Yunnan Sourcing

This tea seems to have good reviews so take mine with a grain of salt. I let this air out for a couple days, gave it a good ten second rinse. It has a beautiful deep brownish red colored soup. That’s about all I find pleasant about this tea. The scent of the brew is a black strap molasses (I like molasses but does not flatter this tea). The overall taste is dark and deep. The base flavor is a dark dark chocolate (90% cacao) with hints of tobacco. The overall tea is very bold and smooth but there is a bitter ashy/chocolate aftertaste that lingers on the tongue. The complexity is medium. This tea is not for me, but others might enjoy it. The dark chocolate in a bold cup sounds good in theory, but this tea is just not a good balance of flavor. Unique yes. Delicious? No. This tea gives my tongue nightmares.

Excellent tea. I am not the most stringent rinser, but, this tea does require it. I rinsed for 7 seconds. It should brew a dark golden liquor for the 1st ‘drinking’ steep. It starts off with a spicy, woodsy (carpenter’s shop) taste. The spice taste ends abruptly but the woodsy taste stays consistently and develops honey notes in the middle. The ending is what makes this tea special; the spice taste returns and the honey notes evolve into green apple. This spiced apple (cinnamon + nutmeg or apple spice) aftertaste lingers on the tongue for awhile. The tea has a medium boldness, and is fairly smooth but with subtle astringency as well (which becomes more pronounced in later steeps). I thoroughly enjoyed the intense complexity, and ‘nature’ flavors present in this tea. There is no noticeable wet soil taste, just a deep wood flavor. In the later steeps the spice/apple flavors diminish and the ‘woodsy’ flavor remains strong. A great tea for anyone who is looking to expand their aged tea repertoire….though I wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s first crack at fermented/aged teas. Might add more to this later.

Pure chocolate heaven! If you have ever made a really good hot chocolate with water then this is spot on. Nice rich thick mouth-feel with a pleasant sweetness that lingers long after the last sip. The undertones I get are very floral, almost like a chocolate rose ice cream.

Looking forward to trying a fresher Jin Jun Mei to compare. I used lower temprature water than I would usually use for a black because of the delicate nature of this tea.

8g in a 200ml glass teapot with 195 degree F water

The taste is more reminiscent of a good Indian Assam than all of the chocolate heavy Yunnan blacks I have been drinking lately. Malty with a berry jammy quality that I keep going back to. I notice little astringency even with smaller broken bits that I bet would come out with higher temp and longer steep time.

I almost wish it wasn’t in cake form as its compressed tightly and I end up destroying a good bit of it when I break off some for a session.

I find I like the the Verdant High elevation version of this tea just a bit better.
Nose; Peach, orange, lychee, slight honey and osmanthus notes.
Palate; Peach, slight sweet brown sugar, osmanthus.

I do not usually drink flavored teas, but jasmine teas are the exception. And this jasmine surpasses all others. The dry leaf is rolled into perfect pearls, and has a wonderful rich floral aroma. The leaves open up nicely when brewed and last for many infusions. I concluded my session before the leaves lost flavor, and have on occasion infused them repeatedly throughout an entire day. Highly recommended for lovers of jasmine teas.

Mostly dark green threads lightly compressed on top with harder compression underneath with more broken leaf. Light moss scent pre and a peppery moss scent after steeping. Flavors are most appealing, sweet apricot, medium viscosity, good mouth feel, just right amount of bitterness and astringency. Cha qi is restrained making it good for afternoon imbibing. I quite like this tea.

OK, so I obviously have a preference for Dancong and Wuyi Oolongs. That said I find this particular tea really outstanding in a number of ways.
The first thing that came to mind after some tasting was " sublime ".
This is not an in your face tea, and probably not for everyone. The nose has notes of light sweet gardenia, lightly toasted oats, milky/creamy notes, a sweet savoriness like toasted hazelnuts, hints of ripe tomato, and what I can only describe as a sunny meadow in the morning.
Palate; very delicate sweetness, oats, cream, slight umami, light herbal notes, and gardenia, perfect balance and a wonderful throat flavor and feel, lasts many steepings and changes wonderfully over time.

Bought this a while ago from Yunnan Sourcing. Just getting around to trying it. I suppose some people would really like this tea. Those who like the aged flavors generally described as leather and tobacco would really like this one. However what it is doing for me is reminding me that I almost never like a semi aged sheng. I have never had an authentic aged sheng meaning something over 25 years old so I don’t know if I would like that. Started brewing this at boiling. Then four steeps in I switched to 190 degrees hoping the negative flavors would dissipate. They did not. I am finding that I like young sheng, not semi aged sheng. I keep buying ten year old sheng hoping to come across one I really like but I haven’t found one yet that I liked for the taste. The Yang QIng Hao teas I did like but more for their strong cha qi than their taste.

I brewed this ten times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10g leaf and starting with boiling water, then switching to 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

Quite the tea… some nice woodsy notes going on with that steamed vegetable taste that settled but not aged raw puerh gives off.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRl_RHBA_58/
Worth trying and I now that I know how easy going this is, I will have to compare to the 2015 Bang Dong : )

I took a lot of time studying this tea before reviewing. It was like riding a bronco. At first, I hated it, and was annoyed with how temperamental it can be ( I over steeped it many times). However, as time went on and I figured it out a little more I came to enjoy its complexity and energy. 175F for 4 minutes is the sweet spot for me. It is extremely astringent and bitter overall, heavily spicy, but with a mild body. The soup produced is a medium golden color. Tastes mostly of black pepper with a basil/cilantro aftertaste – there is a tinge of smokiness throughout but not the type of smoke you would experience in a Lapsang souchong. The energy of the tea is invigorating and refreshing; and of special note. I’m not sure I will order anytime soon, but I could see myself ordering it down the road as an evening tea. It was an interesting experience overall.

Last cup of this. I’m glad i tried this – it was an interesting one. Light orange flavour, great black tea base. in retrospect, this might have been an interesting one to try iced. heh

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Another one from this morning. I quite like these little oranges as long as you don’t get too much peel in the brew. a couple pieces is enough to bring out the orange flavour and make it a nice cup, that’s a little different.

another from this afternoon – glad i got a bit of tea drinking in as well as a few short exercise sessions since the rain is seriously hampering my ability to run. I am not happy about it. still enjoying this tea – it seems to work well with a little bit of the orange peel in the brew :)

Final Count: 52 (until tomorrow)

tasty tea for colder afternoons of crappy work. that’s how we roll.

feeling this one today. Added a little of the orange peel this time and it made it a really nice, light, orange tasting black. I wonder if this would be any good as a cold brew..

Tried this one western brew this morning as i didn’t have time for much else. This has got a really nice, subtle orange flavour to a tea that i generally love. I’m going to have to play around with it a little more – i didn’t add any of the orange to this brew.