Yunnan Sourcing

Nice mix of different aromas, I can smell black pepper, bay leaves, nuts (especially in the dry leaves), overripe plums and cherries and red wine. Overall it’s quite a sweet smell though. Taste-wise, it’s more savoury and very nutty. Much more than most ripe pu-erh’s I have had. There is also some light coffee bitterness and medicinal note in the taste. The mouthfeel is creamy, effeverscent and a little bit numbing with a touch of dryness in the finish.

One can play around with the steeping times a lot for this one. I often like to push them long, which gives a less sweet and more coffee like character to the brew. I found this tea to be a great value, very suitable for daily drinking.

Based on the description I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I hoped this would be a nice blend between a milky and roasted flavour oolong. I was pleasantly surprised to find my hopes satisfied, with a happy addition of extremely floral notes! This is truly a unique oolong, but I will say that it’s probably not for everyone. The flavour is very difficult to describe. I think this is up there with milky oolong for me.

While this isn’t a bad black tea, I was disappointed. By far not as good as other dragon balls I’ve had from Yunnan Sourcing. At first it was beautifully floral and sweet tasting, but after a mere 3 brews gong fu style the flavour dropped off to a dull grassy-ness reminiscent of a tea at the end of a long brew session or cardboard. The only redeeming quality I found is that there is a very pleasant aftertaste of sweetness that lingers from the first couple brews. Perhaps I got an off ball? Won’t be purchasing again.

A very good green tea, not as pungent and delicate as the imperial version, but in terms of the price/quality ratio they are comparable.

The dry leaf smells of chestnut, seaweed with a hint of sweet (maybe vanilla) aroma. Wet leaf has more of a beef broth smell, complemented by some fresh grassiness in the background.

The taste has a mix of brothy, vegetal, mildly bitter and surprisingly also fruity (strawberries) notes. My favourite steep is probably the third, because of the thicker texture, cooling aftertaste and a bit more astringency. Taste-wise, it is not extraordinary, but definitely a pleasant savoury drink with sour and fruity undertones. In fact, this infusion somehow resembles a brighter version of Dong Ding oolong. I know it sounds strange, and maybe I am just imagining it, but that’s what came to my mind now.

This is another of the teas I finished back in May. If I recall correctly, I finished it sometime close to the end of the month. It was a tea I had a bit of trepidation about trying. Ginger is not one of my favorite things, and I had seen several other reviews of this tea that basically stated it was a subtle tea and may not be to everyone’s liking. I found that I shared those sentiments myself. Even though the ginger presence was thankfully not consistently overpowering throughout, this struck me as being mostly a very subtle, elegant tea not ideal for regular consumption.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 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, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves offered a clear ginger aroma supported by pungent fruit and flower aromas (almost like a mix of pomegranate and orchid) and a touch of bread-like character. After the rinse, the ginger aroma grew stronger while subtle red apple and vegetal scents emerged. The first infusion then saw the ginger aroma continue to dominate, this time mostly overwhelming the other scents offered by the leaves. In the mouth, notes of ginger, baked bread, butter, and orchid were chased by pungent fruity (pomegranate) and vegetal notes that I could not quite place before the ginger reasserted itself on the swallow. Subsequent infusions saw the nose turn nutty, fruitier, and more vegetal. New notes of minerals, roasted almond, red pear, wood, cinnamon, lemon zest, hibiscus, green pepper, and grass emerged in the mouth alongside subtler notes of red apple, radish, and turnip greens. The final infusions offered mineral, wood, roasted almond, and ginger notes with some barely perceptible fruity and vegetal undertones.

This was an interesting oolong, but it was not one that I would be in any rush to reacquire. I appreciated that the ginger aroma and flavor was carried throughout the session and that the tea offered a unique range of aroma and flavor components beyond the ginger, but I found some of the tea’s most appealing qualities to be a bit too subtle in most places. As mentioned earlier, I am not the hugest fan of ginger, so this tea was likely going to be a tough sale for me anyway. I’m just happy that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I guess that says something. People who enjoy the smell and taste of ginger would probably enjoy this tea quite a bit. It’s still not my thing, but I enjoyed my experience with this tea and would not caution fans of Dancong oolongs to avoid it.

This is everything I’ve ever wanted out of a jasmine green tea. The jasmine is balanced and not perfume-y like many cheaper jasmine teas on the market. The pearls are a very decent, uniform size and have clearly been rolled with love.

This green tea is as light and refreshing as a white tea, it steeps very well both Western and Gong Fu style (I prefer the latter as you can taste the layers of flavour as they devlop). The leaves are incredibly pungent with a strong, true jasmine scent. More umami flavour arises in later steeps, but it never goes overboard. Almost no astringency or bitterness, just sweet floral notes and a light but calming cha qi.

I should also say that I have the 2018 batch.

5.4g, 100C, porcelain gaiwan 100mL. The last reviews on this were about 3 years ago so lets see what I think now that its had 8 years.

Dry leaf smells really good and complex already but I can’t put my finger on it…Once I rinse then it becomes apparent that this tea is going to start smoky….which I thought I didn’t like because it can be too harsh
In the early steeps I rapidly realize that this is a treat. The wet leaf smells like smoked sweet sausage. Just from two sips I’m already getting a lasting gan, this tea is so strong. But it isn’t heavy. Instead I’d describe it as uplifting. The taste is savory, strong, bitter and making me feel lightheaded. The cup is sweet but with that savory smoke going down without bitterness or astringency. Time has done this well.
Already its getting heavy and fills the mouth by middle steeps. It is neither drying nor sweet though, instead just heavy and savory.
By the end of this my burps were as if I had eaten a lot of bacon—yummy :). I highly recommend, even for people like myself who thought they didn’t like smoke-leaning sheng.

Still one of the best teas around. Hints of sour fruit like a pickled mango with a splash of IPA. Punchy. Strange. Enjoyable.

This tea was yet another one of my forays into unique Chinese green teas. So-called purple teas, in general, are still somewhat new to me, and prior to trying this tea, I do not recall ever trying another green tea produced from a purple tea cultivar. If this tea is representative of all such teas, these purple green teas are very likely not for me. I can appreciate what this tea had to offer, but it did not offer the traits of Chinese green teas that I generally find to be most enjoyable.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 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, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted muted aromas of roasted grain and roasted almond. The rinse brought out a stronger roasted almond aroma as well as an aroma of cooked spinach. The first infusion then saw the nose turn a little more vegetal while something of a berry-like presence started to make itself known. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of roasted almond, roasted grain, cooked spinach, grass, and cream accompanied by hints of lemon. Subsequent infusions saw a touch of coffee appear on the nose with stronger berry tones and hints of woodiness. New flavors of coffee, blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, red grape, malt, minerals, wood, umami, and popcorn hull appeared as the liquor turned more bitter and more astringent. The final few infusions were dominated by mineral, umami, and wood notes backed by hints of grass, blueberry, roasted almond, and a late-emerging menthol-like quality.

This was such a strange and challenging tea. In terms of both smell and taste, there were numerous points where it reminded me more of a Dancong or Wuyi oolong than any kind of traditional green tea. The texture of the tea liquor was also something else. It was rather full-bodied, yet displayed an alternately grainy and slippery texture that made it hard for me to focus on the flavors it presented. In the end, I did not find this tea to be bad, but it most certainly was not for me. As mentioned earlier, it did not offer enough of what I tend to enjoy in a Chinese green tea, but then again, I doubt this tea was intended to compete with most other Chinese green teas. If you are into really quirky teas, this will probably be your thing. I, however, will likely be sticking with more traditional Chinese green teas for the foreseeable future.

There are reviews here for the 2016 and 2017 productions which is one reason I tried it this year. See those notes for more detail.

I’m glad I found Chinese greens, they are a good fit for me over the Japanese ones.

This tea has umami both on the nose and in the taste. I like the marine, buttery, vegetal, chestnut notes.

Edit:
The wet leaf can easily become bitter so I doubt I will purchase this one again.

As one would expect from a good Long Jing, this is quite a delicate and nutty affair. The main notes I get are almonds, eggwhites, cooked vegetables (courgette, spinach) and also cooked poultry. It’s savoury, but maybe not as much so as it might seem from the flavours. Overall, the taste is actually quite balanced, with a touch of astringency and sourness in the finish, and very little bitterness. The mouthfeel is velvety, thick, and not too coating.

I can definitely recommend this tea to people who like Long Jing, but if you are not already onboard with this style of tea, you might want to look elsewhere for an introductory tea.

After a few tries I managed to get the brewing parameters right this time, and what a difference it makes. I used 3.5g of leaf in a small glass teapot of 300ml, which I never filled above 2/3 though. I started with 78°C water and put a little bit into the (non preheated) vessel. After the water cooled down a little, I dropped the leaves in there as well and gently moved the teapot around, so that the leaves get wet a bit quicker. Once they were in the water, I filled the pot up to about 180ml with the water at 78°C.

I didn’t time the steeps, I usually go by feeling and sight, but the first one was probably about 1.5 minutes. I decanted about 3/4 of the liquid into a cha hai and added more hot water. The same way I got 4 steeps, with the added water at about 80°C for the first 2, 85°C for the third and 90°C for the last. First three were all on the order of 1-1.5 minutes and the last one more like 4 minutes.

This is by no means an ideal preparation I settled on. A lot of the parameters were chosen on a whim. But since it produced a tea that’s significantly better than my previous tries, I thought I would preserve the details. Both for myself and others who might be struggling with getting the brewing parameters for this one right.

I will add some tasting notes and evaluation of the tea itself next time :)

The compression is not too tight, one rinse is enough to open it up. After the rinse I can smell some composted grass, straw and old wooden cabinet. Because of the small leaf particle size, I started with lower temperatures and as short infusion times as possible. Nonetheless, they were fairly bitter and astringent thorughout the session. Because of the high acidity and nutty flavour, I got reminded of coffee a bit. Other than that, the taste resembled the notes I got in the aroma. It’s fairly bland overall though. In the end, the 5g yielded about 9 100ml infusions.

As far as sheng mini tuos from YS go, the 2016 Monkey mini tuo is much better, I would say get that one instead if you want to have a super-casual raw pu-erh that’s also very suitable for cold brewing.

I ordered the 2018 version of this tea and today is the last sip of it. I haven’t been extremely impressed with this tea but it being early spring tea (back in March); it was great to have any kind of fresh green tea then. It has a bit of hay flavour that reminds me of a white tea. The leaves are downy like a white tea too. Brews up very mild with a slight corn sweetness. I tried brewing this longer to get a darker brew and it tasted something like a puerh then. If this tea came available when all of the better green teas are out I probably wouldn’t buy it at all. It’s not a bad tea at all but just not my “cup of tea”.

[Spring 2023 harvest]

It’s been several years since I last bought this tea. I still appreciate it a lot though.

In particular, I really like the creamy mouthfeel, its specific taste profile and the long, savoury and refreshing aftertaste.

The tea has a milky, floral aroma, and a bitter, herbaceous taste with notes of mint, lemon balm, citrus fruits, grass, and also banana in the finish.

Drinking this again…

…still my favourite tea :D

For this session I decided to crush about 10% of the leaves to see what it does. Also, I used a low temperature rinse at 50°C.

The dry leaf aroma is not super strong, it is definitely reminiscent of Tie Guan Yin. After the first rinse, I get a mix of nutty and vegetal smells. The closest comparison I can make is asparagus. After the second rinse though, floral and fruity aromas appear. I notice some peach in particular. Both rinses are in fact very nice to drink, slightly savoury and already quite thick and creamy in the mouthfeel.

After rinsing the leaves I add the crushed leaves and brew very short infusions at 80°C to 90°C. The smell continues evolving towards a very nice mix of vegetal and fruity notes with sweet floral undertones. I can smell some tropical fruits there that I cannot quite identify. The liquor has a dark yellow/green colour and is very viscous. The mouthfeel is silky with a hint of allround astringency. As for the taste, it is very complex and strong, but remains balanced nevertheless. It starts with the floral and savoury notes, with slight bitterness quickly kicking in, only to give way to the fruity and sweeter notes in the finish. The aftertaste thus starts fairly sweet, but over time turns a little bit more vegetal. During the whole time I can tell there is some subtle sourness underneath, but it only becomes more prominent later on in the after taste, which is almost endless. Taking long breaks during the session is definitely recommended. There is too much going on for me to pick up more specific notes, maybe I can try to do that next time round. I have to say that it’s a VERY pleasant and refreshing drink even when not being too focused on its refined characteristics, but given its price, I will save it for when I have time to appreciate it fully.

To conclude, I love the complex and nuanced, yet balanced taste, I love the floral/fruity smell, I love the texture, I love the protracted and evolving aftertaste.

I love this tea!

edit: The late steeps have an incredibly thick and creamy mouthfeel, that coats the mouth very well. Also, both the taste and smell is a bit more grassy than I noticed beforehand. The cha qi is nice too, not rushy at all, rather mellow and calming.

I am drinking 2017 Impression very young, with it being released just a few months ago. It is balanced, yet bitter, pungent, and astringent with a nice kick of tea energy. There are notes of stone fruit but mostly bitter bitter bitter. It does taste great in silver, bringing out the fruity floral and numbing the bitter. Overall a great price and a tea you should stash to age or drinking in silver.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2017-impression-sheng-puer-from-yunnan-sourcing/

The dry leaves’ smell is very vegetal and quite similar to a Baozhong oolong. This somewhat translates to the wet leaf aroma too, which also has some fermentation/alcohol, green pepper, licorice and bean notes. It’s a fairly sweet smell overall.

The mouthfeel of the liquor is mouth-watering, minty and coating. Later infusions display some astringency in the mouth too.

The taste is a refreshing mix of sweet and vegetal flavour. Early steeps seem to be more vegetal with notes like green pepper, celery, green beans and cabbage. On the other hand, later steeps tend to have more of fruity sweetness. More specifically, I could identify pear and honeydew tones. I can see some resemblance with both Chinese green teas and Baozhong oolongs. In the finish, there is a noticeable crisp ale sourness as well. The aftertaste has all the qualities described above supplemented by some nutty flavour.

I drunk it in the evening, and found it to be a really good evening tea. Light, refreshing, mind numbing and not very rushy are some of its qualities that contribute to this observation. It also calmed me down after the day and improved my overall mood.

Going into the posting of this review, not only did I need to take a break from reviewing black teas, but I also needed to make additional progress on clearing out the backlog. Due to these two factors, I decided to move ahead in my review notebook and complete a Steepster review for this oolong. I finished a sample pouch of this tea back around the end of May or the start of June. Naturally, I did not date the notes from my review session, so I cannot pinpoint a more precise date. I suppose I’m kind of a veteran when it comes to reviewing jade Tieguanyin oolongs at this point since I have tried a fair number of them over the years. That being said, this struck me as being an excellent example of a jade Tieguanyin. The mouthfeel of the tea liquor was rich and thick, and the tea’s floral, fruity, savory, and vegetal qualities were very admirably balanced.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 208 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 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, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of butter, lilac, violet, and sweetgrass. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of saffron, cream, honeysuckle, parsley, watercress, and cinnamon. The first infusion then brought out aromas of baked bread and vanilla. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, butter, sweetgrass, watercress, and parsley that were quickly chased by saffron, cinnamon, and vanilla hints on the swallow. I even thought I detected a hint or two of osmanthus accompanying them. Subsequent infusions saw baked bread, lilac, violet, and honeysuckle notes somewhat belatedly emerge in the mouth. The nose became a bit more vegetal and buttery on many of these infusions, as impressions of sesame and roasted barley appeared. I also noted some subtle impressions of pear, apricot, and tangerine on the nose. In addition to the previously listed flavor components, the tea liquor introduced impressions of tangerine, pear, sesame, roasted barley, and apricot to go along with simultaneously emerging notes of lychee, honey, and minerals. The final infusions were dominated by mineral, cream, and butter notes, though some lingering impressions of sesame, pear, and apricot could still be found, contributing the expected pungency to the tea’s finish.

If I were to seriously sit down and list the components of what I feel make a strong example of a jade Tieguanyin, I would be more or less describing this tea. As autumn jade Tieguanyin oolongs go, this was very nice. It did not skimp on anything, as everything that I would expect to find in a tea of this type was there. Lately, I have noticed that a lot of jade Tieguanyin seems to go out of its way to avoid the pungency typically associated with the oolongs produced from the cultivar, but this one thankfully did not shy away from it. An excellent example of a jade Anxi Tieguanyin, I will definitely be acquiring some of the more recent productions for the sake of comparison.

I have now moved from Canada back to Europe and this is my first gong fu session. Since a lot of stuff is still packed, I brought out these convenient tuos to brew in my new silver teapot. I am amazed by the progression of this tea and am happy that I still have a couple of these left although they are now sold out (there is a 2019 version available).

Even though just 5 years old, this tea is now definitely well within the semi-aged sheng category. It brews dark orange and has a LOT of fast, woody sweetness that I don’t remember from before. Still, the profile is balanced even while being so pungent. The astringency is dialed down but very much present. There is also a nice bitterness of quinine & citrus zest as well as a fruity tartness. Further savoury notes include bread crust and burnt food. At the same time, the tea has retained some of its florals, which remind me of orange blossoms at the moment. Later steeps also have a strong nutty component with rapeseed florals.

These are also really convenient for a cold brew. Cheap, chopped up leaves so that the extraction time is shorter and there’s no need to pry a cake and/or weight anything. I made use of that on Saturday and on Sunday I had a liter of pu-erh to fuel me throughout the day as I was wandering around Toronto. To be honest, 10g/1l makes a fairly strong tea even when brewed just overnight like I did. Depending on the intended use and steeping time, one might want to adjust the ratio.

Due to the small size of both the tuo and the leaf particles, this tea has aged much more than an unbroken one would. The young edge is mostly gone by now. Because of the small particle size though, you have to be careful with the steeping times and reduce them accordingly. If you do so, you can get a flavourful and medium bodied tea with controlled levels of bitterness and astringency.

I found this tea to have quite an interesting and unuaual smell for a sheng. It especially reminds me of molasses and cooked milk, but I also get some black pepper and thyme notes. The mouthfeel is also somewhat milky and powdery.

The overall taste profile is on the sweet and bitter side of the spectrum. Nothing exceptional, but a good body with balanced taste combined with the price means this is a great sheng for everyday drinking. Suitable for work as well, because the cha qi is not too strong. I was also pleasantly surprised by the prolonged and enjoyable aftertaste that is somewhat spicy.

1 tuo gives me about 10 (~100ml) infusions and that’s without really pushing it.