Yunnan Sourcing

Sipdown from the other day. Not much to add…still love my LB

This is another of my summer sipdowns. I think this one comes from June. I know it was one of the first black teas I finished this summer. At the time I was drinking this tea, I recalled trying the spring 2017 version and coming away with the distinction impression that I didn’t quite get it. I wanted to give this tea another crack, so I jumped at the opportunity to try another version of it. At first, I did not get this tea either. It actually struck me as rather unpleasant, but then it started to grow on me, and by the time I finished my 50g pouch, I realized that it was actually a very good tea despite a few notable quirks.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 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, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of malt, cedar, stewed tomato, pine, sweet potato, and sugarcane. After the rinse, new aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, butter, and baked bread emerged. The first infusion brought out aromas of cream and banana. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted peanut, roasted almond, baked bread, butter, malt, pine, and stewed tomato that were chased by hints of cream, oats, sweet potato, banana, pear, sugarcane, and cooked green beans. The subsequent infusions coaxed out scents of camphor, black pepper, earth, honey, chocolate, and grass. Stronger and more immediately detectable impressions of cooked green beans, sweet potato, banana, and sugarcane came out in the mouth alongside notes of minerals, cedar, earth, caramel, grass, chocolate, orange zest, camphor, and black pepper. I also detected hints of honey, plum, and red apple. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, roasted peanut, cream, butter, and malt that were balanced by delicate hints of roasted almond, sugarcane, chocolate, camphor, sweet potato, pine, and cedar.

This was something of a prickly and intense black tea. Even though the aromas and flavors I picked up were nothing new for a Yunnan black tea, they frequently expressed themselves in rather challenging and unpredictable ways. The tea liquor was also alternately sharp and starchy in terms of texture, and that required some time and effort on my part to appreciate/tolerate. Overall, this one was a grower for me. I found myself appreciating what this tea had to offer more and more the longer I spent with it, but as of now, I can also easily imagine that the odd texture of the tea liquor and the boldness and/or sharpness of some of the aroma and flavor components would be huge turnoffs for a large number of people. In the end, I would recommend this tea, but I would also recommend it with the caveat that it is very likely not suitable for beginners. More experienced drinkers of Yunnan black tea would probably get much more out of it, but even among that crowd, I think this is the sort of tea that would be very polarizing.

Here is another of my somewhat older sipdowns. I think I finished what I had of this tea sometime between June and the start of August. At this point, I can’t really remember as I was plowing through some of the spring 2018 black teas I had in my cupboard at a very rapid clip. Overall, this was a more or less excellent Yunnan black tea. At the time I was drinking it, I remembered greatly enjoying the spring 2017 version Yunnan Sourcing had offered. I’m guessing this is one of their more consistent black teas.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 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, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds produced aromas of baked bread, malt, marshmallow, and cinnamon. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and sweet potato. The first infusion introduced aromas of roasted walnut and hay. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of baked bread, malt, cream, black pepper, eucalyptus, roasted almond, sweet potato, cinnamon, and hay that were balanced by hints of grass, marshmallow, clove, roasted walnut, and caramel. The subsequent infusions coaxed out aromas of apple, eucalyptus, caramel, clove, black pepper, green bell pepper, grass, leather, cedar, and plum. Stronger and more immediately detectable flavors of marshmallow, clove, and caramel appeared in the mouth alongside hints of roasted peanut and new impressions of earth, minerals, red apple, leather, cedar, green bell pepper, and orange zest. There were also some fleeting hints of celery and plum here and there. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, earth, baked bread, sweet potato, and grass that were chased by hints of roasted almond, cream, hay, green bell pepper, marshmallow, plum, and black pepper.

This was a very complex yet smooth Simao black tea with some absolutely delightful spicy and vegetal notes. Some of the aromas and flavors I picked up I tend to associate more with Feng Qing black teas, which was a bit of a shock. Overall, this was a very enjoyable Yunnan black tea. It is likely that fans of such teas would be pleased with it.

Very clean and delicate —
Dry notes: Asparagus, sauteed spinach, brioche,
Wet notes: Crusty bread, egg custard, green nuts, buttermilk biscuits
Finish: bright, clean, mildly dry

Sipdown! Over to VariaTEA for the last bit so she can have more things to keep her 365 days going ;) not sure how i feel about this one after getting through the last of it. I dind’t hate it but not sure it’s worth a re-visit in future years

2020 version but i’m too lazy to create yet another year’s entry. Really enjoyed this the other day…lots of wins from my YS order

I have had the 2020 version of this tea before and enjoyed it a lot. Now I’m drinking the 2022 version and I’m impressed by the differences. The dry leaf looks very similar, but the brew is completely different. The 2020 version was remarkably foamy, had strong spice aromas and was very strong and quite tanniny. The 2022 seems more like a classical dianhong, with caramel/honey and some flowery aromas, and there is a bit of a weird toasty/nutty aspect, almost like sticky/toasted rice, that I’m not really sure I like.

This is a very aromatic and enjoyable Dian Hong. The aromas are indeed quite complex, with notes of dried fruits and honey. It feels a little harsh and somewhat less smooth and more astringent than most Dian Hongs but maybe that’s also because it’s only 5 months old?