably have to work on finding the right temperature and steeping time as it is complex, full-bodied, intense yet smooth, bold, pungent, rich, thick, astringent… Definitely not a mellow light tea. Although intense, it is balanced which makes it pleasing. Some honey, fruity, lychee, sour notes. It numbs my tongue a little too. Has a long finish. If you’re a fan of Dan Cong, I think you’d like this. Should give it a go.

Good Da Hong Pao. Wonderful nutty and chocolate aroma. Nutty, comforting, bold taste. Almost like dark fudge with nuts with a lasting finish, light astringency. I really enjoyed this sample.

Last sample of this. Today it seems a little perfumy for me, flowery, also a little sharper. Perhaps because I’m using boiling water unlike before where I used 200F. There is still the great balance of sweet and bitter though.

Aromatic, smooth mouthfeel, rich and bold flavor, slight astringency, honey yet bittersweet, however, a little sharp for me. It’s balanced & pretty delicious cup of tea. First time trying it today. I’m on my 10th infusion (gongfu) and it’s still good.

Apricot, white wine like astringency, smooth. I like this one. Also the leaves are beautiful.

Tea advent day 5

I keep forgetting to log these. Better late then never, I guess.

This is a tasty oolong with buttery tropical fruit notes and some burnt sugar/toasted grain notes. It feels like a nice balance between a jade oolong and a roasted oolong.

I was pretty sure I had reviewed this before, but oh well.

~80 deg. C for 4.5 minutes, ~1 tbs leaf in 600mL hot water.
2016 harvest

I’m watching this great documentary called “The Raw and the Cooked” about traditional Taiwanese cooking and I feel the need to drink oolong now. I know this one is from Anxi, China, however it is the only oolong I have with me.

This light roast smells more like a medium roast and gives a bit more of a toasted grain and mineral flavour to it. The roasted flavours in oolongs are always difficult to desribe, but I guess it is similar to toasted barley or whole grain toast. There is a bit of creamy mouthfeel, but not as much as one would hope for from a jade oolong (does a roasted oolong count as a jade oolong? idk what counts).

First flush teas are supposed to be highly prized but for me, the taste doesn’t always live up to the hype. Second flush greens and darjeelings are often more robust than early picked tea. Take for example this Imperial Grade Laoshan green tea. I tore through 25g of the “Classic” second flush version of the same tea in no time but I haven’t been able to muster the same enthusiasm for its 1st flush counterpart. This has the familiar vegetal notes of soybean, fennel/anise, and green bean however they were washed out and the tea had little depth of flavor. The anise note in particular is a little too strong at times bordering on astringent. I also get fewer steeps from this than I do from the Classic laoshan green tea.

Lesson learned, higher grade doesn’t necessarily translate to better taste and I’m happy that I can save money by buying second flush teas.

I was able to try gongfu with this tea, so here are some updated notes.

Gongfu (3g/60ml/85 C), 10 steeps total:
I started with a 10 second steep and added 5-10 seconds for the first several infusions, then gradually increased the additional time; final, 10th steep was 5 minutes.

The lid of the gaiwan throughout had a sweet roasty aroma, somewhere between burnt sugar and caramelized winter squash. The brews start out a pale golden amber that grows deeper amber with each steep. The aroma of the brew is hard to describe – the main scent and flavor through all infusions is what I (unhelpfully) identify as “smooth black tea” – basic, familiar black tea with no bitterness, no brisk or brash flavors to hit you in the face, etc.

The roasted/toasted notes that were prominent in western brewing are lightly present almost the whole time, only beginning to fade around steep 9. There is a little malt, but that is never a strong note; there is a light sweetness, but it never crosses into syrup, honey, caramel, or any other kind of flavorful sugar. I think YS describes the tea as having a “sugar cane” taste, but even that attributes more flavor than I was able to pick up. The impression I was left with was of clear corn syrup – a little sweet, but without any accompanying related flavors. In the first couple steeps there is a hint of buttery taste & texture that adds to the suggestion of roasted squash, but this too fades quickly.

The middle steeps barely hinted cocoa powder and brought a touch of dryness, and while the leaves themselves began to smell more earthy, that flavor never really materialized.

In the final steeps I tried pushing the temperature to 90 C to see if I could coax out any more flavors, but all this did is bring out some more dryness/astringency and a little bitterness.

Overall, I’m afraid I found the Mojiang disappointing when brewed gongfu. It was mild & pleasant, but all the flavors were light, with no strong impressions – no layers, no complexity, no real changes between steeps. (I’d rate this 65 with gongfu.)

I’ll stick with western or, more likely, cold brew with this tea, as that yielded the most interest.

I’ve tried this western and cold brewed and it is very good both ways, though western is disappointingly short-lived. I’m quite eager to try gongfu and see what else is revealed.

Western (4.2g/250ml, 85 C), 5 steeps in all:
The dry leaf is lovely & fun – soft, fluffy, loose blonde curls. The aroma on opening the bag is strong cocoa, followed by earthy malt. Wet leaves add a coffee roastiness with the sweet cocoa.
3 min – Very pretty dark red brew; aroma is earthy, sweet, and complex – I smell brown sugar, chocolate, some kind of baked good. Flavor is earthy sweetness, cocoa, a little coffee bitterness, light tannin finish. Something vaguely fruity I can’t put my finger on. Finish has bitter note like the burnt edges of a brownie. YES – after a few sips I settle on brownies – baked cocoa, burnt sugary edges, even the slight fruitiness you get with good dark chocolate.
4 min – the aroma is the same, but the flavor is already receding and isn’t quite living up to the smell; dryness a bit stronger in throat on finish.
5 min (reduced to 200ml, increased to 90 C) – no real change from second steep, despite adjustments.
7 min (increased to 95 C) – losing strength
10 min (increased to boiling) – ditto
(I’d rate this 75 when brewed western)

Cold brew (1g/100ml):
Aroma is so pleasing – floral, fruit, cane sugar, cocoa, faint roast. Taste is very good – mostly smooth but interesting; bright, a little fruity cherry-almond with hint of roasty/coffee bittersweet finish. (I’d rate this 80 as iced tea)

I got this at the same time as the Wu Liang Hong Mao Feng Black that I enjoyed so much, so I can’t help comparing them in my mind. They had some flavor notes in common, though this had the yummy roasted coffee & toasty cocoa notes. Interestingly, to me the flavors in the Mojiang were like a lot of delicious notes tasted simultaneously, but without supporting or bouncing off each other, if that makes sense. For me this is coming short in the comparison to the mao feng black because of that lack of flavor harmony, the quick fade-out, and the fact that this is twice the price. I’m not at all sorry I got it and will enjoy finishing the 25g, though! I’ll update when I try gongfu.

This has to be a turning point for me. With the completion of this review, I will have reviewed at least three teas in the same month I finished them for the first time in what feels like a very long time. To be clear, I finished a 25g pouch of this tea last week. I’m a big fan of Yunnan white teas, but I was especially impressed by this one. It was a very visually appealing tea; those little rings were just so cute. It, however, also produced a very satisfying drinking session.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled leaf buds in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry earrings produced aromas of hay, sugarcane, and smoke. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of malt, cooked lettuce, and corn husk. The first infusion then introduced scents of asparagus and bamboo. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of bamboo, hay, cooked lettuce, malt, smoke, corn husk, and sugarcane that were chased by impressions of apricot and sour plum. Subsequent infusions saw the nose turn creamy and buttery, though scents of lemon zest and eucalyptus were also evident. In the mouth, notes of asparagus arrived along with new flavors of artichoke, minerals, butter, cream, grass, marshmallow, lemon zest, straw, and eucalyptus. The final infusions emphasized lingering mineral, cooked lettuce, cream, lemon zest, and stone fruit notes that were underscored by hints of corn husk, butter, sugarcane, malt, and grass. I also managed to pick up a very subtle spinach note that came out towards the swallow on the final two or three infusions.

This was an interesting and very likable Yunnan white tea. I am certain that fans of such teas would enjoy it. Definitely consider giving it a shot if you are looking for a flavorful, aromatic, and visually appealing white tea. I doubt it will disappoint.

This is a pleasant surprise! I wasn’t expecting anything more than a daily drinker but I think this exceeds that category. The tea is clean (I drank the rinse) and right on point for a young sheng, with predominantly apricot flavors and a pleasant astringency. The second through fourth steeps were noticeably thicker and sweeter with some nutty and grassy notes emerging. It also produces a nice tea buzz. A great value!

Ever wonder why they called it “cooked” puerh?
This is one of the most unusual teas I’ve ever tried. I was expecting the “mini brick” to be the size of, say, a small paperback book. Instead, it’s smaller than a pack of cigarettes! Very densely packed too, and very ripe. The dry tea smells lovely, like fragrant tobacco. And the brewed tea tastes something like tobacco too. Another review I read somewhere called it “ashy” and I think that’s accurate. It tastes roasted, almost burnt. It’s not smoky, exactly, but I think “ashy” is a good description. Or maybe charcoal. There’s no fishiness in it, but there is very little fresh tea taste left. Instead, it tastes very very “cooked.” And I don’t know if it is me, but the wet leaves give off a peculiar smell I can only describe as kind of like petroleum, or turpentine, or linseed oil. I started to think this stuff was so composted it was on its way to becoming crude oil. I’m not saying I don’t like it though. It’s just very strong and a little peculiar. I’ve only been into puerh for a few months, but I’ve tried probably a dozen ripe teas, and this was the most unusual. Let me know if you have the same experience I did, especially with regards to the smell.

Dry leaves smell somewhat fruity, but it’s not a really memorable smell. However, the wet leaf srome is more enticing. There are notes of compost, conifer forest and roasted nuts. In the empty cup I get mosly sugarcane and floral/pollen notes.

The smell is not where the tea wins me over though. It pales a bit in comparison with both the taste and mouthfeel. The taste is a balanced mix of tart, fruity, vegetal and bitter. The main flavours I get are menthol, citrus fruits and papaya, and bread crust. There is definitely quite a bit of astringency around, but I didn’t find it to be stealing the show. The mouthfeel is really lovely – thick, creamy and cooling. The aftertaste is fairly long and transformative. It starts off quite dry and floral, but over time gets really sweet and a little spicy.

Later steeps become very potent as the bitterness hits-in-your-face. They retain the full body still, it’s just a bit harder to pick up nuances of the tea as a result of how strong it is. The tea definitely has something going on in the cha qi department. However, I started this session in a fairly non-standard state of mind so it’s hard to compare to other teas. At first it made me really dreamy, but later I felt like it helped clear my mind from clutter and focus, still inducing a calming state though. I also got a tingling sensation down the back of my neck.

This is my favourite sheng I have tried so far in the ~0.1$/g category and it is comparable to the best ones from the 0.2$/g category I got from YS. Highly recommended, given the price/quality ratio. Personally, I will be aiming to get a cake in my next YS order.

Ever since trying the Hai Lang Hao 2017 Yi Shan Mo ripe pu’er – and subsequently buying an entire 1kg brick of it – I’ve been somewhat infatuated with this village. Since then I’ve been on a quest to find a raw pu’er that spoke to me as well. Before this I’ve already tried Hai Lang’s 2015 offering as well as Yunnan Sourcing’s own 2017 autumn. The 2015 I’ve already reviewed, but found way too intense for me. The 2017 I drank a couple months ago, but did not write notes for as it did not come across as particularly interesting or noteworthy. I may have simply drunk it too young, a year from now it might be better.

I was probably not the only one knocked aback a little when I saw this and the Xiang Chun Lin listed among the first Yunnan Sourcing pressings for 2018. At 80–90¢/g, I believe these are the most expensive teas Scott has pressed to date. The prices are nothing outrageous for quality old arbor Yiwu, but in Yunnan Sourcing’s catalogue this hits a new price point. Since Scott typically demands a pretty clear correlation between price and quality from the teas he presses, I was interested to try this.

Since some of the past 10g samples I’ve ordered from YS have been clocking at close to twelve grams, I decided to weigh this one just to make sure I wasn’t going totally overboard. My sample was almost precisely 11g and after some deliberation I decided to use it all in the largest gaiwan I had on hand, which was 140ml. That’s a ratio of 1g/12.7ml, in case you are wondering. My sample was virtually entirely in loose form, a mixture of whole, intact leaves, broken bits and a couple minuscule pieces of the cake. I gave the leaves a brief sub-five-second rinse, followed by a ten minute rest while I sipped on the precious nectar that had grazed the leaves. The wet leaves carried the scent of peach and plum. This was carried over to the taste, which was strong, mineraly, with clear notes of peach. I could even taste the stone inside the peach, which was just uncanny. The finish was long and once the leaves cooled their scent became that of sweet, sweet peach tart. Simply amazing.

I proceeded to do a total of eleven infusions, the timing for these being 6s, 6s, 8s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s, 2 min. and 3 min. Yi Shan Mo started off strong, clean and mineraly, with incredible clarity of the liquor right out of the gate. I could feel a really active tingling sensation in my jaw and tongue of course. The back of the tongue especially, gradually extending back toward the throat. The taste was maybe slightly citric and tart – but the feeling in the mouth and throat was the highlight here.

The second infusion was powerful, but by no means overpowering or anything even close to that. It was clean, delicious, with a strong mineral vein running through it still. There was a touch of acidic tartness to give it the edge it needed. Super delicious tea. The feeling in the body was very notable. I could feel it in my chest, moving downward. When I breathed through my nose, I could taste amazing flavors in my mouth. Even after finishing the infusion, new, amazing, complex fruity notes were emerging on my tongue. Sensations and flavors were radiating from my throat, which was beginning to feel constricted while my tongue began to throb and grow numb. So much to write about one infusion. Based on how it started off, this was one of the best teas I’ve had.

Sold on this tea yet?

Steep three was strong, mineral, slightly tart. Somewhat creamy after you swallowed. Powerful, serene. Made you stop between sips and contemplate. The taste was slightly vegetal and oily, bitter greens one might say. The cha qi was quite prominent, but not overpowering and content in just hanging in the background. I got some huigan after finishing the infusion, maybe some lingering green bitterness as well.

I found the body of the fourth infusion somewhat disappointing. The taste had also devolved into “green leaf juice” with some fleeting bitterness, which was naturally somewhat disappointing after such a good run. The qi was still there, hanging around in the background. Steep five brought back the tartness, along with some sweet, sweet sweetness. The tea was aromatic, with some vegetable/garden/soil notes in the finish. The sweetness only intensified over time, later joined by huigan radiating from my throat. My mouth was left incredibly sweet. I predict this tea is going to develop an incredible sweetness over the years. Along with the sweetness, I felt a growing cooling sensation, expanding from my mouth to my nose. Eventually when I breathed it felt like someone was pressing an ice pack against the section where my nose and throat intersect. While this was going on, a small heatwave also washed over me, making me feel hot and cold at the same time and break into a light sweat.

Steep six was a mix of sweet, bitter and acidic. The body was acceptable and the finish great as always. The tea was quite aromatic if you did a long slurp. The somewhat intoxicating qualities present up to this point were still there as well. The brew that followed was super mineraly. The taste of bitter greens was present and the tingling sensation in my jaw and back of the mouth from earlier in the session made a return. Various aromatics emerged when you breathed out through your nose.

The eighth steep was bold and mineral, but also very singular with no complexity left. There was still perhaps some depth remaining, though. I was also still feeling the tea a bit in my chest, almost like it was telling me, “We’re not done yet.” The following infusion was very clean and acidic. The tea was maintaining good strength, even if the flavors hadn’t developed there yet. This was a nice, easy-drinking brew. Some sensation in the mouth could be observed still.

The second-to-last infusion was sweet and acidic – simple, but with a lot more depth then you would have expected. Even in its twilight, the Yi Shan Mo was surprisingly satisfying. The final steep was really sweet. Apart from the finish, there was virtually no harshness or tartness now, just a nice stone fruit sweetness. The finish was signaling me though that this might be the last good steep, so I decided to call it there.

If it wasn’t clear, I was very impressed by this tea. It’s not the best tea I’ve ever had or even the best Yiwu, but it’s up there. The impression left by this session is that this is a tea that is still really young and needs time to develop, but countless of the quality markers I look for in a good raw pu’er were there. This is why I keep going back and forth between wanting to give teas time before evaluating them and indulging in them early. I don’t drink tea for taste, or I should say that taste ranks fairly far down the list for me, so I’m starting to feel fairly confident in my ability to judge these kind of teas fairly even in their young state. Taste can change constantly, but other factors are generally more consistent over finite periods of time at least.

This is most definitely not a tea for pu’er novices as the price suggests, but fans of high-end Yiwu will find a lot to like. While not without flavor and at times actually quite delicious, at least in its current state I found the Yi Shan Mo much more of an aromatic affair and something fans of aromatic sheng will love. For such a young tea, the level of aroma and the depth and complexity it possessed was impressive. My experience with most young raw pu’ers I’ve had is that they can take some time to develop aroma, but this one is way ahead of the competition. Looking at a different spectrum, I found this tea to have a much heavier emphasis on body feel, sensation and cha qi than mouthfeel, texture and viscosity of the tea soup itself. It’s more about how it makes you feel rather than how it feels in your mouth and going down.

While the price is high, Yi Shan Mo certainly delivers. Quality autumn teas will naturally deliver better value for money, but as far as spring teas go, the price is representative of the quality. I will most certainly be purchasing a cake of this in the very near future and encourage all those who are interested to grab a sample. I’m glad to have finally found the Yi Shan Mo that is for me.

This Liu Bao has a muddier, grassier taste and is not as sweet as the 2003 Hei Cha I tried recently. There is the slightest hint of blackberry and birch bark but the mud and earth tones dominate. It’s pleasant to drink and has a beautiful reddish color but it’s not all that complex; good to steep throughout a cold day.

Tea: 2016 Winter “Trad Roast” Shui Xian from YS
Reviewing in 2018.

This will not be a very formal review as I usually do, I just wanted to make a note so I can remember in the future. I have tried dozens of YS oolongs over the years and found a very small handful that I enjoy. This tea is in that ‘drinkable’ handful. Normally my complaint with YS oolongs is that they’re roasted inappropriately to compliment the tea, either too much or too little. This oolong has a very good roast: it is enough that the texture of the tea is smooth and the flavors can pop but are not “green veggie stew” as some of these underroasted yanchas can be, and it is not ash as some of the overroasted yanchas can be. The flavor is rich but dry with subtle “dark” flavors (chocolate, toasted nuts, whatever), and the texture is smooth, as it should be. This is a very drinkable shui xian, and it steeps out long enough to get good sessions with.

This is an absolutely delicious black tea that I’ve been buying faithfully every spring for several years. Forgiving to brew, with a nutty caramel flavor, and an old-tree maturity and depth to the cup, this is a pleasure to drink any time of the day or year.

This organic black tea is fairly typical, malty and sweet with a burnt honey or molasses taste. There are no flavour notes that jump out at me as special, but I find it pleasing that it has such a strong flavour. I find organic teas can sometimes be more bland. The caffeine content seems to be somewhat high, unless I’m confusing it with a energizing cha qi (unlikely). Seems like a typical Assamica type tea despite coming from Yunnan.

This is the first black tea that I’ve brewed gong fu where the aroma from the wash made me want to drink it! It almost reminds me of cooking or baking a pie. I think this will be a nice harvest to drink through winter as it evokes a nostalgia that instills cozy feelings of quiet snow days and a full belly. This is probably the only reason I’m giving it such a high rating, otherwise it is a fairly average tea.

Brewed gong fu at 90°c
Rinsed once, followed by brews of 10 seconds, 15, 20, 30, 45, and 1 minute

Amendment:
After drinking a few more pots of this tea, I like it more than I said in my initial review. The malt evolves into a lighter caramel flavour or perhaps slightly burnt toffee when you get up to the fourth or fifth infusion. Changing my rating from 76 to 80.