Hide

Welcome to Steepster, an online tea community.

Write a tea journal, see what others are drinking and get recommendations from people you trust. or Learn More

2010 Si Shui (Flowing Water) from Yi Ru Chang

It may sound cheap or cheesy to say so… but this tea gave me a feeling of falling in love! So far I’ve only tasted one sample of this tea and have one more for later. But with just one tasting session, I am totally mesmerized!

I’ve been tasting a few dozens of tea samples in the past two weeks, and at certain point I was worried that I was losing my sense and couldn’t recognize what I liked the most. But this tea stood out easily. It’s a very unique tea made from old tree tea leaves from various regions blended. Usually blended puerh is made from plantation tea leaves, and old tree tea leaves are used to make single-estate teas.

Made by a small manufacturer of rising fame, this tea is very elegant and clean (no crumbs left at the bottom of the cup). In my mind, I always saw puerh as a “rougher” tea compared with green tea or oolong. But this one is so carefully made. The elegant outlook, together with its bright, long lasting aromatic taste, makes me feel this tea, in some sense, somewhat feels like a dan cong. I still don’t know why I feel this way!

I think I am completely in love with this tea and hence with the manufacturer too. I have only one sample left, but I think I will get a lot of it soon and will keep watching on any new products from this manufacturer. If I have to give up all the other puerh in the world and only have this tea as my puerh, it would be fine and I wouldn’t feel sad. That’s how much I love this tea :D

People who liked this

Dan
LiberTEAS
AmazonV
RachanaC (Rachel)-iHeartTeas
TeaEqualsBliss
LENA
SupremeMongoose
chrine
cultureflip

Comments

cultureflip
cultureflip 2010-12-16 17:44:53 -0500

You make me want to try it now. It’s so young! No bitterness?

Ross Duff
Ross Duff 2010-12-16 18:20:50 -0500

mmmmmmmmm…. sounds real good

Gingko (manager of Life in Teacup)
Gingko (manager of Life in Teacup) 2010-12-16 19:42:26 -0500

When I get more of this tea, I will have some samples to share with you guys :-D But I do need to have one more tasting to make sure this is not just impulsive love :-p
Cultureflip, this tea is definitely one of the least bitter type. I didn’t feel bitterness at all, but I am more tolerant to bitterness than most people. So I think when I get more of this tea, it will be nice to share with people and see what others think.
I don’t know where the leaf materials of this tea are from. There are a few regions where leaves, especially those from old trees (in contrast to plantation tea bushes), are much less bitter or not bitter at all.
But then, some less bitter teas may lack the “weight on the tongue” or depth of flavor as found in some more bitter teas. So it also depends on people’s individual tastes.
And yeah this tea is very young. I am quite cautious on drinking young teas. Generally I believe it’s healthier NOT to drink very young tea every day or too often. Then there is the question how this tea will change in future years, about which I don’t have much idea yet.

cultureflip
cultureflip 2011-03-11 17:38:10 -0500

Ooh yeah, I know why you love this so much now. It’s really different! Rarely does young sheng taste “delicious” but this one does! Very fruity but still potent in it’s youth. Seriously, thanks for sharing this one. How much does a cake go for?

cultureflip
cultureflip 2011-03-11 17:41:41 -0500

And it does carry some characteristics of a dan cong.

Gingko (manager of Life in Teacup)
Gingko (manager of Life in Teacup) 2011-03-14 00:27:42 -0400

Cultureflip, thanks for sharing your thoughts about it and glad to know you like it! I haven’t stocked up large amount of it yet and don’t know what’s the best price I can get if buying a lot. But I may not get a large amount for the store since it’s not a well-known brand in US and is quite expensive (currently sold for $30 in China, and the cake is only 250g, not 357g). Let me know if you would like me to get one for you. But I am also examining a few other products and hope to find some of similar quality and better price.

cultureflip
cultureflip 2011-03-15 18:42:18 -0400

it is good. i dont really drink a lot of younger sheng but this one stands out. $30 isnt so bad for a smallish cake. let me know what you find though. maybe one of these days when im feeling rich ill pick one up.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Oolong is my love. Other teas are my great interests too.
As a tea drinker, I am in everlasting curiosity for tasting new tea varieties and learning about tea culture.
As a tea seller, I believe in small business operations in tea manufacturing and trading. My goal is to provide more tea varietals, especially rare ones, with diverse flavor profiles directly from their producing regions.

Location

Masschusetts

Website

http://www.lifeinteacup.com

Following These People

Cofftea
Cofftea

*Are you a company o...

TeaEqualsBliss
TeaEqualsBliss

Near Vegan. Tea Lov...

takgoti
takgoti

Former coffeeist, tu...

AmazonV
AmazonV

I love caffeine! I p...

TeaCast
TeaCast

Review teas via vide...

the_skua
the_skua

Exploring the world ...

LENA
LENA

lover of tea, travel...

Leafbox Tea
Leafbox Tea

http://leafboxtea.co...

spittingoutteeth
spittingoutteeth

My name is Jay and I...

chrine
chrine

I'm a 28 year old ph...

S
S

Busy college student...

Tea&co.
Tea&co.

graphic designer mo...

Cait
Cait

I like tea! Since...

Marlena
Marlena

Tea and reading enth...

cultureflip
cultureflip

"Christ is the Son...

SAFA Himalaya Tea
SAFA Himalaya Tea

SAFA provides organi...

Shanti Tea
Shanti Tea

Fair Trade Certified...

See More