Yunnan Craft

Another great puerh from YC! I just figured I’d throw this sample in my order as well, and it proved fruitful. I think this tea is really yummy with good staying power and hui gan.

The mouthfeel is decent. Not thin, but also not crazy good. The sweetness has great depth of character and lasting quality. The tea begs to be drank.

The price is quite nice too at $0.15/g. For arbor tea (qiao mu) that tastes this good, that’s a great value.

Tea Producer: Yi Cun Guan Yin (see below)
Location: Pressed in Lo Jiao Village, then stored in Kunming

Yi Cun Guang Yin ( 一寸光阴）
“In 2010, a young couple started off their own new brand of tea, named Yi Cun Guang Yin.
Before they were working like sales people tea brands or tea manufacturers like Da Yi , Lao Tong Zhi or Long Sheng. During those years working this kind of ‘no future job’ they’ve got an opportunity to get in touch with farmers, tea producers etc. Didn’t take long when they started to learn how the tea business works and opened up their own.”

So I haven’t had a traditional ZSXZ technically haha. All the examples I’ve tried have been unsmoked. I know it is hard to compare just one experience, but I think this one is not quite as much my style as some of the unsmoked versions I’ve had. That said, I definitely enjoy it and it is very unique with the piney flavor! Much more potent smell and flavor than the unsmoked version.

Moderate sweetness (in that umami teriyaki beef jerky kind of way). No astringency or bitterness. Mouthfeel is nothing special. Fairly complex. The roast is well done!

Flavors: Beef jerky, meat, pine, roast, umami, teriyaki, sweet

Decided to try a couple of YC’s blacks while I was at it. This one got good reviews in the past, so I figured I’d try it. Not much info about in YC website and I was unfamiliar with the name of this black tea. According to KTM, it is a style that means “Chinese Red” and was developed in 2007 as a blend of 10 varietals. It was supposedly given as a state gift to Prince William in 2015.

Anyways, it is quite nice! Has a bit more depth than most black teas, though this will never be my favorite category of tea I think. However, a good Dian Hong is something I like to sip on from time to time. The aroma and complexity of this particular specimen are quite fine. Good blackberry jam smell to the dry leaves, with chocolate and nut flavors to the liquor.

Harvest: Spring, 2025
Location: Feng Qing, Lincang, Yunnan

I got a Jianshui teapot from YC from my boyfriend for my birthday previously, but have not tried their tea until now! I wanted to give a couple of their puerhs a try, and thought I’d throw in some other samples here and there. Didn’t expect greatness from this Dancong, but it’s not bad!

Fairly mellow flavor profile that is simple for a Dancong. However, it’s nice with a bit of sweetness and some floral notes.

I also am drinking this tea from my new pretty teacup that was handmade by the Dai people. Very thankful that YC gives us easy exposure to handmade crafts by the people of the birthplace of tea :).

Harvest: Spring, 2024
Altitude: 800 m
Farmer: Liu Family

Ever since falling in love with the Haiwan 7458, I have wanted to try this famous cake of theirs. I found this older example from YC, and it is the primary reason I placed an order from them. I must say, this does not disappoint! A wonderful tea for the price :).

“Shen Shan Lao Shu” means “remote mountain, old tree.” The YC website acknowledges that this seems to be a blend of gushu and arbor trees. Nonetheless, it is an exquisite puerh. Thick, oily mouthfeel. Hui gan lasts minutes. Minimal, tickly astringency in some of the middle steeps. Longevity is great at 12-15+ steeps.

I want SO BADLY to buy a cake or two of this beauty. I would gladly pay $0.18/g as that is a steal. However, I am afraid to buy any at the moment as I refuse to pay the 145% tariffs that will likely be levied against its importation >:((((.

Kindly included as a freebie in my latest order — thank you! It’s been so long so I’ve tried a young sheng, so I’m delighted to have a go at this. Prepared in a porcelain pot.

First several pours smell and taste like vanilla sugar in an astringent-sweet broth. It’s deep and clear, pleasant to drink. Buttery and nutty flavors are folded in as if they were made of silky fluff. The tea has a flowery component but it’s light and natural, not reminiscent of perfume. Bitterness is elusive — until it isn’t! Strawberry candy lingers in the aftertaste which later turns a bit acidic. That strawberry flavor is unlike hard candies; it is more oily-tasting? like a Hi-Chew, and later with the acidic aftertaste, it becomes reminiscent of the actual fruit. By the fourth steep, brassy apricot and astringency take over. That metallic taste is one I tend to get from autumn teas like this one.

The ball opens with ease, which is always welcome in this format. Poking through the leaf, I found a fully intact huangpian leaf an inch longer than my middle finger.

Lovely late morning tea.

This is a dry stored tea evidenced by both the taste and the leaves which peel easily in sheets from the brick sample.

Salty, peppery TCM, spicy redwood. No dank must or earthy wet soil notes. Although it’s a bit papery, that quality melds well with the light, mineral texture. Some small burps bring back the taste. A clean and easy to drink tea. This is the shou pu’er I want after a meal, rather than having a thick, creamy or oily shou as a meal in itself. It possesses a neutralizing energy and acts as a gentle digestive.

The brew can be forgotten about in the pot and still produce an easy drink with slight caramel accent.

Even without oversteeping, this is not a durable tea. But at $0.11/g, I think it’s a good deal and would recommend for the price.

A continuation of last night’s pot of 2006 Mengku Rongshi Da Xie Shan from Yunnan Craft. I have an order on the way from them for the first time in 4 years, so figured I’d dip back into their selection.

Tastes like the sheng puerh version of the region’s red teas. Kind of a blond tobacco taste with notes of elderflower, honey, elderberry, raisins, mugwort. Slightly buttery, honeyed and light with sweet smoke at first then becomes more fruity midtoned sparkling and cooling. Cool sweetness in back of mouth. Bitterness is light but if pushed hard, can overtake the tip of the tongue while numbing it. Some steeps can be astringent on my tonsils, others can be rather alkaline, and others oily-colloidal or thin and juicy. Smoke comes out again later with more of a raisiny taste.

The dark shades of the dry leaf cloak the range of green still present in the wet leaf, which sometimes greets with butterscotch when lifting the lid for the next pour from the kettle.

My body swells subtle with wild feel energy. A better afternoon session than evening as the caffeine effects are gentle yet persistent.

It’s a generally friendly sheng with some age that I wouldn’t hesitate to gift or serve. It is sold out at Yunnan Craft. They claim there were 2 batches made, and this tea received Kunming storage . The cake available at King Tea Mall doesn’t state which batch, and it has received Guangzhou storage.

I had a nice Huo Shan Huang Ya from Teavivre last year, and thought it would be fun to try the same tea from another vendor for comparison. Both teas were around $18 for 50 g, meaning that the quality should be similar. Since Yunnan Craft didn’t provide brewing instructions, I used the ones from Teavivre, steeping 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot at 185F for 50, 60, 70, 90, 120, 150, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted rounds.

The dry aroma is of hazelnuts, green beans, snow peas, and butter. The first steep has notes of candied hazelnuts, green beans, snow peas, grass, butter, and something fruity that’s close to melon. Asparagus appears in steep two and the tea has a starchy quality. I get corn and cornhusk in the next couple steeps, with apricot sneaking through in the aftertaste. Subsequent steeps have notes of spinach, beans, grass, apricots, and minerals.

This is a lovely yellow tea that’s perfect for spring. I think the one from Teavivre had more nutty, buttery flavours while this one is greener, though it’s hard to remember much about a tea I drank a year ago. Both are less aggressively vegetal than most green teas—a definite plus in my books!

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Pours goldenrod, starts so delicately with creamy tropical fruits. Pineapple, banana, apricot. Bitterness stays low in the mouth, around the tongue and low cheeks… this is maybe the clearest huigan transformation I’ve experienced yet. Plum.

I used just 3g in a baby gaiwan, so not a huge qi bomb for me. I’d like to revisit another (that is: available) vintage or two of this and see what I find.

Thank you, derk. <3

Last of the Blind Samples from several years ago. This is “E”, a basic sheng. Young astringency, bitter hay and stonefruit. But I feel relaxed, so there’s that.

Moving on to blind sample D

This sheng puerh has a meadowy, plummy date aroma to the dry leaf, strawlike with a rich fruity sweetness. Warming brings a sharp tang like dried cherries and prunes. Rinsing turns the leaf more pungent with eggplant, olive, osmanthus and marshmallow root.

Aromas and tastes are consistent throughout steeps. On the nose I get strong notes of grilled peach and grilled eggplant, wet hay. In the mouth, the tea has a deep, rich taste up front of hay, purple flowers, marshmallow with a citrusy feeling. The body is viscous and soft with a bitterness that is not so well integrated. It does linger and is a bit intrusive right now but I think it will complement the tea as it transforms with age (if it ages well – I think this might be a sheng subjected to new methods of processing as there is some visible oxidation and prominent aroma). Burps early in the session, no stomach discomfort.

This leaf has enough strength to last several infusions but I did lose interest at some point and didn’t steep it out. The way the tea presents its character and bitterness up front, along with its energy, has me thinking this is bush tea or young tree. Also, the leaf has a thin, flimsy structure, but I do see a few fat, chunky buds that look like they’re from a different pick. Processing isn’t the best – plenty of scorch marks. A difficult to describe intensity moves through my body that has me thinking Menghai region but I’m definitely not confident in that assessment.

It’s actually a decent tea but not my jam. I think I’ll brew up the remainder of the sample as iced tea.

One more blind sheng sample to go!

Sample C

Tastes like a wild sheng or a purple leaf cultivar, but from where?? Really nice touch of soft floral-woody cinnamon with some ooey gooey baked plum-peach to the warmed leaf. At first drying and very juicy, it takes a few steeps to settle into character — let’s call it “Leathery Osmanthus atop a Bed of Straw and scented with True Cinnamon”. Main vibe skews savory, kind of like roasted chicken? A little purplish bitterness that numbs. Mineral. At times coppery metallic. Autumn tea crosses my mind. The sweetness in the cooling huigan reminds me of peppermint. The aroma and aftertaste really nail down that Leathery Osmanthus association.

A good one, not that any of the blind samples so far have been bad. I was simply feeling this one today <3 Easy drinker for me, not too complex but alluring. Feels like it would age well enough.

At the end of session, very strong compulsion to listen to
Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGSKrC7dGcY

Edited to add: the energy of this one is deceptively strong. I felt normal while drinking this. Hours later, I experienced levels of wackiness I haven’t felt in ages. Loaded with caffeine but somewhat tempered by other compounds. Idk, the more I think about how it made me feel, I’m not too keen on it. Like some Jingmai teas I’ve had, energy is akin to ephedrine. Jingle-jangle.

Blind sample B

The color of the leaf and aromas/flavors point to this being a wild sheng. The overall vibe is the low, damp and earthy scent of forest mycelium mixed with iodine. Juicy and very tingly, metallic. Bitterness is present and grows on the tongue before giving way to a sweet and fruity-floral aftertaste that rises into the sinuses, turning into a more distinctly rich, brown sugary date. Mildly cooling in throat and chest but not in mouth. Needs longer steeps to bring out its potential.

This one didn’t grab me as much as the first sample but it was fun to taste what I think is an example of wild tea with some age and humidity attached to it, the latter of which I don’t think I’ve experienced before.

Thank you, Yunnan Craft!

Yunnan Craft out of kindness sent 5 blind sheng puerh samples with my first order 4 years ago. They wanted to know my thoughts. Several years later (such is the life of a tea hoarder)…

I present Exhibit A.

Observe the leaf — strong and healthy, fuzzy. Colors range from almost black to to silvery fawn. A mix of leaf and needle. Further inspection of the wet leaf halfway through the session yields a mostly 2 leaves and bud picking, large leaf variety.

This is an easy drinker, mellow. At first it is sweet and oily, medium-bodied and fluid, rather mouthwatering with a pleasantly strong tingling on the sides of the tongue. This texture transitions to some easy bitterness with brassy character midway through the session and ends as a sweetwater brew.

The taste does not vary too much. It starts out fruity-sweet with apricot and a general tone that is a mix of grass-hay-yellow apple-chrysanthemum — mostly a mild brown-tinged gold affair like the color of the liquor. A hint of clove.

With the first session in a cheap-ass ‘yixing’ clay pot, I don’t seem to pull much aftertaste. However, in a tiny-ass duanni clay pot, the sweet date-brown sugar aftertaste and returning sweetness emanating from the very back of the mouth are not shy. Also, in the cheap pot, the liquor is more refreshing and I notice much more of a citrus zest tingly bitterness. Tonight with the duanni, it is more fragrant and fruity in the mouth. Interesting, since duanni is supposed to mute aromas. Neither clay seems to affect the mild expression of mouth-cooling, nor the warm spice felt in the chest.

Overall, this is a very easy tea. It is one I would recommend to anybody who enjoys sweet but not syrupy young sheng and is looking to avoid a gut bomb of astringency. There’s a certain elegance and balance to this leaf that goes somewhat unannounced. It is not a bold and brash brew.

If I am to take a guess, I’d say this is Lincang region tea 4-5 years old (could it be autumn?) and Kunming stored for a brief amount of time before it landed with me. I’m probably way off! Too bad Yunnan Craft at this point probably has no record or recollection of what was sent to me.

4 more blind samples to go :)

Well, this is technically a sipdown as well, but since I had only 5 grams from derk (from when?), and I have used them all in one gongfu session, I won’t really count it as a sipdown.

I even preheated the gaiwan today and after I have added the leaves, a huge “cloud” of chocolate notes appeared. A rich, dark chocolate notes.

Don’t let the colour fool you. It brews very bright tea soup, but the flavour notes as well as the aromas are quite “dark”. As I have already mentioned, it has got dark chocolate taste (as well the aroma), stonefruits, but again the darker ones — or rather autumn ones, like plums, maybe almonds, and certainly nutty notes were there as well. Graham, coffee, carob are other notes that come to the mind.

It is quite forgiving in steeping time terms, becuase honestly, during studying I just can’t count the duration of steep, nor exact parameters of each steep. It is very no-fuzz tea, but with very nice and complex taste.

Thank you derk a lot for this tea. I just wonder when you sent it to me :)

Wow, what a tea! I got this tea from my Yunnan Craft order, and it was my first time trying Puerh in Mandarin. Insanely unique, potent and complex aroma that reminds me of haw flakes, unique and complex taste with a nice amount of potency to it. This tea has a rich, thick texture and has a one of a kind character. This tea also does a madness to the stomach, making it one hell of a digestive with a nice buzz to boost. This tea would be a 90+ if not for its decent but just above average finish & aftertaste and average steep longevity. Wonderful tea that everyone should try, for a very very cheap price.

This tea left me in a drunker stupor. I got this sample from my recent Yunnan Craft order, and wow does this tea pack a punch. Beautiful leaves with a rich character, complex, refreshing finish and decent aftertaste with a cha-qi that rivals gushu. This tea could’ve done with a more potent flavour and aroma, with a thicker and more active texture and mouthfeel. This tea also only lasted 7-8 steeps, which I would’ve expected more from a Pu-erh tea.

My first experience with a Ya Bao! I got this tea from my recent Yunnan Craft order, and it is one of the most delicate and fresh tasting teas I’ve ever had. Delicate flavour and aroma, along with a smooth texture and a unique character. I wish that this tea would have a more nuanced and complex flavour, with a richer aftertaste and finish, as well as some form of cha-qi. If you’re a fan of delicate teas without much action, this could be a good tea for you. However, I just find that it lacks too many things to really be something that I’d recommend.

Dry leaf smalls like a mix of dark, dry and sweet with cool and moist. Strong, fresh TCM, the smell of dried Chinese olive/jujube, thinned chocolate syrup, bamboo. Warmed leaf is rich, dark and sweet with cumin and leather, more of that chocolate syrup. Rinsed leaf, first impression is “this is something I really want to drink.” Hot and a hint musty like boiled leather and boiled bamboo.

The first few steeps are sweet, alkaline and tangy, TCM, jujube; an impression of dry and hard dark earth and ash. I love the tongue-numbing bitterness. It stays there, on the tongue, presenting nowhere else. Third steep on, it transforms into something more spicy, woody, complex dry root beer. I don’t feel the liquor going down my throat, it must be numb, but I do feel a great warmth there. Camphor whisper turns more to menthol. Rather drying, astringency is felt strongly mostly in the salivary glands under the tongue. Mouth remains closed and I sit. Aftertaste is sweet, dry, and woody-bitter.

I’d like to see this heicha 5-10 years down the road and with a touch more humid storage. Regardless, it’s a lovely tea already. It’s what I always hope to get from shou pu’er but rarely do.

This is going to be a very micro note. I’ve had these little rocks sitting around for about a year and finally got around to breaking into one (too many teas to try).

Jeez is the compression tight. You end up with masticated leaf and powder largely, but that’s to be expected.

Flavours are sharply bitter but fall off fast to a pleasant sugarcane huigan. The scent of the leaf is powerful and fruity (like a good sharp tart cherry or jam/preserve).

The energy is instantly felt and lasting flavour lingers. There’s good sheng-jing like a sharp Riesling. The mouthfeel is smooth and it coats the throat nicely. The lid on my zhuni pot is sticky.

Strongly recommended young sheng as long as you’re okay with masticated leaf.

For the price, if you’re a fan of the DaXueShan character, this exhibits it well. Yummy stuff that’ll definitely get your caffeine spiking.

A great warm up and energiser in the cold winter mornings.

Lazy copypaste from puer of the day thread. A Meng Song area tea.

2017 Hua Zhu Liang Zi from Yunnan Craft, who describes the tea as having ‘aggressive ba qi.’

Right now, several steeps in and I feel so… heavy… that lumbering klutzy giant feeling, like I’ve not yet developed fine motor skills. This is a strong tea with lots of licorice root overtone to the leaf and liquor aroma. Easy to drink with barnyard taste, aftertaste that’s vaguely fruity-licorice root, throat feels bitey then full and slightly cool. The bitterness and astringency present at first as feelings in the body then transition to effects in the mouth. I like the tea, but the power tells me it’s best left to age.

Hit me like a brick. Too young to drink now.

Can’t remember why I picked this specific one from others from same farmer. Probably a wrapper. Their design was kind of similar to all mr. Xie offerings, so probably the way name sounded as well was a factor. Nearly sure it was the only tea from that specific sub-area. I am less into taste and more into body feel. That was oily and perfect for alkaline acidity balance. Meaning I could eat any junk food and this piece of marvel would sort everything out. I had to go away for like 10 days without it and my gut flora was still holding that layer. I tried other teas from this farmer, not the same. The only unique thing I stumbled while randomly attacking Google with my queries was they found fossils of magnolia there. Apparently it is ancestor of tea and one of those plants that had different way of propagating since prehistoric times. So it is a kind of dinosaur of plants. But I gave away half of it, can’t remember exactly why, probably got heavier into heichas and saw opportunity to shift to someone who just started switching from cancerogenic medication to humble tea. But anytime I see word “wen” in a name of tea, I always check in case there is some intuitive lead being presented to me by the universe.