Yunnan Sourcing

Tonight, I’m hopping in the wayback machine and posting a review of one of my August sipdowns. Prior to trying this tea, I had never tried a Wuyi Que She, though I had previously done a little research on the cultivar. Honestly, I was not well prepared for this tea. It was not how I expected it to be, but rather than striking me as a pleasant surprise, I found it to be more on the disappointing side. My experience with this tea definitely did not make me want to rush into trying more Que She in the near future.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of dark chocolate, pine, charcoal, smoke, raisin, and cinnamon. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of lychee, roasted peanut, roasted almond, vanilla, and blueberry. The first infusion introduced aromas of peach and blackberry. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of pine, smoke, charcoal, dark chocolate, raisin, cream, and roasted almond that were chased by hints of blueberry, earth, grass, black cherry, and roasted peanut. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of black cherry, brown sugar, orange zest, cranberry, and orchid. Blackberry and vanilla notes appeared in the mouth alongside subtle impressions of peach and lychee and more amplified flavors of blueberry, black cherry, earth, grass, and roasted peanut. I also picked up notes of minerals, orchid, orange zest, cranberry, and spinach as well as hints of cannabis, cinnamon, brown sugar, tar, butter, coffee, pear, and roasted carrot. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized mineral, raisin, roasted peanut, and vanilla notes that were complimented by some late popcorn flavor and even more amplified impressions of earth and butter. These flavors were then balanced by hints of orange zest, grass, smoke, charcoal, cranberry, black cherry, pine, and roasted carrot.

This was something of a confusing and awkward tea for me. It faded quickly, and not all of its aromas and flavors came together in a way that was satisfying. The body of the tea liquor was also rather thin and watery, which resulted in it coming across as bland and prematurely washed out when coupled with its sharp, mineral-heavy texture. Overall, I wasn’t happy with this one. There was a lot of complexity and some very interesting and likable components on display here, but as a whole, this tea just came across as a muddled, confused, disjointed mess.

SIPDOWN 82, and thanks to derk! I had it for long time and today I wanted a gongfu session, but it’s already past 8 pm, so something caffeine free had to be brewed.

I get completely tea-sipper‘s note of dill pickles. Because it is a most prominent descriptor in my first, 7-8 seconds long steep. It is truly dill with some other herbals. Although he is rather sad of this note, I don’t mind pickles at all.

Second steep, doubled the time, brings more of the pollen note. It is sweeter in taste as well, though it’s still herbal-dill like. Full of flavour. Need to get some one day, thus it’s in the wishlist!

Third steep, 20 seconds, I wanted to listen to some song, but none were a good pairing.
Those buds steep so fast, but they keep their qualities! That mouthfeel, that special and unique taste. And I am not even speaking how cute they are.

Fourth steep, 30 seconds. And they are still giving! I will run out of water in thermos before they go flat. I will end this note here, as, I don’t expect any changes in future steeps.

I wonder why I waited so long for trying this. Derk, who sent me it, said that this package are summer brews and now there is an autumn outside and I am drinking this? Okay I guess.

Anyway, prepared grandpa with one tea spoon (about 2-3 grams). I was surprised how quickly it has changed the colour! And the aroma is so nice and strong. Now it does not change – so it is dark red-brown colour. Aroma, have no idea how to describe it. Strong, but not very floral (as I have expected), rather malty maybe? Roswell Strange mentioned
basil notes. Yep maybe some of it. Or herbal generally.

In taste, it is thick but as well somehow light. Herbal, but not annoying. Sweet, but not pollen sweet, nor sugary sweet. Good caffeine-free tea. Even in autumn.
Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifXalt3MJtM

[Spring 2019 harvest]

This is one of the most interesting of the Yunnan green teas. Pure Bud Silver Strands has a dry aroma of apple, florals, and a butter-fried carrot. Wet leaves then smell of freshly cut grass, cooked vegetables, and cinnamon.

The taste is quite complex so my note will only scratch the surface of the flavours present. First infusion is herbaceous, metallic and alcohol-like (think gin). Later, it becomes more savoury with a tart finish and I get notes such as fennel and straw. The aftertaste then displays a tangy profile with flavours of sugarcane, malt, butter, and plant stems. It is slightly drying, but the astringency never becomes overwhelming.

I also really like the velvety, bubbly, and mouth-watering texture, as well as the relaxing cha qi. It’s a truly great green tea in all respects.

This is a green tea that can take some heat. In my first session I used 75°C, which I then upped to 85°C in the second session today together with using high leaf/water ratio and short steeps. The latter session was more enjoyable if, like me, you prefer some bite to your green tea as well as thick texture. The former, on the other hand, was more mellow in taste with no astringency whatsoever and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel. It lacked a bit of staying power in the aftertaste, but the taste was definitely pronounced and complex enough even with lower temperatures. In the end, it’s up to one’s preference, and I feel like it is a sign of good quality tea when you can get a satisfying and distinct experience with varying parameters, rather than having to stick to a precise optimum in order to avoid the pitfalls of a flat profile of overpowering astringency.

Another aspect of the tea that is noticeable no matter how it is brewed is its pungent aroma. Dry leaves smell quite floral rather than vegetal with notes such as honey, popcorn and cinnamon. The wet leaf smell is complex and also very strong for a green tea. I found scents of meadow, mint, courgette, and white grapes, among others.

The taste profile is sweet and earthy with distinctive (root) vegetable flavours like celery root, kohlrabi, cassava, and pattypan squash. With the more aggressive brewing, there is also stronger mineral taste, a marine character, and a slightly more fruity flavour. I noticed carambola-like note in particular, but that’s quite a faint one. The aftertaste is then cooling with grassy and buttery notes.

This was another sipdown from August. It was also the first of the Yunnan Sourcing tea and flower dragon balls I tried. It set the bar pretty high for those that followed, although I can now safely say that it was not my favorite of the bunch.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped the entire 8-9 gram dragon ball in 160 ml of 185 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 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, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes, with the final infusion steeped in 205 F water.

Prior to the rinse, the dry dragon ball produced aromas of chrysanthemum, dill, hay, malt, and sugarcane. After the rinse, new aromas of wheat toast, cream, butter, vanilla, and grass appeared. The first infusion introduced aromas of orange zest and straw as well as a subtle eucalyptus scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of chrysanthemum, hay, dill, cream, butter, malt, and wheat toast that were backed by hints of straw, vanilla, orange zest, grass, and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of autumn leaves, oats, lemon zest, and anise as well as a subtle pine scent. Stronger and more immediately noteworthy impressions of orange zest, sugarcane, straw, grass, and vanilla appeared in the mouth alongside impressions of anise, oats, lemon zest, minerals, and autumn leaves and hints of black pepper, eucalyptus, cinnamon, and pine. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, wheat toast, chrysanthemum, orange zest, malt, cream, hay, and butter that were complimented by a late, sugary honeydew note and hints of dill, vanilla, grass, straw, autumn leaves, pine, sugarcane, lemon zest, and anise.

This was a very interesting tea. Though the characteristics imparted by the chrysanthemum buds did occasionally overpower the base tea, there was still just enough strength from the base to keep things from coming unglued. The chrysanthemum buds and the moonlight white tea actually played off of one another quite well, as the tea neutralized some of the more vegetal impressions of the chrysanthemum buds, while the chrysanthemum buds softened and smoothed out some of the grainier, more savory notes of the white tea and injected some gently invigorating spiciness into the mix. Though I would have liked to see a little more balance, especially in the early infusions, this was still a successful blend of more or less complimentary components. Fans of both white teas and floral infusions would probably be satisfied with it.

Here is another sipdown from last month. I discovered several black tea dragon balls from Yunnan Sourcing in my tea hoard, and having recently finished the fantastic spring 2017 Yi Mei Ren, I just had to try this tea. Unfortunately, I did not realize that this dragon ball was made using the similar but not nearly as satisfying Yi Mei Ren Needle black tea. I was expecting an abundance of sweet, floral, fruity flavors, but instead, I ended up getting more flowery notes springing from a muted, fairly nondescript black tea base.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped the entire 8-9 gram dragon ball in 160 ml of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed 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 dragon ball emitted aromas of osmanthus, malt, and straw. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of cream, baked bread, and sugarcane as well as subtle cocoa scents and a greatly amplified osmanthus aroma. The first infusion introduced aromas of anise and pine. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of osmanthus, pear, malt, cream, butter, and pine that were backed by hints of baked bread, sugarcane, straw, and pineapple. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of raisin, licorice, earth, and rose. Anise notes appeared in the mouth alongside hints of pine, smoke, roasted almond, apple, and vanilla as well as barely perceptible cocoa. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of baked bread, sugarcane, and straw also came out alongside notes of licorice, raisin, earth, minerals, orange zest, and rose. There were also very subtle menthol hints on each swallow. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized notes of minerals, osmanthus, malt, vanilla, butter, orange zest, and pear that were chased by fleeting hints of straw, roasted almond, pine, cream, baked bread, earth, raisin, and menthol.

This was not a terrible tea, but it also struck me as being decidedly unbalanced and unfocused. The osmanthus tended to dominate throughout most of the session, and it seems that the base tea just did not have enough strength and character to rein it in and pull everything together in a satisfying fashion. If you really like osmanthus and aren’t looking for something with more depth, then you’ll probably be into this, but if, like me, you are looking for a tea with balance and great interplay between the tea base and flowers, then you should probably look elsewhere.

This is another cake I bought from boychik. At first impression (after first few infusions), it appeared to me to be quite muted in its complexity. I thought I will probably not be drinking too much of it in the near future. However, the leaves went steeping on and on for a long time and by the end of the session, the tea presented its multi-faceted nature that wasn’t obvious at first. I ended up really enjoying especially the aftertaste and the qi. 

I totally agree with Scott’s description of the tea having layered bitterness and sweetness. There are several different kinds of bitterness cropping up at various stages of the session, none of which is overpowering. Early on, the bitterness is short while later it takes over the finish and at the very last steeps I can detect some further bitter notes in the aftertaste as well. The sweetness is very strong, especially in the aftertaste, which lasts for a long time. I also agree that the tea has a sort of pure/clean character. Astringency is present throughout, but never gets too strong. The body is full and the mouthfeel very thick and smooth. In the middle of the session it gets somewhat numbing too. Interestingly, the mouthfeel stays nice until the end of what ended up being a long session, which is definitely not the standard.

At this stage of the development of this tea, the aroma seems light and ill defined with fleeting notes of marsh and decaying grass. Taste of the tea starts off mineral, spicy and nutty, fairly muted overall as I mentioned already. It is fairly sweet, one flavour that particularly stood out to me as interesting was that of rice paper. Aftertaste is floral and very sweet, late in the session gets spicy and buttery as well. 

After the end of the session, I was left with an enormous evolving aftertaste with a very unusual character especially with its returning mineral and sour notes in the mouth. There is much more to it though, and rather than trying to discern all its nuances, I let myself be absorbed by it. To say that the tea ends on a high note would be an understatement, especially when paired with the strong and relaxing cha qi. I am glad I have a cake of this intriguing tea, as it’s quite different from my other teas and I look forward to getting to know it better in the future.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8b4-6E8zjA

[Spring 2019 harvest]

In spite of being 1 year old, this tea hasn’t lost much of its freshness and is as good as when I got it. It is not too memorable, but its balanced nature makes it a great choice when you want something random with a grassy/vegetal profile and a good body.

Dry leaves smell of hay and apple, while the wet leaf aroma is more like white wine, kale, and freshly fallen leaves. The taste is sweet and grassy with a moderate bitterness and astringency. There are notes of green wood, grains, white grapes, asparagus and later in the session honey as well. The body is medium to full with a nice velvety mouthfeel.

oh. my. god. I have found my desert island tea. I think this is the first tea I could see myself drink every day and not get tired of, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, I’ve only had it twice by now.

This is yet another blind cake purchase and I don’t regret it one bit. This tea has everything, and I find it hard to believe that it could get even better in a couple months, let’s see.

The aroma is very clean and pungent, with notes of oak wood and moss. It is earthy, sweet and spicy. The liquor is full bodied and active, with an oily, lubricating mouthfeel. Both the aroma and texture are great, but the tea shines in its taste.

Overall, the profile is bitter, fruity and woody with light sweetness and tartness. The tea is bursting with strong and well-defined flavours. These include strawberry, celery, cedar wood, lamb meat, vanilla ice cream, and cognac among many others. In the very long and sweet aftertaste, I get further notes of honey, straw, chocolate, tomato vine, and various spices.

After drinking Purple Voodoo, I feel full of energy and my mind is more focused. The qi is good for working, but at the moment I find the tea too interesting to use for work. It asks for attention from me and I find it hard to refuse to pay attention to all its nuances. However, as I get to know it better, it could become a great tea to drink while working, albeit a little pricey for that.

[Spring 2019 harvest]

This green tea is very sencha-like, both in terms of appearance and the flavours. It is also very reminiscent of the other Laoshan greens, but with stronger sourness I think.

The aroma is lightly fishy with notes of cookies, freshly cut grass, soy beans, and carrot cake. First infusion yields a sweet, crisp, creamy and flowery tea. The subsequent one then get much more vegetal. The taste profile is a nice mix of sweet, umami, and sour with flavours of grass, peas, chard, vanilla, and lettuce. In the aftertaste I further get notes like nutmeg, plant stems and courgette flowers. Mouthfeel is quite nice too – creamy and bubbly.

This was another one of my sipdowns from September, this one coming from around the very end of the month. Not only did this tea end up holding the distinction of being the very worst tea I drank last month, it was also one of the very worst teas I have ever consumed. Nothing about this tea clicked for me.

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 16 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, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cedar, pine, straw, hay, cinnamon, and malt. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of fresh yeast rolls, roasted peanut, and honey. The first infusion introduced aromas of roasted walnut, smoke, and leather. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted peanut, straw, malt, hay, cedar, and pine that were complimented by hints of smoke, baked bread, roasted walnut, honey, and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of minerals, nutmeg, cocoa, caramel, toasted marshmallow, sugarcane, and grass. Slightly stronger notes of honey, sugarcane, and roasted walnut came out in the mouth along with impressions of minerals, leather, earth, yeast roll, cinnamon, nutmeg, graham cracker, cocoa, orange zest, toasted marshmallow, grass, butter, and caramel. I also picked up on hints of lemon zest and plum. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, butter, malt, yeast roll, straw, and roasted peanut that were underscored by hints of hay, smoke, orange zest, caramel, sugarcane, honey, and toasted marshmallow.

This was a very odd, awkward, and unsatisfying Jin Jun Mei. There was a lot going on with it, but none of its aroma or flavor components really came together in any sort of pleasant way for any length of time. The mouthfeel of the tea liquor also struck me as being very harsh and chalky. Overall, there was nothing about this tea that was pleasant or enjoyable. Even though I have a small pouch of the Spring 2018 version of this tea, I now doubt that I will be in any rush to get to it.

I recently bought a hei cha sampler in order to expand my knowledge of these teas. Having tried all of them, I can now document my thoughts. They all have a very comforting quality, and this particular one especially.

The aroma is fairly complex with notes of honey in dry leaf; sweet bread, yeast, fermented apples, earth and some medicinal smell in wet leaves. Taste is quite well defined and stable with a sweet metallic character and a very spicy aftertaste. I notice flavours like those of fermented grains and soy beans. The liquor has a medium body and a smooth, fleeting mouthfeel.

This is a very nice tea that is well defined, which means it can be quite memorable and suited to specific scenarios. It is not my favourite from the hei cha sampler at the moment though.

I really enjoyed my session with this sheng today! It ihas a thick, bubbly and colloidal texture; and a pungent taste with notes of juniper, dry earth, sage and curry leaves among others.

At six years of age, this tea is starting to show definite signs of a semi-aged sheng profile. It is one of the more elusive teas to describe, but I also find that my impression of it hasn’t changed much since I last wrote a note a year ago. The one thing that I would highlight more is the aftertaste which has a lot of sweetness to it.

I recently acquired a few pu-erh cakes from boychik, and this is one of them. I didn’t sample it, but given the description of the tea and my experience with YS and similar teas, I was pretty sure I’d like it and I wasn’t mistaken. This 5 year old tea impressed me quite a bit already in my first session with it. I would summarize it as having a fairly unique and complex aroma, pungent yet balanced taste, and a thick buttery mouthfeel.

The dry leaf smell has notes of aromatic wood and spices like cinnamon. It is a very clean and somewhat sweet aroma that I can’t get enough of. From the wet leaves, I get scents like fresh hazelnut, petrichor, and parsley.

Already the rinse makes a strong impression with strong umami. It tastes of chicken broth, fresh bamboo, and butter. The mouthfeel after swallowing is very interesting too – oily, slick and slightly drying. Subsequent infusions become progressively more bitter and pungent. They have more of a floral quality with a bit of fruitiness that reminds me of carambola and lemongrass. After the peak, the taste profile gets more creamy and I can detect some very light smokiness. The aftertaste stays for a long time and evolves quite a bit. It is nutty and aromatic, with a cooling sensation in the throat.

As for the mouthfeel, it starts soft, drying and buttery, but later becomes more active and bubbly. In this session, I didn’t detect a particularly strong cha qi, but I do think the tea helped declutter my mind. I look forward to the future progression of this new item in my line-up.

Geek Steep S2E25 – The Music of John Williams

This was the tea that I chose for one of Marika’s song selections for this episode – The Jurassic Park Theme!

I was so relieved when she picked out this piece because it’s one I wrestled with including on my own list as well. Similar to Hedwig’s Theme, this song starts off very quite but it builds in a very different way to something that just feels incredibly grand and important. I highly recommend listening to the podcast episode if for no other reason than to hear Marika talk about this song specifically because the way she describes it and the story attached to her own tea pairing are honestly truly beautiful and it might be one of the moments where I’ve felt like I connected with and understood her the most in our multi year friendship.

We actually almost picked the same tea as well and for close to the same reasons. In the end she chose DT’s Sticky Rice Oolong and though I considered that tea as well I ultimately chose this Sticky Rice shou instead. So there are two pretty big things you need to know about me in order for this tea pairing to make sense. The first is that I absolutely love heavy rainfall and one of my favourite smells in the world is petrichor. So, when it rains heavily one of my go to teas to drink is sticky rice scented tea because it brings me this kind of serene and calm feeling of comfort through the creamy starchy taste of it while also making me think of nature and the freshness of being out in the earth. It’s a comfort flavour and just pivitol to the intense feelings of peace and meditation that rainfall bring me.

The second thing that you need to know if that one of the many reasons I love shou pu’erh (and especially very earthy and woody shou) is that it similarly gives me this sort of grounded, peaceful meditative feeling while also making me feel attuned and connected with nature. I drink a lot of shou pu’erh when I want to enter this sort of state of feeling at peace with my place within the natural world. Similarly to sticky rice, it’s ultimately a comfort flavour for me with deep roots with nature.

So how does that connect with this theme? I can think of no better way to describe this song as the kind of music that draws attention to the haunting majesty and childlike wonder of how incredibly big the world is while also making you feel completely calm and at peace with how small each of us are within that beautiful grandness of the natural world. This song is the musical version of my shou pu’erh sessions, and petrichor after a Thunderstorm, and stick rice teas while listening to thunder under big blankets. I feel small drinking this tea and listening to this music and that is okay.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEdMKWOR9A/

John Williams Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-M&ab_channel=xithe

…and because I drank this one grandpa style over the course of an afternoon I ended up with a music pairing unrelated to Geek Steep as well.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDqLAQse7cw&ab_channel=CarterVail-Topic

Something shared with me by TheWeekendSessions!

I’m a bit perplexed by this one – I tossed a small lump of the sample Micah gave me into a Nordic Mug and drank it Grandpa style over an afternoon at the start of the week, and I found the sticky rice notes very defined, smooth and deeply comforting. As a fan of that note in teas, in particular in Sticky Rice Oolong, I really loved the taste. However, the shou itself was really flat/boring to me and I would have appreciated a deeper flavour from it in pretty well any regard. As it stand, this was incredibly silky and easy to sip without any funk/bitterness/astringency to be found AT ALL – but just a bit boring, and too “one note”.

Micah generously gave me lots of this to play with – so we’ll see if it’s perhaps more interesting when brewed Gongfu.

My attempts at trying different puerhs seems has really been a failed experiment. I am just not liking about 90% of the puerhs that I taste — some puerhs are fine teas just not my flavor profile and for some, I just honestly don’t like much about it, so please take this review with that knowledge in mind….especially as other reviewers seem to find this a decent tea.

This was a sample that I got from a YS order.
Brew style: GF —
Tea amount: 5grams (the entire tuo).
Water: 150 ml
Brew times: wash @ 15 seconds, then 20s @ 200F, 20s @ 200F, 30s @ 180F

Color of the tea: a dull golden color, like gold that hasn’t been polished in some time.
The brewed leaves have a nice smell to them. There are high notes of sweet with low notes of herbs and cooked vegetal.

Flavor: This tea is bitter. The first thing I taste is bitterness at the tip of my tongue. The bitterness is like jumping into a cold pool - the shock of it hits you and then the taste mellows a little bit out, with an aftertaste of sweet & vegetal.

I couldn’t even really finish each steep since the bitterness was very overpowering…and always at the tip of my tongue. I tried lowering the temp to 180deg F and increasing temp time to 30seconds, but it was even more bitter than the 2nd steep. I couldn’t even finish this tea.

I know that this tea has more life to it than 3 steeps, so I threw the wet leaves into a cold brew of 350ml and see if that doesn’t even out that bitterness a bit.

Will update this after I taste the cold brew.

I took this tea out from storage to check up on it today. It surprised me a little how different it is compared to my past encounters with it. Sure, there are clear parallels to be drawn, but it is also less grassy, while being more savoury and “masculine” than before. It is still floral, but more of a spruce forest cooling ones, with just a bit of alpine meadow to them. 

The dry leaf aroma is quite perfumy with clear notes of apricot and musk. After the rinse, there is a lot of complexity, but among the new scents not covered in my earlier write-up are many foresty ones and also some butter toast.

Apart from the unexpectedly savoury early steeps, I also found the tea to be more woody in the middle and more grainy and herbaceous towards the end of the session.

I got a sample of this tea earlier this year and after one session went and bought the cake straight away. It’s a pungent and clean tasting tea with a unique aroma, bitter and floral taste, and a lightly fruity aftertaste with a strong huigan. The price is relatively good at the moment as well, so I had no reason to hesitate. Interestingly, the leaves have a relatively dark olive green colour, darker than any young sheng from standard varietals that I can recall.

Starting with the dry leaf aroma, I can smell nuts, apricot and spinach most of all, but also some kind of flowery scent. The aroma of wet leaves is strong, complex and hard to identify. It is a little bit oolong like (think Taiwanese high mountain oolong without a lot of the florals). Some all-over-the-place fleeting notes I get include coffee, tangerine, stewed vegetables, and popcorn.

The rinse already gives a good impression of the tea’s taste profile. It is a mix of bitter, floral and sweet; very viscous and yet it feels light in the mouth. Later on the tea gets incredibly fragrant, but not as perfumy as some other Yi Wu shengs I’ve tried. Apart from that, it tastes grassy and woody, with a decent umami and notes of roasted nuts, white grapes, swiss chard, and burnt food. Deep bitterness persists throughout the whole session, but the tea never gets overly astringent.

Ding Jia Zhai is an all-round great tea, but its aftertaste is one of the highlights for sure. It has some spiciness and a kind of sticky sweetness to it. On top of that, a few fruity flavours emerge that are absent when drinking the tea, most notably tones of orange, grapefruit, pawpaw, and chamomile. The huigan is remarkable even relative to other (supposedly) gu shu teas. The flavours of this tea stay with you and slowly evolve for a long time.

Mouthfeel wise, I found the tea maybe a bit less interesting, but still very enjoyable. The texture is smooth and oily and the body is medium. As for the cha qi, this tea has a nice subtly creeping, calming energy that’s not rushy. It is not one that would send you to the stratosphere I reckon, but I like it. I think this would be a good tea for social occasions.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wxZ1DV9xO4

edit: I ended the session at 17 steeps today, but the tea seemed like it had a bit more to give, being still quite flavourful and thick even at these late stages.

Gongfu Sipdown (704)!

Thank you to TheWeekendSessions for sharing this tea with me during our meet up/swap this summer! Like any still relatively juvenile adult, I have always found Duck Shit oolong appealing because of the name – but as far as the tea itself goes I’d say my exposure it moderate to minimal, and it’s something I could definitely delve deeper into/expose myself to a bit more. So far both of those reasons, I appreciated receiving this one!

As for the tea itself? It’s pretty nutty with mild roast notes initially, and a greener undertone but not before long it evolves into something very silky and floral with buttery lily and orchid notes and just a hint of something mineral. A little bit astringent, but overall quite smooth and enjoyable!!

This really isn’t a style of oolong I have a lot of on hand because it’s not majorly a profile that I gravitate towards (I prefer either much lighter roast/no roast and LOTS of florals or something VERY dark/heavily roasted more yancha-y) so it’s not something that I’d buy from YS based on this session – however for a one of session? It’s really nice, and I see the merits of the tea/why people enjoy it. Thanks for the share!!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/B236IscA4sv/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN2SPnvZLP4

This was one of my sipdowns from August for which I have been needing to post a review. I’ve been polishing off some of the teas that I have had in storage at a steady rate and have unfortunately fallen behind on posting reviews. At this point, all I can really say to introduce my review of this tea is that it was one of the better teas I consumed last month. Actually, this was a very nice Yunnan black tea overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick 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 emitted aromas of honey, roasted almond, straw, pine, smoke, malt, and strawberry. After the rinse, I detected a new roasted peanut aroma. The first infusion brought out scents of sugarcane and orange zest. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of honey, cream, pine, malt, orange zest, roasted almond, and strawberry that were backed by hints of smoke, roasted peanut, sugarcane, and straw. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of black currant, violet, blackberry, blueberry, Asian pear, lemon zest, butter, and dark chocolate. Notes of minerals, black cherry, blackberry, black currant, butter, plum, violet, blueberry, Asian pear, dark chocolate, and lemon zest appeared in the mouth alongside stronger and more immediately apparent impressions of straw and smoke and hints of earth, red apple, and baked bread. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized mineral, cream, butter, roasted almond, orange zest, lemon zest, and malt notes that were complimented by hints of pine, plum, Asian pear, red apple, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, sugarcane, and roasted peanut.

This was an incredibly fun, vibrant black tea that was very approachable and easy to drink despite its respectable depth and complexity. A lot of Yunnan black teas can go heavy on the herbal, woody, creamy, buttery, bready, nutty, and malty notes, but this one was full of rich, sweet fruity impressions that set it apart from many of the other Yunnan black teas I have encountered. Fans of sweeter, fruitier teas would probably really dig this one. Heck, I enjoyed it tremendously and I’m not even all that huge on sweeter teas.

Alright, I’m getting around to reviewing this tea earlier than planned. I usually wait until I have finished what I have of any given tea before editing and organizing my session notes and then posting a review at some point afterwards. Well, I am not doing that with this tea. I think I have around 5 or 6 grams left in my 50 gram pouch that I plan on polishing off later in the evening. I have a pretty good grasp on what this tea has to offer right now, though, so I am going ahead and posting a review here. I think everyone knows that I love Yunnan black teas, but I can actually be pretty picky about them. I tend to look for lots of aromas, lots of flavors, and clearly defined texture, and if something seems out of whack or too timid, then I can get pretty critical. I can’t do that with this tea though. There just really wasn’t much for me to criticize about it.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 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, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of chocolate, baked bread, smoke, pine, sugarcane, molasses, malt, and sweet potato. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond, marshmallow, honey, banana, and caramel as well as subtle scents of eucalyptus. The first infusion saw the emergence of stronger eucalyptus aromas as well as the emergence of a buttery scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of chocolate, baked bread, honey, malt, sugarcane, pine, and smoke that were balanced by hints of molasses, butter, and eucalyptus. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of vanilla, fennel, roasted walnut, black pepper, sweet cherry, and orange zest. Marshmallow, roasted almond, sweet potato, and caramel notes appeared in the mouth alongside stronger molasses and eucalyptus impressions and hints of banana. New notes of minerals, cream, vanilla, fennel, black pepper, roasted walnut, nutmeg, ginger, orange zest, sweet cherry, and cooked green beans also appeared along with subtle hints of roasted chestnut and earth. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, baked bread, roasted almond, chocolate, marshmallow, caramel, and sweet potato that were chased by hints of butter, vanilla, orange zest, molasses, honey, sugarcane, black pepper, ginger, roasted chestnut, fennel, pine, and eucalyptus.

This was an incredibly complex tea with wonderful body and texture in the mouth. If I have one complaint about it, it is that some of my favorite aromas and flavors faded slightly sooner than I would have liked. That is really nitpicking though. This was a great Yunnan black tea, and it did not seem to have lost any vigor in storage. If you have yet to try any of Yunnan Sourcing’s Gold Needle black teas, you really ought to do so at some point in the near future.