Yunnan Sourcing

Gongfu Sipdown (639)!

Discovery Tea Box – Tea Fifteen

Well we’ve come to the final tea that I pulled out of the Discovery Tea Box, and the box has long since left my house so this is sort of the official end to my experience with the box. It’s always really great getting to participate in a travelling tea box; it just fills you with a great sense of community and even if you don’t love every tea you experience it’s just very unique getting to so quickly expose yourself to so many unfamiliar teas or tea companies…

This was one of two Yunnan Sourcing teas I pulled; the other was the snow chrysanthemum black tea. I haven’t had a ton of exposure to YS teas and, up until the aforementioned black tea blend, I’ve never been blown away by one of their offerings. I get that they’re really popular not just here on Steepster but just in general – I’ve just always had better success from different companies. It’s that whole idea that whoever curates the selection of teas for a specific tea shop (Scott for YS, 2Dog for W2T, etc) has their own taste preferences so even when they’re trying to carry things that are diverse/different than their usual offerings it’s probably at least A LITTLE bit tainted by personal preference. I believe that there’s definitely some truth to that, and at least of the teas I’ve been exposed to from YS I’d argue that Scott and I probably have different taste preferences. If that makes sense!? As far as “general shop tastes” go, I tend to have relatively agreeable taste preferences to W2T (especially with Shou), and to BLT (with Shou/black tea specifically). Still trying to figure out what shop my sheng/oolong preferences lean more towards – but that’s its whole other side tangent of a conversation.

As for this shou in particular: I steeped this one a grand total of nine times not counting my initial rinse, which honestly probably should have been longer than the ten seconds I gave it. My first cup of tea was pretty funky…

Other than my ninth and final steep, I stacked my infusions in a very large teacup two at a time. And, I mean a really big teacup since it held two 150ml infusions comfortably with leftover ‘wiggle room’. Like I said, my first stacked cup of tea was fairly funky but not terrible. It was really savory/umami with sort of this “salted earth” kind of taste to it. After that stacked cup, the profile felt much more balanced. Even though it was balanced, though, I think this is yet another example of a YS pu’erh option that isn’t bad but that definitely doesn’t line up with my preferred profile. I’d describe the overall notes of the sessions as very umami leaning and “broth like” with things like cured meats, mushrooms, smoke, and dry wood being the primary flavours. Definitely not a lot of sweetness, and lacking a lot of the ‘wet’ flavours that I personally really enjoy.

Again – not a bad tea by any means and quite smooth for the flavours present; it’s just not my thing overly speaking. I’d recommend it though for anyone who doesn’t like shou with more of those wet, dank kind of notes. Plus, I 100% don’t regret trying it because it was still a REALLY good learning experience for me.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BnhtR75HvXL/?taken-by=ros_strange

I’ve had this sample lying around for over a year. I tried it the year it was pressed and didn’t like the sweet fruity rum, dates, prunes, and molasses flavor combos I was getting then. I’m sure those notes sound nice to some folks, but it reminded me too much of Christmas fruit cake – something I strongly dislike.

Well, here I am revisiting this one on a cool, rainy Sunday afternoon…and I’m happy with where it’s at. It’s a lot more subtle and complex. Much less boozy and sweet. There’s a little brandy and dried fruit in the front, but it quickly moves into the background, allowing more subtle notes of brown sugar, green wood, Chinese dates (hence the “zao” in tea’s name), and sandalwood. The tea’s bitterness and astringency comes through as the liquid cools in the cup. It’s not overwhelming, but just enough to add interest. In a way, the bitterness exhibits the tea’s clean nature. It transforms into a very nice huigan, which mingles for a while with some residual bitterness on the tongue and in the back of the mouth.

These subtle notes allow the drinker to enjoy the tea’s less tangible aspects — warming qi, tingly and cooling sensations on the tongue, and strong mouthfeel. The qi is felt in the chest and back of the head. It’s got a nice calming energy that lasts a while, making mundane tasks, such as vacuuming, more meditative. All in all, the tea has become more subtle, but definitely distinct and more pleasurable. It will stay with the drinker throughout the day.

Uncomfortable storage and lovely dried tobacco aroma, mostly in wet leaf. Has distinct minty wet-ish storage flavor. It has one of the lovelier dry pipe tobacco notes I’ve had in puer, but it doesn’t come with much else. It’s dry and astringent throughout, lacking body or interesting mouthfeel characteristics. Not getting a lot of body feels out of it. Dominated a little too heavily by the storage, as though there wasn’t something to hold up against it, and somehow the storage didn’t cut the astringency down.

This is an interesting tea. Like the description says, I can taste different styles. The first few steeps tasted like half aged library book and half newer chocolatey Scott style ripe. In later steeps the newer ripe flavor was more dominant. Definitely tasty and high quality, and unusual.

As someone who loves teas with natural rose notes, when I saw this Dan Cong on Yunnan Sourcing’s website, I immediately added 50 g to my shopping cart. Then I sat on it for a month because I didn’t want to be the first to review it. However, since there seems to be some curiosity about this tea, I decided to go ahead. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

In the bag, this tea smells like generic florals and grass. But in the first steep, it lives up to its name, with rose, grass, cream, and other florals. (The grassiness becomes very prominent when it cools, so it’s best to drink this tea hot.) The rose is stronger in the next steep, but so is the grassy background note. I think there are some orchids and other flowers in there as well, but the rose is the most apparent, especially in the aftertaste.

By steep three, this tea has come into its rosy glory, but that astringent grassiness is still in the background. It’s kind of like a spicy pink tea rose—or maybe that’s just the power of suggestion. There are hints of cream, honey, and gentle apricot in the later steeps, but really, it’s all about the rose. The rose lasts well into the ninth steep, after which the tea returns to grass and florals.

A complicated tea this is not, but it does deliver on its promise. I kind of wish there was more to it, though. I gave it such a high rating because the rose is lovely, but I can see people getting bored with it.

Delicious Fujian black tea at a low price.

The description is right on, " full-bodied, aromatic, yammy, sweet and slightly toasty (just like a baked sweet potato).

I got through 100g quickly and refilled with 250g.

Dry leaves seem very wet, packed loosely and easy to pry apart. Leaves smell smokey but tea liquor does not.

Rinsed once. First infusion: Tastes like mellow coffee, roasted, reminiscent of silky dark chocolate. Exceedingly smooth.

Second and third infusions nice, but nothing special. I wouldn’t buy the whole cake.

Rating: 82

Smokey and musty aroma. Deep and rich flavour, but I can’t tell because my tastebuds are a bit shot from alcohol and vinegar this morning (don’t ask). Will have to try this again.

I used a lot of leaf this time, as it was the last bits of my sample and I didn’t want to break it in two light sessions. However, since I didn’t break it up much, it took a while until the leaves properly opened up. When it did though, I got treated with powerful and delicious infusions.

Let’s start with the smell though. Before the rinse, the aroma is quite woody I would say. As the leaves open up during the session, there are more complex and strong aromas unraveling. I still get the woody tones, like pine and sauna. But there is also some smoke and orchid. In the empty cup, I can smell something between a meadow and a field, there are hay and honeycomb aromas too.

The taste is brothy (mushroom), sweet, buttery, medicinal and bitter (mostly due to the amount of leaves I used). There is definitely a strong tobacco note to it that stays in the mouth. Astringency and sourness arrives in the finish, while the long aftertaste is somewhat spicy and has a decent huigan.

The mouthfeel is a mixture of milky and brothy, and with decent thickness. The body is not the fullest, but given the price of the tea, I cannot really complain.

Don’t get fooled by the price! This is a really good tea, not lacking in any way, apart from maybe the body. That’s really a minor point though. The tea has a pungent and pleasant smell; strong, evolving and memorable taste; long aftertaste; ok mouthfeel; and a powerful cha qi. It’s most definitely the best sheng in the ~10 years old category that I have tried thus far.

I bought this tea in 2015 during my “I need to try everything immediately” phase. Eventually, around 2020, I hope to have worked through my stash of old purchases. This was a pretty reasonably priced Jin Jun Mei, so I’m not sure how representative it is.

I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep has notes of malt, honey, and Triscuits (weird, I know), with a punch of tannins and astringency in the finish. The next few steeps add notes of wood, grain, cardboard, and minerals, with an intriguing tomato vine aroma that doesn’t make it into the taste. I find this tea to be very drying in the mouth in spite of its honey-like sweetness. By steep eight, the liquor is mostly malt, tannins, and minerals.

While I enjoyed the honey and mineral notes, this tea is quite astringent if you use too much of it. It’s also rather long in the tooth. That having been said, I’ll have no trouble finishing this JJM and will consider buying another one in the future.

I was persuaded to try Hei Cha after watching some tdb.org reviews of them and I have to say, despite the dirt smell and unappealing look of this tea, the golden liquor was quite tasty—honey sweet and tangy—and very easy to drink. It’s a powerhouse too; I was able to steep this upwards of 15 times with little drop off in flavor and the buzz rivaled that of a quality raw pu erh.

This is an excellent oolong. It hits all of my favourite flavour notes and invites you to take a sip with a lush aroma. None of the flavours are overpowering. I can taste wildflower honey and nutty, milkiness for sure. The floral aspect to it isn’t quite as in-your-face compared with, for example, the King of Duck Shit Aroma which probably would make this a great daily oolong. The mouth feel and after taste is great, makes me salivate before finishing with a light astringency. 10/10 you can’t go wrong!

Always love a classic Chinese green tea. This tea is slightly floral and sweet, with astringency at optimal levels — not quite mouth puckering but not without bite either. There is a distinct umami flavour that arises in later infusions. The leaves smell of soup broth in the gaiwan which is interesting. Nothing about it is memorable enough to purchase again, but it is delicious.

Absolutely lovely ripe pu-erh cake. If there are any unpleasant flavours from fermentation the chrysanthemum does an excellent job masking them. This blend tastes sweet and earthy, much like an aged raw pu-erh, with notes of leather, wood, flowers, and smoke. If shou is supposed to emulate aged sheng, this is the perfect example of it done correctly.

This tea brick was only about $10 for 100 grams of tea, so my expectations were not very high. Going to order much more next time as it’s great for an everyday pu-erh considering the price. I will say that the re-steep value isn’t great, I got perhaps three or four strong brews in a gaiwan before the flavour quickly dropped off. The cake has a loose compression which I love, I could easily pry off a portion with a butter knife and hardly any pressure.

Here is another review from the incrementally shrinking backlog. I polished off a 50g pouch of these snow chrysanthemum buds back in June, but of course, I am just now reviewing them on Steepster. I had little experience with pure chrysanthemum flower tisanes prior to trying this one, but I do have to say that I found it to be tremendously enjoyable. Even if tisanes, in general, are not things I consume regularly, I would be very willing to try this one again at some point in the near future.

I prepared this tisane gongfu style. Honestly, I had no clue how to brew it, so I just went with my gut. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of snow chrysanthemum buds in 4 ounces of 212 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 19 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 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, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes. I cut this session off when I did because I was long past the point where I would have needed to use a warmer to get anything else out of this tisane.

Prior to the rinse, the dry flower buds emitted lovely, spicy chrysanthemum aromas with some herbal and vegetal hints. Oddly enough, smelling the dry buds reminded me of my time working as a vocational rehabilitation instructor at a local community health agency. I led classes at a garden center, and in late summer and early fall, my clients and I grew chrysanthemums. The area around my greenhouse used to smell like them all the time, and the smell of chrysanthemum blossoms quickly became one of my favorite smells. After the rinse, I detected more even floral aromas with some hints of black pepper. The first infusion was then slightly more peppery on the nose, but still very floral overall. In the mouth, the liquor offered delicate, peppery chrysanthemum notes with hints of vegetal and herbal characteristics that I could not quite place. Subsequent infusions retained strongly floral aromatics and remained mostly floral in the mouth. Some defined notes of dill, grass, green bell pepper, minerals, and pickle brine also appeared. Caramel sweetness and hints of black pepper then came out on the finish. There was not a ton of difference in terms of aroma or flavor in the later infusions. The chrysanthemum notes were more muted, and the notes of pickle brine, minerals, and green bell pepper were a little stronger. Impressions of caramel and black pepper were still evident on the swallow.

This was a fun and very satisfying tisane. I would imagine that fans of floral concoctions would absolutely love it. I especially appreciated its longevity. No matter how hard I tried I could not exhaust these little buds. Overall, this was definitely a quality tisane at a more than reasonable price.

Sampler Sipdown September! I’m trying out the other Bi Lou Chun I was gifted from Derk, thanks so much Derk! I’m attempting to do this gong fu style, using my shiboridashi, though I’m only using half its capacity since I don’t feel like drinking two cuppas on each infusion, which comes out to about 70-75ml of liquid per infusion. Therefore I measured out my leaf keeping that amount of liquid in mind, and will still have enough of my sampler left to get to try this a few other ways, as well. Woot.

Gong fu / 2.2g /175F / 70ml / 30s|45s|60s|80s|90s|120s

On the first steep I got an aroma of green beans and anise, and the flavor was very in line with that; it was highly vegetal, with a strong savory bean taste containing notes of green beans and peapods, with a hint of anise spice on the finish. My second and third steeps brought out a much stronger anise aroma, and suddenly the tea smelled like a savory cooked meat, like a seasoned porked or bacon! Maybe my senses are just off because I’m on day three of a migraine attack, and that is entirely possible, but… I’m also tasting savory, peppery cooked bacon. And I have no complaints about that. Who doesn’t love bacon!? (Apologies to my Vegan BFF, but we all know you call yourselves Vegans because you are actually from a planet in the Vega star system, and therefore are aliens, not humans. Ya, we’re all onto you. I’m talking about actual humans here). On the fourth steep the aroma is more peppery, and the flavor turned more vegetal, a bit like watery greens, with just a bit of a floral sweetness, and then right at the finish a mixed pepper/anise spice note comes out on the back of the tongue. The fifth and sixth steeps were very sweet and floral, with subtle honey and gardenia notes and a bit minerally. It felt like the tea was weakening by that point so I didn’t push it any further.

Western / 1.9g / 175F / 370ml / 2m|2m30s

The western brew is very sweet and floral, with a slight watery vegetal/green bean note toward the finish, and a very subtle hint of anise at the finish. The strong spice note I was getting before isn’t present, and the sweet flowery taste that only came out at the very end of the session is present right from the start. This is still fine with the more delicate flavor, but since I really liked that spiced bacon flavor mid-session, this is one I prefer gong fu style… because again, bacon! Since my leaves hadn’t fully unfurled in one western infusion I did resteep this just to see if a second infusion brought out any differences. The leaves were fully extended by this point, and the cup had a much stronger and less delicate overall profile, but I still tasted a honeyed/floral top note with a vegetal/beany finish. Very smooth, no bitterness, and a mild drying/astringent feel to the tongue after the sip.

The dry leaf smells quite a bit like a Yunnan dianhong. It is sweet, malty and chocolatey. In a preheated teapot, I get some more unusual aromas like cherries, chicken nuggets and barbeque sauce. The wet leaf smell is relatively less pungent and display a little more of the leathery side of the spectrum.

Likewise, the taste blends malty and smoky notes. It is very well balanced with some cranberry sourness that’s very present and woodiness in the background. Later steeps also have some distinct sweet brown sugar note. There is the slightest bitterness and some lingering astringency too. Ultimately, the balanced nature is what makes me so drawn to this particular tea.

Its mouthfeel is super soft and coating. Sometimes even after swallowing I still have a sensation of the liquor in my mouth. It is not the most thick black tea, but I didn’t find it lacking in viscosity.

Even though not spectacular, this Golden Monkey is one of the very best black teas I have tried among those that don’t have the “wow factor”.

6g in ~95mL, 100C, 2 rinses.
The dry leaf smells…odd for a shou. Its certainly an earthy shou smell but with a tart note like dried sour peach or sour tamarind? I couldn’t quite place it to be honest.
This is definitely a soil oriented shou rather than a woodsy shou which I think plays better with that fruity note than wood would. Very rich like coffee steeped like I did too. A good huigan in the early steeps too, nice for a shou. However, didn’t have that….who knows what. I’m not sure this is something I’d get with as much shou as I have to go through right now but it would certainly very well priced for what it is!

I will inevitably be comparing this to the 2017 version of this tea, which I reviewed recently (and which seems to be sold out now).

The smell is sweeter and more fruity, but overall slightly weaker and less memorable than the 2017 one. It has some notes of roast meat and after late steeps also sauna. In the empty cup, I get a strong beeswax aroma, just like with the 2017 tea.

The taste is quite vegetal and bitter, but not astringent. I think it’s slightly less sweet than the 2017 version, but there is a strong honey flavour to it. I do also get pine note again, but it’s kind of general conifer like, maybe also reminiscent of spruce? Aftertaste is not so exciting, there is some dry grass flavour, as well as a general bitter and slightly sweet feel. It seems to be dying out somewhat fast, before some sweetness returns again.

Body is medium, and the mouthfeel I would mostly characterize as sticky, buttery and on the thicker side (considering the price). It induces a tingling sensation on the tongue. I feel that the cha qi might be stronger than from the 2017 version, although that’s very hard to tell, as I have only done a few sessions with each.

The price at the moment is 0.1$/g, which seems adequate to me. I don’t think I will be getting a cake, but it’s a decent tea without any obvious flaws overall.

Brewed western. Dry buds smell like a pungent tangerine. Liquor has the added scent of clarified butter. Cat does not like the smell. Tastes like, hm, definite tangerine or tangelo, mango chutney-ish, noticeable black pepper and ginger spice, kind of sweet, a pungent green herb (curry leaf?), a scintilla of citrus blossom (look at me using thesaurus.com like I’m in middle school), a cooling minty whisper. Aftertaste of those gummy, sugared orange slices that remind me of old people in my childhood. Kind of a thick mouthfeel, not thin at all like a lot of herbal teas. Tongue tingles. Many resteeps. Warming, calming. They grow north of Tibet, neat. Best caffeine-free I’ve ever had. Crazy. Awesome. Get some.

A note to say goodbye. I was going to try to hang onto these for a long time but I didn’t have the patience. An inattentive mind can be a virtue.

After 3 years, I don’t think there’s been much change. Still a good tea. It is lower toned than when fresh. Nectar-silky body with clean, delicate tones of creamed honey, tobacco-malt-yam, melon, dates, cream and butter, eucalyptus cool. Probably more aromatic than flavorful, which in the nose, it also has a Cabbage Patch doll baby powder-powdered sugar-soft vanilla scent that I get in Yunnan white teas. Such a unique note.

These dragon balls were formed too tightly to unfurl on their own. Good tea to grandpa if you can pull the leaf apart.

I’m pretty sure it’s officially summer in the city for the next 2 months. 10-day forecast shows no fog and all sunny days getting into the 70s next week. Good for drinking down my white teas and fruity and/or lighter-bodied greens as well as small amounts of other teas I have left to make room for what’s coming.

My lover left last night for his annual 2-week vacation in Vietnam. I went with him a few years ago and was kind of awestruck at how comfortable and easy-going it is there, at least as a Western tourist. We made friends with a local woman who was excited to come across a few English speakers she could practice with since the city we were staying in has a majority of Russian and Chinese tourists. It was incredible having her show us around. We accompanied her on a long bus and scooter ride to her family’s home in a small village on the water where we feasted on bowls of fresh fish noodle soup, some kind of bitter legume, sugarcane and mango leather. It was a spur of the moment trip to her family’s, so we didn’t have any tokens of appreciation to offer. I wish I could go back and give them a gift, but I’m stuck here trying to improve my lot in life. Anyway, his layover is in Guangdong, China, so I’m hoping he finds some tea at the airport to bring home. Somebody else he made good friends with in Vietnam has some tea connections, so I’ll at least be getting some new Vietnamese teas to try.

Oy. I’m highly caffeinated and rambling.

This is obviously a Chinese tea!

I tried brewing this in my thermos long ago, and like the silver needles dragon ball, it was undrinkable due to bitterness and astringency. Today I revisited the tea, using a 150mL glass gaiwan. I did an initial steep/rinse at 190F for 30s which was drinkable and followed up the next 3 steeps with 195F at 30s. I upped the temperature to 200F once the ball started opening up about halfway and brewed based on color instead of time. Got 11 steeps before calling it quits. Lots of needles and nice whole leaves, very little broken material. It’s very compact so I left the lid on in between steeps to steam it.

Given all that information, I didn’t actually take any detailed tasting notes. It started out light and flowery and sweet and once I upped the temperature to 200F, it turned into a ridiculously good beeswax and honey with a little astringency, a little bitterness, a little citric sourness, a viscous texture leading into a waxy mouth coating and a very strong aroma of beeswax. SOLID. I’ll be purchasing more for now and for aging. I enjoyed this much more than the silver needle dragon balls.

So yesterday evening, I decided I was tired of my usual greens and oolongs and wanted something different for a change. I had this Silver Needle tea many months ago and since then, it had been sitting in the back of my cupboard, sadly forgotten. Though I tend to enjoy white tea, I seldom find myself craving it.

Anyways, it was late and I didn’t want something too caffeinated so I grandpa steeped just 1g in an 8oz glass. The flavor was just as I remembered. Sweet and delicately floral, with a faint hay taste mingled with spice and the feel of freshly laundered linens. It’s light and airy with an almost ethereal velvety texture in the mouth.

Silver needle is one of those teas that ages well. It’s been a little less than a year since I purchased this tea and although the flavor hasn’t evolved much, it hasn’t deteriorated either. It tastes as good as the day I bought it which doesn’t happen with most teas.

I can’t remember the last time a white tea impressed me as much as this one did. Most of the ones I’ve tried recently were pretty forgettable, either bland or tasted like dry autumn leaves. But this Silver Needle tea has such a sublime flavor, layered and nuanced without any of the earthiness or barnyard funk of other white teas. The dry leaves have a pleasant, inviting aroma of linen, dandelions, lavender, and hay. The flavor of the brewed tea is delicate and refined. It has a soft texture and undertones of cotton, cream, vanilla, and marshmallow along with a touch of nutmeg and green apple. A slight hay-like earthiness creeped in later as it continued steeping but nothing off-putting.

It was bedtime so I steeped this grandpa style with just a smattering of leaves in an 8oz glass. Water temperature was 175 F to start and then I topped off twice with boiling water. I used to brew whites at low temperatures around 160 F, but hotter water brings out a lot more character. For the price it’s an incredible value and I’m looking forward to seeing how this tea ages.