Yunnan Sourcing

SIPDOWN
Hard to believe I’ve gone through the entire 250 g pouch of this Premium Qimen Mao Feng black tea but, as another note here mentioned, it’s forgettable. That’s not to say it’s bad, and I rather enjoyed it— but I wasn’t overjoyed by it. My lot was from the Spring 2022 harvest, and now (in June 2025) this is my last session with it, having poured out the final 5 g of leaf into my infusion basket. Past experience has taught me that a single 4 minute western infusion with boiling water yields a strong, muddled, cardboard-y mess, so I dropped the temp a bit and allowed only 30 sec. for each weatern steep.

First steeping was more floral and delicate and not what I sought. Someone mentioned it being a nice cup to keep cozy with, and that’s probably on-target, if I was wanting to get cozy. Second steeping was considerably stronger with a deeper malty base supporting the remaining floral notes. This also had the spicy keemun flavor that I was wanting. Neither astringent nor bitter, and with a pleasing long finish on the tongue and nose. Third infusion had a woodier aroma, probably because my water got away from me, closer to a boil, but there were still some floral notes. Flavorwise, the base notes had weakened considerably and were still ok— not as nice as the second steep! Still no bitter or sourness, and just a bit astringent in the third steep (not mouth-puckering, though!). By the time it had cooled down, the weakness of the third steep became evident and I discarded the last, sad, ounce.

Overall, this tea is almost where I wanted it, relative to my favorite Keemun, just meriting a 75 rating. If there had been more body to the first steeping, it would have been a solid 85. I’d recommend it though, because you won’t remember having sipped it by next week. ;-)

What a good time I had with this tea.

Got up at 4pm today after waking few hours or so last night from the pain of an elbow injury. So I only had half a mind for presence during the first five steeps of this tea before I kind of woke up properly. But the tea made the Saturday quite enjoyable at home with the heater on while the Australian winter does its thing.

90C, 1 heaped tablespoon in 225ml yixing, with steeping times based on intuition. Peaches, cream, earth, baked goods, florals, honey.

On the sixth steep at 95C, I noticed a distinct note of brioche bun.

Orchid and gardenia in the tenth steep at 100C, and only now does astringency become slight bitterness.

The longevity is impressive, and the natural peach notes here easily outshine any flavoured peach tea I’ve had.

My label of, probably, this tea, says “2015”; but I just think that derk has sent me this and it is just a written typo. Thank you anyway!

And it is another tea finished in single session; I used all 7 grams at once.

No rinse, boiling water; my only one gaiwan with volume 125 ml.

First steep was roughly 20 seconds long and honestly, I just remember I liked it, but I gulped it so fast and I haven’t wrote any impressions. Sheng-y goodiness is what I recall. The wet leaves after this steep are quite funky in the aroma, somehow herbaceous, but also mentioned in earlier reviews notes like egg shells and BBQ.

Second steep I cut the steeping time to 10 seconds only and it brings sweet notes with vegetables, as it cooled down the more sheng sweetness appear, but there is no astringency or bitterness; it is very mellow and smooth. I don’t notice any smokiness as others.

Third steep was 15 seconds long, producing a beautiful color of the liquor with a smoky aroma that I missed in previous steeps. I agree with Togo that it smells a bit like grilled vegetables a bit, moss and Finnish damp forest.
As of flavours, it seems it hits their peak, there are too much of them to describe… somehow similar to the aroma — grilled vegetables; but of course as I haven’t tasted moss nor Finnish forest not these notes. But it was slightly woody, a bit smoky and a little of astringency is here.

4th steep, 25 seconds
Minerality has appeared and complements well with the astringency… and bitterness. Not my favourite profile, but there are still lovely vegetable notes in the cup; especially when it has cooled down a bit.
A slight woody note is still there as well as the smoke, but overall it is a calming tea, and glad I took it today after yesterday stressful day at work.
I am suprirsed it is so flavourful after those steeps, as often the flavours hit their peaks and then they disappear very quickly, sometimes in very next steep (like a steam above pot — that’s a Czech saying).

5th steep, 30 seconds
It is still very flavourful, and here I noticed still the grilled vegetable note with some vegetal astringency. Gets a little salty, as Togo has mentioned. I wasn’t too focused to this steep, though.

6th steep, 45 seconds
Right away I made this steep, I had to go away from keyboard and cup; and when I returned I had just right lukewarm tea with lovely flavours, though a bit heavy for my stomach. Dominant notes were astringency and saltiness, with vegetal aftertaste.

7th steep, 50 seconds
About 90 minutes later… as I went for a lunch, then did some grocery shopping and just returned to the tea.
The water was in thermos, so nothing wrong with this and tea was covered with gaiwan lid.. nothing that could happen here as well.
It still have lots of flavour, I notice more of the moss instead of vegetables.

A few next steeps were made, and this tea apparently lasts long… afterall, it was mentioned by other reviewer as well. It is a great tea, especiall considering it is, probably, 20 years old, I am pretty sure it has aged beautifully. I can’t believe that this tea was pressed when I was 10, and now I am drinking it almost 30 years old. It has to change… like I did.

Yixing memories.. it’s been years since I used my Da Hong Pao teapot. I was more troubled back then, early 20s and all.

I’m now 31, and early 20s me would never have thought I’d have made it as a clinical psychotherapist. But I have. And I’m proud. Even if I’m a little sad over finishing up soon with a client who felt very close to my heart. But it’s okay. It means I really, really cared.

95C, 1 tablespoon leaves in 225mL yixing.
1st steep – 45s. Roasted honey, mineral, stonefruit, wood, flowers.

2nd steep – 45s. Salted caramel, wood, jackfruit, deeper roast notes. And the kind of astringency which circles the edge of my tongue and below the tongue. Highly pleasing.

3rd steep – 90s. return of the honey note, earthy minerality, tobacco. Fainter steep now.

4th steep – 4 minutes. Similar to the above, but with some brown sugar sweetness.

5th-7th steeps – unknown minutes steeped in 100C. Similar to the 3rd steep but fainter and fainter, until it’s mildly sweet orange-brown water which still tastes like an uplifted version of plain water.

Does anyone else find that the 2nd steep of DHP is their favourite steep?

No idea what harvest this is; it was included in my order either as an error or as a free gift (either way, thank you YS!!)

1 teaspoon in 225mL at 100C for about 4 minutes. I drank this in a hurry before heading out for work, so I can’t remember anything other than enjoying a good Chinese black tea.

At some stage, I will try this gongfu style and be present in honouring the notes of this tea.

Golden spot for the Golden Bud yesterday was 1 tablespoon of leaves in 225 mL water, 95 degrees for 3 minutes. I wanted something rich and I received it.

Adjusting rating from 81 to 85 as I realized brewing the tea stronger was what was missing from my original review.

YES. This is what I was looking for today.

Malt, leather, cocoa with light floral notes, honey, smooth tobacco, subtle sweetness.

Dries out the mouth just a tad, but that’s okay.

Sweet malt, sweet potato, a tinge of sweet chocolate and a noticeable sharp astringency that is mildly drying for the mouth and throat.

I thought maybe the astringency was in my head or something, so I took a brewed leaf out from the pot, gave it a little bite and dang, there’s that sharp astringency.

Searched up whether aging a black tea would reduce the astringency and apparently, it does. Perhaps it being a 2025 Spring harvest has something to do with it. The smallest size of this to purchase was 50g, so I’ll be storing this away and it shall be a while before I reach for it again.

When I opened the pouch, i was hit with a sweet roasted scent. I brewed western style, and the brewed tea gave me notes of grilled stone fruit followed by a sweet berry aftertaste that lingered for a while. Very enjoyable.

Sip Down

Aroma: Buttery, floral, & fruity.

Tasting Notes: Mildly bitter, roast-y, floral, & nutty.

Autumn 2024: Very nice lighter black tea. Pretty sure it would be a mistake to add any milk or sugar to this one. Seems to have a little bit of everything. Leans slightly more towards the “sweet potato” flavor you get from some Yunnan black teas. But you also get hints of milk chocolate. And a touch of grapes. Some maple syrup. I notice that there are some vegetal qualities, perhaps most like artichoke, which are in the mix – A bit unusual for a black tea, I think. A strange combination of flavors, perhaps, but it makes for an interesting tea with some complexity. I’m glad I tried this, and it is definitely a tea I would revisit in the future. I found a 3-minute first steep at 200° seems to serve this tea well, and I’ve been brewing a second time at 195° for 5 minutes with some good results.

Expected more for the price… not very complex, the main feature is tanins and bitterness. Not a bad tea, but no interesting.

Extraordinary Cha Qi and I would say affordable back in summer 2024.

There is some leather and woodn but not much, I consider ir very plain and uninteresting considering the price in yunnansourcing

This tea was pretty good, and I eventually found it to outshine the 2023 Autumn Jiu Tai Po I purchased around the same time and really loved. Just a solid tea with enough depth/complexity to keep you interested from day to day. I don’t find this tea offensive in any way, and whatever bad qualities noted by other reviewers seem to have aged their way out. It does have a touch of bitterness, but a friendly kind not unlike a good IPA-style beer. A piney kind of bitterness. Overall, the sweeter and fruitier notes of this tea seem more prominent. It has some of the “cotton candy” qualities which I love in some raw puerhs and some apricot/grape notes. Maybe some slight citrus hints. I’ve already brewed through the whole cake and now I’m missing it. Probably won’t buy again, though, as so much more raw puerh I haven’t explored yet.

I scored the 2023 Jiu Tai Po higher than this, but at the time I was blown away by the “cotton candy” aroma/flavor I had discovered in that one. In retrospect now I would rate it a little lower.

I’ve owned this tea for a while now, and enjoy it. I have to say it has aged well.

I prefer this tea gong fu style with boiling water, starting with a brief rinse and then resting the leaves for a bit to let them open open up. I like to drink the rinse for this one.

In today’s session, after I did the rinse, the early steeps tasted sweet and citrusy. Later steeps had notes of citrus and honey.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – April 2025 Tea #3 – April 22 – Earth Day: drink an earthy tasting tea

Of course if it’s an earthy tea I need, I’m thinking PUERH.  This one is from Michelle, quite a while ago!  Thanks very much.  I really love this one.  Such a dark, rich flavor to it.  Biscuity, bready, but also something that reminds me of marshmallow?  The treat, not the root, which is something that quite amuses me about an occasional puerh, so I love finding that.   Not even very unraveled yet.  Two more steeps are planned for tomorrow, but I wanted to get this note in! 
Steep #1 // 22 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

It’s ….ok, I guess. Somewhat subtle, which is actually it’s saving grace. A little different, with a taste of hay and cucumber and mild honeydew. Very light color on the liquor. The flavor combination of hay and honeydew is palatable at best, but I don’t want a lot of it, and as the hay flavor emerged by the third steep, I was wishing it was actually more subtle. Unfortunate.. The scent from the gaiwan is strong and sour/woodsy, in a non-the-most-pleasant way.

I did 5g in a 100ml gaiwan, at near boiling (I believe the vast majority of teas (but not all) generally need to be able to stand up to near boiling water). Started at 10 seconds, then did 4 steeps adding 5 seconds between steeps at first, then 10 seconds. But I’m not reaching for it, and probably won’t drink it for a long time.

I acquired this shou 3 years ago, and have had it in 63% RH storage since then. This now 9 yr old ripe Pu-erh (2019 pressing of 2016 material) brewed up to make a very nice, thick & sweet broth that was deep brown and opaque in appearance. I steeped (western style) 5g leaf in 8oz boiling water (after a 10s discarded rinse) for 30 sec the first time, then re-steeped the leaves three more times for 15s each. I’m sure the leaf would have continued for another 4+ steepings, but a quart of tea was my limit. Each infusion tasted the same, with a strong mushroomy flavor and petrichor aroma, with accents of chestnut and tobacco. Without sourness, fishiness, or bitterness, it was very pleasant and a great value. Creamier than, and almost as flavorful as, the tangerine gong ting I previously reviewed at http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/93201. Still available, I’ll rate this as an 85.

I have the Spring 2024 batch, and it is delicious! I like to brew this western-style. In the first cup, I get a strong note of cherry, with some honey and chocolate notes. On the second and third cups, the chocolate and honey notes move to the forefront, along with a tropical fruit blend note.

I have almost finished this cake, it is so good! To me this tastes very “medicinal herbs” with that strong bitterness and almost a smoked sausages quality to it. Also a slight touch of an incense thing going on that makes it intriguing and intoxicating. The cha qi is potent with this one!

I absolutely loved this tea. It was the first cake of pu’erh I ever finished. Beautiful medium compression so the leaves I broke off were always intact…lovely leather/woody/floral flavor with straight honey smell in the cup. Very mellow qi – great for chilling on a Sunday afternoon. I am on the hunt for a similar tea to this one. Yiwu has become my favorite terroir in Yunnan <3