Yunnan Sourcing

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Recent Tasting Notes

This is my first loose leaf moonlight white. I have the spring 2020 harvest. It just arrived this afternoon but so maybe it needs some time or something. It doesn’t smell like the pressed moonlights I’ve enjoyed. I’m not sure what it smells like but not the fruity aroma I was expecting. I really wasn’t into it for the first couple gongfu steeps. There’s kind of a grassy bite to it that was a bit much for me at first. That mellowed out some as I kept steeping and I started getting the more of the fruity flavors I expected. It’s less creamy citrus than some of my favorite moonlights and more exotic tropical fruit…like when you get a particularly tart piece of dried mango, but maybe with some papaya and pineapple mixed in? It’s been ages since I’ve had papaya, though, so I can’t really be sure. It seems to get more fruity as it cools. I thought I’d had enough moonlights to have a pretty good idea what they’re about but this one and White2Tea’s Nightfall are weird to me. Maybe I need to compare the growing area, season and year of all my moonlights to see if my favorites (and least favorites) have anything in common with each other. I think Mengku might be my preferred region for raw pu-erh but I’m not sure where I like my whites to come from. It smells…not really like grass or hay but maybe like tromping through the weeds at the edge of the hayfield or alongside the road? I dunno. It doesn’t smell especially good to me but the flavor is growing on me with each steep. I keep thinking I’m getting whiffs of banana now and then but I’m not sure. I’m not a banana fan (nasty, slimy, stringy things!) but that part of the aroma isn’t really off-putting. Still, it’s weird that my tea smells like someone walking through weeds while eating a banana. The more I think about it, maybe it’s more banana custard than fresh banana. Not that that makes it any less weird. But I don’t taste any banana. It’s weird and I’m not sure I like it. I’m glad I tried it but I don’t know that it’ll be added to my reorder list (which is fine, the list is plenty long already). Unless I can find a way of steeping it that impresses me more.

Edited to add: I’m really bad about getting distracted during the longer steeps at the end of a gongfu session. I let this one steep until it got cold. Not sure if it was the long steep or drinking it cold but something brought out some interesting floral flavors I didn’t taste in previous steeps.

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85

Fruitier this time around with an extremely pleasant bitterness and very slight astringency. I’m getting blood orange notes and maybe pomegranate, though I don’t see these flavors mentioned in other reviews. There’s a complexity to this that I’m enjoying. It even reminded me of mimosas at one point!

Flavors: Blood Orange, Cherry, Fruity, Sweet Potatoes, Vegetal

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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85

Was excited for this one, I mean it’s a great name—duck shit! I read about brewing dan cong oolong and there seem to be two ways of doing it based on an article from Verdant Tea: Guangdong-style brewing and Wuyi-style. I opted for the former and steeled myself for the allegedly intense, bitter flavors. I filled the gaiwan to the top with leaves (~10g), quickly washed it with boiling water, then steeped for 30s + 5s for 5-6 infusions. Hmmm. It’s very possible I messed up with this approach because the bitterness was maybe too forward, to the detriment of other flavors. Perhaps a shorter initial brewing time, or perhaps a little less than boiling water would help. I will say, with the amount of bitterness I tasted I expected more astringency to accompany it, but there was only a little, mostly on the second infusion, and it wasn’t unpleasant. The floral notes and natural sweetness came out more after that. I’ll try the other style next time, then maybe come back to this and experiment some more. I would appreciate some guidance with this one!

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Char, Floral, Honey, Mineral, Peach, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 10 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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96

Okay, this was actually the oldest green tea, but I haven’t seen it in green tea box. It was harvested in spring 2018, I have it in my possession for two years at least, and even back then I was complaining I have been neglecting this tea.
Actually, sadly it is not leaves as on photo, but rather a tea bag dust, but 3 grams I added to my gaiwan and decided for evening gongfu session. Thank you derk anyway!

My water had 72°C when filled my thermos, and it suits this tea well. At least I can say that after a few steeps I already made before starting this tasting note.

I guess because broken pieces of leaves, it is not so good as back then, moreover, it is another 2 years (for a green tea!); so its flavours are weaker, but still cleary noticeable (in no order) broth, vegetables, sweet peas, thick flavour, chesnuts, but also a little of beans and herbals.

Longer steeps make it a bit more astringent than I recall from my first encounter with this tea, but again, I am trying to understand it as the quality of leaf is, as my own fault, bad, but still I am amazed how well it holds its flavours and aromas. I need to get more of this tasty stuff. But at first, I will finish other loose greens I have in my cupboard. For instance, those from Paper & Tea I have ordered last year.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib96-ytmLDg

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 3 g 4 OZ / 125 ML

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96

Thank you derk, I hope we will agree on, how’s this tea. Gongfu, 5 grams / 125 ml. Quick rinse and around 75°C water; measured.
Wet leaf aroma indeed like the soybean as Kawaii433 wrote, strongly vegetal but…
First steep was 5 seconds, and none of the over-powered vegetal notes pronounced to taste. It’s very clean, and thick. Brothy. Smooth. Sweet peas. Cut grass (and it’s from spring 2018!) Well. That’s amazing.

I was following Kawaii433 steeps too. So, that said… second steep was 10 seconds long.
It’s savoury and I have enjoyed it! Bamboo was there too.
Maan. Why I was postponing this tea for that long?

This tea keeps on giving. Chesnuts this time. Maybe there is some spinach notes. Not sure about the anise, and/or fennel.

I notice something I would say it’s fresh air… but with vegetal twist. That was amazing experience.

I actually… feel amazed.
Once. Once I will order my pouch of this. It’s not that expensive. Especially, when it’s so great. I wonder how the black counterpart tastes like? Great as well?

Flavors: Bamboo, Broth, Chestnut, Grass, Peas, Smooth, Spinach, Vegetal

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 125 ML
White Antlers

Martin, isn’t it wonderful to be amazed by something as complex and yet as simple as tea?! : )

Kawaii433

mmm A good laoshan is always nice!

Martin Bednář

White Antlers indeed it is wonderful. And more interesting is seeing the difference, for example one could not get the difference between this and North Winds. Like how it could be for a same plant?

Kawaii433 I certainly need to try more Laoshans!

tea-sipper

Another fan of the Laoshan green! It’s interesting to me that you mention the Laoshan black. For me, Laoshan green is my essential green tea, but any form of the Laoshan black is just okay to my tastes, and not really special. I guess I haven’t thought of them side by side before.

Martin Bednář

tea-sipper: I couldn’t say that I am a fan. This year I have tried only two; this one and from Whispering Pines; both were enjoyable for sure, but not much experience with them yet. Certainly a good tea it is though!
I just found there is black counterpart while browsing through YS website. If I once palce the order there, I should try both.

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75

Got a small sample to try, but based on the pricing, I doubt I’d ever spring for it. Wasn’t super wowed by it? But overall, based on the price, wouldn’t really recommend it.

2016 Hai Lang Hao Lao Ban Zhang Gu Shu
Ancient Arbor Raw pu er
2016 老班章古树生普洱茶

5.8 g, 140 mL, Brita filtered water, 180f (figured out by now that this was probably too low)

Dry leaves standard sheng smell
Wet leaves have a sharp smokey/earthy note that reminds me of shu
Initial taste is a lightly bitter green that later gives a refreshing and slightly sweet mouthfeel

I suppose the lightly bitter and cooling sweet must be a standard sheng note that keeps reminding me of mint

The aftertaste sits in your mouth for quite a while and is pleasant. Other than that, I’m not sure I’m convinced on spending the money for a full cake of this.

Later infusions, wet leaves have a woody sweet note

Flavors: Bitter, Mint, Sweet, Wood

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 5 OZ / 140 ML

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84

When I first got this tea I wasn’t supper exited because I remembered having the 2015 and being not to impressed (no pun intended). Nevertheless, I gave this one a chance, and I’m happy I did because it’s a lot better than I remember 2015 was back in the day.

This is a slow burner tea. I had to push a bit to get this tea to open up. So if you are brewing this one, Don’t be scared to go for those longer steepings of 15’, 20’, 30’… If you do you get rewarded with a fairly interesting blend. If I would read my tasting notes I would never pick this one up but in a very strange and unconventional way it sort of works.

There are 2 very distanced aromas present. One of fruit and the other of vegetables. Now if you were to give me this on a plate to eat, I would be very hesitant of eating it. But somehow here it works.

Dry leaf: Marzipan, strawberry

Wet leaf: Asparagus, tomato, light roast, mango

Liqueur: umami, vegetable broth, strawberry, mango,

+4 / 5 steeping: Umami, bacon, multi cereal bread

Would I recommend this tea? I don’t know. On the one hand I am inclined to say no but on the other hand this is a supper funky tea, and not in a bad way. So I suppose buy a bing not a tong if you are intrested.

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84

No notes yet. Add one?

Flavors: Asparagus, Hazelnut, Marzipan, Strawberry, Umami

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 130 OZ / 3844 ML

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85

I brought the rest of my sample to my parent’s house a neighborhood over, wanting to spread the joy of this tea but also to have something to warm up to after shoveling snow for three hours. It wasn’t a great session unfortunately. My parents aren’t really the patient type and wouldn’t even sit down for my improvised gong fu set up, which dampened my enthusiasm. I brought my kyusu over, found a tea towel, two glass espresso cups, a shot glass, and a measuring cup as a pitcher. It was a pitiful yet amusing sight. The tea itself was just as fine as last time. My dad said it tasted like an ashtray but nicer. Didn’t quite get tea drunk but I did take a heavy nap afterward. Oh well.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 200 OZ / 5914 ML

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85

Received as a free sample from Yunnan Sourcing. My dive into gong fu tea has led to me experiencing a phenomenon new to me known as “tea drunk.” I felt it first when I tried the tie guan yin last week. Kind of a high, invigorating yet serene. I didn’t attribute it to tea at the time but feeling it again this evening led me to do some research. Apparently it’s possible the combination of caffeine and L-theanine is producing this effect? Exciting. And from my understanding, this is different from cha qi? Anyway, I quite enjoyed this sample. Smoky, earthy, and woodsy at first, later fruity, kind of plummy almost? Steeped around 15 times.

Flavors: Clay, Fruity, Plum, Smoke, Smooth, Wet Earth, Wet Wood, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
derk

Puerh can produce such a range of body and mind feelings if your constitution is receptive. Some people can’t feel these things, though, which doesn’t speak any lesser of a person or of a tea. My first tea drunk feeling was with a Formosa oolong!

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71

Drank this again today and was reminded how good it is! Smooth, good in the mouth, easy to swill. Mild astringengy but not tannic tasting. No buyer’s remorse for having bought the 5-tuo bag (500g).

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71

Brewed up a golden yellow, slightly smoky, slightly bitter, slightly astringent. Not as smooth as expected for a 16 yr old tea. No fishiness, compost notes, or foul odor. The leaves are chopped into 1-2 cm pieces, are now a green-brown color, and darken with each infusion. Tasty and enjoyable nevertheless. 8+ infusions. The tuo was very tightly compressed and I had difficulty prying off chunks with my pick.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 45 sec 4 g 7 OZ / 207 ML

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90

Brewed some gong fu and brewed some cold overnight. Still love it! Not much different from my last session, but found that it does taste more herbaceous the more it’s steeped, not because of an increased temperature.

As for the cold brew, it’s delicious. The dill flavor I was looking for? It’s all here. Very refreshing to have this morning.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec

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90

What a really pleasant and relaxing tea. Anything rose takes me back to Poland for whatever reason, and I really smelled that here. Was looking for dill since that’s mentioned in in past years’ tasting notes, but tasted more cucumber and melon. Brewed gong fu style, good for many steepings. 15s + 5s at 85°C. Messed with the temperature a little bit, seems like a lower temperature (80-85°C) yielded a more floral taste while a higher one (85-96°C) made it taste more herbaceous, though this requires more sessions to confirm! Also, I used my gaiwan for the first time! Accidentally let some leaves through during a pour and scalded my finger but you know, I’ll learn.

Flavors: Cucumber, Floral, Herbs, Melon, Rose, Sweet

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
derk

This one was not my kind of tea, so I’m happy to see reviews from people who enjoy it!

Mateusz

What are some white teas that you enjoy? Just from a quick search I see that you like silver needle which I’d like to try. Thanks for the welcome btw :)

derk

Silver needles from many tea-producing countries and Taiwanese Ruby 18 whites but those both tend to be expensive. Baimudan, Moonlight White, Shoumei, Gongmei – I’ve never had a white I didn’t enjoy (even this one has some interesting qualities) though I don’t reach for them often.

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First tea in a few days. Weather-related migraines were one of 2020’s many unwanted “gifts” and they appear to be here to stay. Every time the air pressure drops it feels like my skull wants to split open. I don’t remember signing up to be the human barometer. Everything tastes and smells a little off when I’m migrainey so I’m drinking a tea I’ve had many times instead of trying to form an opinion about something new, just in case my taste and smell are still off even though the pain is gone.

I think it’s been a couple of months since I last drank this tea. It’s not my favorite moonlight but I like it quite a bit. It was the first big cake I ever bought (I think 200g was the biggest before this one). 357g seemed so huge when I pulled it out of the shipping box…I thought it’d last me forever but I’ve managed to drink about half a cake in around 10 months. I’ve been thinking I should order more but I haven’t decided if I should get more of the 2018 or try the 2019.

This tea’s got the fruity white tea flavors but with some darker, black tea type stuff going on too. It might be because of my lazy, imprecise timing but some steeps taste and smell more like white tea and some more like black. Once in a while I get a hint of that vanilla-y flavor my favorite moonlights have, but when I try to focus on that flavor I can’t find it anymore. Not sure if that’s a me thing or if it needs more time to develop that flavor. It’s not brain-breakingly complex but it’s interesting enough to keep me coming back to it. It’s been my go-to tea for when I can’t decide what I want to drink. Smells good, tastes good, and it doesn’t seem to be very particular about how it’s prepared. I’ve played around a bit with the amount of tea, amount of water, water temperature and steep times…it’s been drinkable no matter what I’ve done to it.

ashmanra

If it is related to pressure, would Valsava maneuver breathing help? It CAN bring on headaches like when coughing makes your head hurt but I wonder if you tried positive pressure then negative pressure? Like when people clear clogged ears. Hold nose, ten puffs of air that doesn’t escape, breathe, then hold nose and swallow repeatedly. I don’t know…

Husband’s migraines are rare but complex, with visual auras, numbness, and inability to speak. Over the counter migraine pills help the headache but not the other symptoms. Migraine Relief oil from Rocky Mountain Oils instantly relieves the other symptoms but not the headache, so he uses both.

Sorry you have those. It stinks. I hope you find something that works for you.

ashmanra

Hmmm, just read that second cough headaches are very bad and can need surgery to correct so I don’t know if that translates to using Valsava maneuver to change pressure intentionally could also be bad so do not attempt without a doctor’s advice!

ashmanra

*secondary

DrowningMySorrows

Thanks, ashmanra :)
I have a prescription medication that helps with the headache part but not the nausea and light sensitivity and stuff like that. Part of my problem is that I wait longer than I should before taking the medication. These new weather-related migraines don’t feel the same as the ones I’ve had since I was a tween and I have a bad habit of trying to convince myself it’s “just as headache”…probably partly because the medication is so gross and expensive. It’s a nasal spray that burns and it’s bitter when it starts to drip down your throat, like snorting earwax vodka or something equally nasty. I have a doctor appointment coming up so I’ll try to remember to ask about the breathing technique.

White Antlers

Botox for migraines is covered by insurance. The trigger nerves are injected and that can decrease or stop the headaches.
https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/botox-for-migraine/

ashmanra

A friend used feverfew with great success, I believe combined with St Johns Wort for her depression. But hers were not weather related.

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80

Brewed gong fu style, 12s at 96°C, adding a few seconds with each steeping. Beautiful spinach aroma, flavors are smooth and vegetal. Light roasted flavor more pronounced after second steeping. Overall very pleasant, but looking forward to trying higher quality tieguanyin.

Flavors: Roasted, Smooth, Spinach, Vegetal, Wet Moss

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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80

Nice strong tea. Smokey and spice-like, piney actually. Good bitterness. It actually reminds me quite much of the 2006 CNNP 8891.

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75

It is a smooth, sweet tea with pronounced notes of dried fruits. Very pleasant. I recall that the 2012 version that I had around 2018 was even better, with a thicker mouthfeel and stronger aromas. Perhaps that can be accounted to the age difference of 6 versus 2 years?

This tea is also really, really cheap.

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100

Just had this cold brewed (despite it being freezing cold here and right before a snowstorm hits!). This is so tasty I might rate it 100. Every flavor I loved from my gong fu preparation is present here, and the honey notes are more pronounced. Also getting a hint of marzipan. This is going to be a regular of mine for sure.

Flavors: Chocolate, Honey, Malt, Marzipan, Sweet, Toasty

Preparation
12 g 24 OZ / 709 ML
Courtney

I so rarely think to cold brew black tea! Hopefully the snowstorm passes through quickly!

Mastress Alita

I always have a coldbrew (or two) in the fridge, despite the weather!

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100

I’m new at this. Previously a casual drinker of bagged tea and David’s Tea and the like, I decided to delve a little deeper. So I ordered some of the most popular teas from Yunnan Sourcing and am now attempting gong fu cha. My first attempt went well! First off, the aroma is divine. Chocolate and malt with hints of honey, and a vaguely toasty smell, almost like cereal. I’d describe the smell overall as sweet and woodsy. A comment on YS listed the following brewing instructions for 4 infusions, so that’s what I tried. 1) 20s, 90°C 2) 20s, 90°C 3) 35s, 90°C 4) 45s, 95°C. The first tasted very clean and pure, the second and third richer and slightly more astringent, with the fourth starting to lose flavor. The woodsy and wet earth flavors became stronger with each infusion. Quite enjoyable!

Flavors: Chocolate, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Toasty, Wet Earth

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 7 OZ / 200 ML
derk

Hi Mat, welcome to Steepster :) Enjoy your explorations and learning experiences.

Cameron B.

Welcome, and nice to meet you! :D

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91

Autumn 2020 Tea: One of my favorite Jin Guan Yin. It’s beautifully fresh and floral, light in color and impossible to oversteep. Delicious, a bit drying in the back of the mouth but not juicy. Warm summer grass.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 45 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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2021 sipdown no. 13 (another amazing tea from Cameron)

This one is tasty! The flavour is light, yet has depth. There is a smoothness paired with a plum-like sweetness. Yes, I get plum here and I really enjoy it.

Thanks Cameron!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 14 OZ / 414 ML

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Finishing up another sample. This one from Sil!

I haven’t had a raw puerh like this for a long while. It’s still sharp, but it does have depth of flavour. I don’t know that I could drink this all this time, but I’m appreciating it right now.

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