Yunnan Sourcing

I guess I’m finally writing tasting notes for my Yunnan Sourcing teas that I bought last year before my dad’s stroke (it will officially be a year in a few days). He is doing good! He is coming along with his speech. AND he has been riding his bike and even went kayaking recently… so to see him doing these things now after seeing him in that ICU bed last year is amazing.
Also, SO MANY awesome books were released today. Sigh. I can never keep up, even if I was reading a book a day. A new Helen Dewitt last week and now There There by Tommy Orange, a new memoir by Porochista Khakpour, and more by Lauren Groff, A.M. Homes, Marisha Pessl and a couple more that sound awesome. AHHH. I am a READER but I am SLOW. Help.
On to the tea… I did buy the 2016 harvest of this because you guys gave it the best rating. The leaves here are twisty and wrapped together, black with hints of gold. I steeped them in a teabag again to make sure the barnacled infusers had no impact on the leaves (to be honest, I haven’t really noticed a difference in the steeping of the YS teas so far anyway, between the teabags and the barnacled infusers.) I do love golden monkey teas. I expect them to result in a black murky brew though. This is more like a light red. There is a complexity to the flavor here, it’s just not as deep and dark as I would like my golden monkeys to be. It’s nice that it’s complex though. Malty, smooth, sweet… hard to describe The second steep seemed more savory but much the same. I really don’t want to have to use two teaspoons of leaves every time to get great flavor. Hmm.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // few minutes after boiling // 4-5 minute steep

Today I woke up and didn’t want to drink ANY of the tea that I’ve been happily sipping on over the last couple weeks. I wanted something new and exciting, alas, all I could find are a couple of these shou tuos (which I had buried at the back of my cupboard for emergencies as I was really not overly fond of this tea when I first bought it). I clearly need to buy more tea.

Anyway, to my happy surprise I liked these little tuos far more the second time around!!! I’m starting to think I happened to drink an off cake last time because there’s absolutely no compost/fishy smell today. This brew is woody, earthy, and slightly sweet when you drink it, but I will be honest — it smells like a barn. The scent of hay or wheat is strong, although not as prevalent in taste. My gaiwan is still stinky after rinsing it! There’s also a very nice leather/smoked flavour that I find is more common with shengs. The liquor is thick, rich, and pure black like coffee for the first four or five brews. Excellent re-steep value and mouth feel.

All in all, I’m now kind of wishing I bought more of these as they were very inexpensive at the time. I hope my third and final tuo tastes like this and not lacklustre/borderline disgusting like the first round. Fingers crossed!!!

Upon first sip a bold and earthy flavour hit my palette, followed by some pleasant woodiness and a semi-sweet aftertaste. What I didn’t enjoy is that it has a pungent compost smell which unfortunately was present through most of the steeps. If you can get past that this is a decent aged ripe pu-erh.

This tea quickly became my daily drinker when craving some hong cha.

Very comforting and easy drinking tea. Although when focusing on the taste it has some great fruit and chocolate flavors. It leaves a nice sweetness in the mouth lasting an hour or so. I can get it to last 8 or 9 infusions pushing it pretty long in power steeps for the last couple ones. Little to no astringency, and whatever bitterness is in there transforms to a lasting sweetness.

I originally bought 50g of this tea, and after a week of recieving my order, it was all gone. I then ordered 300g more of it, and already consumed another 50g of it. This white is flavorful and complex. It’s easy to brew and highly accesable. I have brewed this tea many times, and in the future, will contunue to. Once I run out of this tea, I’ll probably buy more if it to store for further aging.

You can read the rest of my review here…

https://www.theoolongdrunk.com/single-post/2018/06/04/Jingmai-Sun-Dried-Three-Aroma-Bai-Mu-Dan-White-Tea-Spring-2018-by-Yunnnan-Sourcing

One thing I liked about this tea was how clean and clear the material was. Another aspect I like about this tea is its surprisingly thick texture — especially considering this tea’s price point. Although I didn’t get a lot of qi (energy) from drinking this tea, it proved to be a relaxing session nonetheless. This tea proves to be a fun, yet accessable daily drinker. It’s something that I’ll look foward to having again in the near future.

You can read my full review here…

https://www.theoolongdrunk.com/single-post/2018/05/24/2017-Tofu-Village-Mini-Cock-Autunm-Sheng-Puer-by-Yunnan-Sorcung

I will first start by saying that my leaves do not look like the leaves in the photo. Sure, some of the leaves are green, but then half the leaf turns darker. I’m not sure if this is the leaf aging or production not being the same, so it looks different. Or maybe YS took a very bright picture. Anyway, these leaves sure are unique in color and length. They must be the longest leaves I’ve ever seen. I didn’t measure but a HUGE amount went into an empty fillable tea bag. The flavor is a little light for all these leaves I used for one mug. But what flavor is there is delicious — it tastes like a quality tie guan yin and possibly even had hints of another of my favorites: wen shan bao zhong. Smooth, buttery, floral, sweet and fresh. All the lovely characteristics I love to find in a lovely oolong.
Steep #1 // // 28 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

June Wedding! Time to move onto a “borrowed” tea (or in this case, something I was gifted or received via a trade, exchange, or traveling tea box… in other words, something that wasn’t simply purchased from a company). So this tea came from the last Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox, which was organized by tea-sipper. Thanks to tea-sipper and the kind individual that shared this sampler!

I prepared the 2g sampler I saved from the box western style, and noticed a floral aroma of honeysuckle from the pale yellow infusion. Despite this tea being a 2015 harvest, I was really impressed with the flavor. It reminded me of some of the Yunnan green teas I’ve tasted, but still retained that very light, delicate, silky mouthfeel I’m used to with white teas… I can definitely see myself wanting more of this varietal! The base is warm and grassy, with a subtle hint of anise and nuts, and a sweet floral finish.

Really enjoyed this one, and surprised at how much flavor it produced, considering both its age and the fact that most whites I’ve tried in the past have had such a subtle flavor.

Sure, I’m writing a tasting note late for this one, but whenever I steep this, I’m always trying to find the magic everyone else was tasting with this one. I even steeped the leaves in a fillable empty tea bag to make sure the steeping wasn’t being altered by my barnacled infusers. The result seems the same as the infuser steeps I tried before. This tea is just too weak for me, even if I steep two teaspoons, even if I steep for five minutes and even if the flavor is SUPPOSED to be this light. It just reminds me of a very mild Laoshan black crossed with one of those roasted oolongs that aren’t my favorite. Somehow I’m just getting a roasty flavor and a thin fruity flavor, possibly cherry. Both steeps almost taste exactly the same. It’s just not the tea for me.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

My first experience with snow chrysanthemum and a very positive one.

This purple tea comes as a nice little black cake with orange and yellow snow chrysanthemum pieces all over – festive! The dry leave smells strongly of apricot, smoke, fallen leaves and spice. The flavor is fairly complex: I could pick up apricot, peach, prunes, spice, carrot, smokiness, dill, mineral… The aftertaste is very long, spicy and apricoty.

Ying Shan Hong reminds me very much of the fall season with bright orange colors, bold taste, splendid decay and wisps of smoke in the cool air. This tea effortlessly won me over and got me intrigued with the potential of snow chrysanthemum in other teas.

Going back to school is such a pain. I was looking forward to it so much, and now with classes starting Monday, I’m dreading it more and more. I also keep looking at my now barely manageable backlog of tea reviews and feel extreme trepidation with regard to the process of getting them all posted. I suppose I may as well start here since I have not reviewed a green tea in about a month. I think I finished a pouch of this tea back around the end of April or start of May. I can’t be sure at this point. I tend to love the Laoshan green teas Yunnan Sourcing offers, and no surprise, I loved this one. As a matter of fact, I am more than a bit shocked that this tea only has two prior reviews and that it’s reception to this point has been so mixed. In my opinion, this was an excellent green tea and a slight step up from its sister offering, the Laoshan Classic Green Tea from Shandong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 14 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, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected pleasant, fully-formed aromas of grass, soybean, seaweed, and roasted walnut. After the rinse, I found a stronger soybean scent and new aromas of toasted rice and spinach, though the latter was rather subtle. The first infusion then introduced scents of bamboo and sugarcane along with a hint of roasted chestnut. The tea liquor offered notes of soybean, grass, spinach, seaweed, and bamboo that soon faded to reveal impressions of sugarcane, toasted rice, and surprisingly enough, both honey and butter. Subsequent infusions revealed belatedly emerging impressions of roasted chestnut and roasted walnut as well as stronger sugarcane and honey notes. Squash blossom, umami, mineral, nectar, lettuce, and asparagus impressions emerged as well. The final infusions offered lingering mineral, grass, umami, and butter impressions underscored by hints of nectar, sugarcane, seaweed, and toasted rice.

Though this tea did not offer anything out of the ordinary for a Laoshan green tea, it was extremely enjoyable nonetheless. Compared to its aforementioned sister tea, it demonstrated a bit more smoothness and staying power while also displaying admirable depth and complexity for a tea of its type. I cannot fault this one much at all. It definitely made me want to try this year’s version, though I doubt I will be able to spend much more on tea this year. Definitely give Yunnan Sourcing’s Laoshan green teas a chance if you are at all interested in Shandong teas. I doubt they will disappoint.

While I ordered the black version of this tea, and indeed Yunnan Sourcing marked my bag as such, what I received is this green version. Well, it’s Spring-time I suppose, so OK, why not:

Picked in April, 2017 (likely a few days after my son was born), this might no longer be at the peak of freshness. I’m also using filtered Santa Monica tap water, no scale, and no thermometer – so my results could probably be improved upon – although this tea seems very forgiving.

Infused at 15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 seconds. The liquor is a a lemon-lime-like shade of chartreuse. Nutty, vegetal, almost briney aroma with notes of wakame, and hay initially. The flavor follows the nose, adding in some fresh herbs (oregano?) and melon in the finish. More sweetness and less complexity towards the end of the session. Dry but not drying – energizing but not excessively so. Fairly rich and clean overall – hard to over-steep.

Yikes, I’m probably one of the most inconsistent reviewers on the site, but oh well.

[First steep] This tea had quite the effect on me, it’s really unique. On the first steep it brewed so incredibly clear and amber, with an amazingly fruity taste. I’d say it tasted like subtle grapes and figs, along with a little bit of a raisin. I’m not sure why so many people here in the states are too fond of raisins but honestly I love them so much, so that’s probably the reason why I really like this tea (so far). Lets hope the other steeps are just as good!

[at about the 4th steep?] This tea is still impressing, it still has that arisen taste to it, and has a great mouth drying effect with a tad bit of bitterness. It also tastes like, hmm I’ve forgotten the name but it’s the dried Chinese fruit that is like the arabic date, it tastes exactly like it! This tea is really good, and perfect for a late night read.

[I’m far too teadrunk to remember] Ahh, in conclusion this tea is probably one of my favorites. I’m not sure why it’s had such a bad reputation with other reviewers but I absolutely fell head over heels for this tea! It’s just got such a unique, smooth, and nuanced flavor, and really brightened up my day. I drank this tea during a late night read, and it deffinately was made for the occasion.

I’ll try my best to force myself to review teas, haha, but I’m probably not going to be on for a little while, but until then I wish all you tea heads a great summer months!

It never ceases to surprise me how many excellent variations of the basic tippy dianhong tea exist. This is one of them. This tea has a strong base of sweet potatoes and baked bread but on top of that has many sweet fruity and vegetable notes: peach, melon, floral, asparagus, spinach, broccoli. The taste is complex and enjoyable and remains enjoyable in the subsequent Western-style steepings (it did lose a lot of nuances, though) with hazelnuts coming forward strong.

This tea is very sensitive to water: to appreciate all of the nuances one needs to use sweet spring water. The overarching tea character is not one of the relaxation and lazy savoring – it is a very energetic, uplifting tea that is well suited to be one of the midday drinks at work. In that respect, this tea is not that dissimilar to more refined Keemuns. My only complaint is the regrettable lack of a lingering aftertaste , which Keemuns, for example, have in spades.

Nevertheless, this is tea is very good and worthy of a reorder. I will look if they have an imperial grade for this tea though since this tea would have a potential to be awesome.

A unique tea for sure. Strangely enough though, the same characteristics that I like so much in YS’s Ye Sheng black teas, don’t do it for me in this sheng. I can imagine that the profile becomes more likeable over time, but I am not going to invest in this tea in order to find out. Maybe in a few years time, I will try get hold of some sample that’s been aged more.

First time trying my sample and despite this being a very complex tea, I can’t say I really found the taste very pleasurable as it is. There is very little bitterness and only a little astringency. The taste has quite a lot of depth and is reminiscent of celery, parsnip, nettle and generally some roast vegetables. In the smell, I noticed robust notes of wet grass and soil along the vegetal ones of asparagus, kale, steamed vegetables and lemon. It’s a fairly sweet smell, which translates to the taste as well.

The mouthfeel is drying and foamy, with medium body. I get a strong warming sensation as well.

I can imagine that as I get more used to the taste, my enjoyment of this tea could raise significantly, but I will have to wait a few more sessions to assess that.

This is an interesting tea. Highly compressed tuo, so it was hard to get good leaves off of it. It had strong tobacco notes and a good amount of astringency and bitterness, with some green flavor to it. Not bad, but I think this is one that could use more tine aging. I think it is in an awkward spot for age where it’s still green but has strong aged flavors. Need some of that to mellow out and meld together.

Like I mentioned in my note for the 2015 vintage, Huang Shan Gu Shu is a tea whose qualities are not necessarily apparent at first sight. The interlayered bitterness and sweetness express themselves over the course of the whole session. The consistently pure taste and interesting mouthfeel that doesn’t fade after the peak infusion can only be properly appreciated in hindsight. On top of that, among of the main selling points of the tea are its long-lasting and evolving aftertaste as well as the creeping and relaxing cha qi.

The taste is very clean and pungent with a nutty, mineral, and buttery character. In the aftertaste, one can find more floral aspects as well. I am looking forward to tasting the 2015 and 2016 versions side-by-side, I can’t identify any major differences through individual sessions (though significantly separated in time).

Bought a cake of this a whim based off of the amazing 2015 production.

Many similarities come to mind, but mostly the sweats. They started after cup one and heat followed, it’s going to be a ride. Love the energy in this one, cannot say enough. Flavors are all there with a small hint of aged flavors. Took me almost 2 years to crack into this one and it is well worth it.

Manure comes to mind, but more of a woody manure rather than an stringent/green manure. Strong earthy tones are noticeable.

Like mouthfeel? Starts in the back, moves to the middle and then again to the back and it doesn’t die out. Between the energy and mouthfeel, I would recommend this tea to anybody who doesn’t know what puerh is or what Qi is. On top of that it has plenty of flavor and is a very deep tea not lacking in any aspects.

Try it, regret and Huang Shan cannot be used in the same sentence.

I like Keemuns and can appreciate many different kinds of them. There are fancy ones, with a complex aroma and many flavors. There are working horses packing a welcoming punch in the morning for those who prefers them to morning coffee. This Keemun from Yunnan Sourcing is the comforting, cozy type.

The dry leaves are pretty long even for Mao Feng Keemuns. The aroma has less malt and more of dark berries, wild flowers and honey: it is a pretty good. I brewed it Western style since I treat Keemuns as not a tea to savor but a good working companion helping you to get through your busy day.

The taste is mild, comforting and relaxing rather than bracing. The original punch of malt is there but it is much more muted than many lower-priced Keemuns. It has some quality of the rush one feels after downing a shot of strong hard liquor and it quickly transitions to a more complex second taste of berries, oats, honey and something certainly floral. The aftertaste lingers for a long time and is VERY pleasant.

The second infusion was markedly less smooth, with a pronounced maltiness and a strong taste of bitter-sweet dark chocolate. Plus a hint of molasses. It was still a very good cup of tea but with a very different flavor profile, as if they were two completely different teas.

Overall, I liked this Keemun a lot. I have to admit though that I am partial to Mao Fengs and prefer them to most Hao Yas. Yunnan Sourcing started offering Qimen just recently and, I believe this is the only kind that they sell but it is quite good and I hope they would consider expanding their selection.

Very green and dominated by a bitter-astringent taste, but which at least gives the tea a nice texture.

Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-mengku-huang-shan-ys

I had this tea again at work hoping that it would inspire me for a short mad dash to complete a report before the deadline. No such luck. It has all oh the dianhong notes and looks but misses something that would make it special in any way. Also, you have to make very short infusions since it EASILY becomes to concentrated.

The end result is some pleasant sweetness combined with equally pleasant bitterness. It’s just I prefer teas with a defined character. And oh, it is NOT a tea to increase work productivity. Will go and lower my original rating of 88 to something more mundane.

I had this tea gong fu with 6g per 100 ml and originally short (10-15 secs) increasing to medium (20-25 secs) steepings. I could discern a typical dianhong profile of sweet potatoes, baked bread, flowers and blackberries. What makes it a bit different is a lot of honeyed and brown sugar- like sweetness combined with spice. Not a calming tea: this drink has a definite vibrancy. However, overall the taste is pretty mild and the aroma is not overpowering.

The aftertaste is long and pleasant and the taste is consistent across multiple gaiwan steepings.

I am not sure if I like this tea a lot. Such strong and almost cloying sweetness is not something I am looking for in teas . However, I can see how someone (and even me!) can grow to like and appreciate it after drinking this Wu Liang Hong for a while. It certainly expands the borders and expectations of what a tea could be for me – I am just not sure that I would like to visit that part of the tea spectrum often or only occasionally as change of pace.