Yunnan Sourcing

When I added this to my cart I doubted myself. I’ve never drunk black tea.

Well I can’t tell if I’m feeling the qi or just super excited about this tea’s smell and flavor. I love it when I just can’t wrap my head around a tea. I don’t understand how this can smell and taste soooo good. Scott is spot on with the sweet potato description but there’s a roasted sweetness behind it and oh my god the smell of the wet leaf has this tropical fruit/flower (maybe passion fruit ?) note that drives me crazy.

Wow, what an amazing tea. I think it’s got good qi too. I’m sitting here with sun on my feet, listening the birds tweet and need nothing more in life. I remember why I gravitated to this, the sweet potato description. I had read gaba tasted like that and I wanted to try that. Yep I’m relaxed. Off to buy more.

There’s something festive about this cake, so it seemed appropriate to submit a review now (December 2016). The spice, fruit, and sweet smokiness just remind me of over-the-top holiday seasonings and celebrations, a lot like the current microbrew holiday ales – rich, spicy, fruity, and awesome. It has a long-lived aftertaste that is warm, spicy, and fruity. What a great treat to sip in front of a fire.

I think it’s fair to say this tea is a bit over-the-top, but it absolutely works. It’s brimming with flavor and it delivers tastes I haven’t normally come across – Xiaguan smokiness comes close. Anyway, it’s a wonderful experience – and at 100g, it’s portioned and priced just right for those curious enough for a taste.
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Dry leaf: SMOKE, SWEET, HERBAL (barbecue sauce, mesquite smoke, menthol, cilantro, Mexican hot chocolate, autumn leaves, dried cherries)

Smell: SMOKE, SWEET, SPICE (mesquite smoke, citrus, cherries, coriander, cilantro, spices – like exotic, don’t-really-know-the-name, pungent spices)

Taste: FRUIT, HERBAL, SPICE (orange peel, coriander, barbecue, mesquite smoke, menthol “coolness”, savory grassy-umami, cilantro, dried cherry, pine resin and pine needle, damp wood notes, peppercorn, and yummy hard-to-pin-down “exotic” spices)

This tea has the nicest appearance of about any tea I have ever seen. It consists of slightly flattened, closed to barely-opened buds that are all covered in shiny golden hairs. The smell of the dried leaves is fresh and has that typically dianhong-ish aromatic sweetness that reminds of sugarcane or even caramel. That same sweetness is present in the smell of the wet leaves.

The cup is very nicely golden-colored, with a smooth and balanced taste. The aforementioned sweetness is somewhat less bold and prominent than in some other dianhongs I have had, giving a somewhat subtler feel to this tea. Alongside of the sweetness there is some fruitiness, and I also taste something damp-foresty or mushroomy in there (not sure if I like that). The finish is slightly peppery and mineral. The sip is very smooth and has almost no (and certainly no unpleasant) astringency.

Summary: Inexpensive for age buy from YS, at great value. Starts with robust smokey hay and mushroom and finishes sweet grassy. Big body.

Prep: 5g, 60cc gaiwan, boiling. Rinse, 10s, increasing from there for about 12 steeps.
Sessions with this tea: 10+.

Taste: Starts off with smokey hay, and salty mushroom in a rounded, robust-feeling flavor, with a lovely cool sweet dew aftertaste. Minimal minerality, mild bitterness and mild astringency. The savory flavor drops out and it turns into sweet grass after 6 steeps, remains cooling throughout. Previous reviewer mentioned melon, I could see that. Big hui gan.

Body: huge burst of bright concentrated energy in my neck and upper chest. Mouthfeel is “rounded” throughout. Salivated and continued feeling and tasting this tea for like 2 hours after I finished. Update: have finished several more sessions with this tea, still enjoying it.

Summary: Inexpensive for age buy from YS. Starts bitter and finishes bland floral, with heavy mineral feel throughout.

Prep: 5g, 60cc gaiwan, boiling. Rinse, 10s, increasing from there for about 13 steeps.
Sessions with this tea: 3.

Taste: Starts off with old leather, mild bitterness, somewhat heavy mineral but more of a mouthfeel than a flavor. I don’t get any tobacco notes as previous reviews mention. Sweetens over time, but never becomes sweet, most of the bitterness drops out. Slightly hint of floral in later steeps, but ultimately it becomes almost bland.

Body: not pleasant drying sensation in the jaw, tingles back of the head, solid feeling in the chest, gives medium jittery energy. Mouthfeel is mineral throughout.

Just a great tea. The Spring was well reviewed and this is no different. Even the 5 sec rinse I drank had excellent mouth throat feel with some cooling. I’ve been doing like mr mopar and resting 10 minutes after the rinse…liking it, seems like the tea wakes up.

Flavor: Wow, fruity ! Apricot and raisins. Perfect hints of astringency and bitterness. It did get a bit too bitter when I pushed to 60 sec steep too early (4-5 steep). Good cooling and throat feel.

Qi: Relaxing and slightly energizing. Conscious of breathing.

A good cheap example of a slightly aged sheng. Reminded me quite a bit of W2T’s 2009 Yiwu.

i have brewed this in a gaiwan and one of my sheng clay tea pots. i have to say, the storage is really present with a gaiwan (i actually throw off the first three rinses) but my clay tea pots seem to mellow out the tea nicely and gives it much more character. this is well priced for an aged tea.

This small cake has a good bit of compression, but I find that breaking chunks off works just fine and it opens up in the teapot quite readily. Prevalent pepper notes in the front give way to a fruity aftertaste. Unlike any other young sheng I have tried, likely won’t be for everyone. Am happy to finish up the cake, but at the same time I don’t know if I will be buying more.

I am not one for shou puerh. I usually drink it in phases, so my palate is by no means accustomed to these teas. However, this was a very nice tea. The leaves are heavily compressed and crumbly. They carry a heavy earth scent with some cedar, mushrooms, and a very light fruitiness. I warmed my gaiwan up and placed the rock inside. I shook the pebble about and opened the lid to be created with some smoke and earthy spices. The classic damp wood tone was present, but it was in the background behind bell peppers. The brew is thick and dark with smooth clean notes. I like shu; because, it’s so warming. The drink is filled with sweet earthy mineral tones. A nice clean aftertaste coats the tongue. The drink is nice and relaxing. Later steeping brought on a sharp cherry tone and some root flavors. Oddly, I picked up on some herbaceous notes on the next steeping. The sweetness in the mouth is incredibly long lasting with molasses sweetness. The qi is heavy and warming with a nice massaging relaxation. I really liked this tea, and I thought it to be very good!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIsVSffg6Q-/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

This is a funky and unusual tea with a complex array of enduring flavors; tart plum, mint, earthiness, dark coffee. There is a pungent sharpness to it and a slightly bitter backbone, as well as a smooth and reasonably thick body. The mouthfeel is highly dynamic and an absolute star here. Quite an experience altogether, and one that may require multiple sessions to fully appreciate.

This is a bold, medium-bodied tea with savory and vegetal qualities, a hint of smoke, and noticeable astringency. The flavors here, in combination with the dryness, do not appeal to me.

Out of my last YS order this was definately the immediate stand out as I could smell it opening up the box. I smelled apricots, and I could not believe it was coming from this and not a sheng sample. I’ve brewed it gong fu style and was unimpressed. It did tease out that lovely fruity aroma, but I find most black teas more enjoyable western style.

I brewed this at work today in a travel infuser. The leaves were more tightly compressed than I thought and I ended up with half the infuser filled with leaf by the time everything unfurled. I steeped it multiple times over the day with the leaves staying in the infuser the entire time. After all that punishiment I could not be more pleased with this tea. It was strong, rich, and flavorful with just enough of a tannic flavor to keep it interesting, but it never got too dry or bitter. Lighter steeps have that lovely fruity aftertaste. Almost my entire YS order was devoted to tea I could abuse like this at work and this so far is the only thing that has far exceeded my expectations.

Now if only it came in 200g cakes.

Was really expecting to like this one since I love peaty smoke/Islay whiskies. But the smoke on this is more like smoked meat which to me is odd flavors for a tea. But just a personal preference that I don’t like that which is why I still gave it a 70

I like the fact that this has such a different flavor and smell because a lot of my young sheng has similar notes. Also, I find the wild purples just don’t agree with me. The energy/Qi feels chaotic and quite often they mildly turn my stomach. This isn’t a young sheng thing…don’t have this problem with any of those.

As others have noted, this is a nice counter point to YS’s lovely Da Qing Gu Shu. Beautiful leaf that smells nice but not as amazing and floral as the Da Qing. Wet leaf is really vegetal/skunky smelling (nobody else uses this word…perhaps tobacco is a better term)

Taste – This ones notes are more vegetal (brussel sprouts) although it is mostly noticeable in the first few steeps. It quickly shifts to the jasmine flowers followed by stone fruit aftertaste. The taste gets going super fast with 10-15 sec steeps. Astringency and bitterness are there but just the perfect amount.

Qi – Puts me in a great mood, good energy and relaxation. Just a good all rounder although nothing sticks out particularly and it’s not super strong Qi

For as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve hated black tea. Although I grew up in a family of chai drinkers where the kettle was always whistling and strong black tea with milk was served all day long, I was the odd one of the bunch that could never stomach the stuff. The smell and taste of it literally made me sick to my stomach and my aversion to it continued well into adulthood. So after spending over 3 decades assiduously avoiding black tea, my turning point came recently when I discovered this Yunnan black.

I picked this up with my Yunnan Sourcing order for my father who enjoys Golden Monkey tea but had been paying nearly 4x as much for it at Teavana. Out of curiousity I took a whiff of the tea leaves and was intrigued by the delicious malty smell, which was nothing like the black teas I’ve experiencd. So I set aside a small sample for myself.

The first time I brewed this tea it was too tannic and it reaffirmed all of my misgivings about black tea. I stashed it away for a future tea swap and forgot about it. A few months later as I was organizing my stash, I stumbled upon it and decided to give it another go.

This time I under leafed, using a scant teaspoon of leaves for 110ml of water off the boil, steeped for 3 minutes. First steep there was rich, yummy maltiness and chocolate. A moderate amount of tannins but not too off putting and they went away after the 1st steep. The second steep had strong notes of caramel, maple syrup, and some cocoa. The third infusion was sweeter with an astonishing brown sugar like flavor. The later steeps threw off even more brown sugar and left a maple-like sweetness in the throat.

I’m very impressed by this tea. It’s robust flavor, natural sweetness, and low bitterness make it a winner in my book. It’s quickly becoming a part of my regular tea rotation and marks the beginning of my adventure into the world of black tea.

Hmm, I’m not really sure how to rate this one. It’s my second YS Qing Mei Shan that I’ve tried, and I don’t think the flavor profile is really for me. This one had some sweetness for sure, but they are also quite savory teas, with a lot of mushroomy and nutty flavor to them. It has a lot of strength to it – one of the first teas to make my stomach feel a bit upset when I drank it on a slightly empty stomach.

It’s got a lot of nice aspects to it, including a nice sugar-cane sweet finish in many steeps, along with a creamy, mouth-coating texture. I just don’t really like that heavy savory aspect to it. My sample was also pretty broken up, so I think I got treated to a little bit more astringency than the tea would normally yield.

This is a fairly tasty black tea with an interesting flavor profile. As I sip this tea I get two distinct fruity notes. One maybe cherries and the other maybe dates. This really is only an estimation of the flavor of the tea. It is good.

I steeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.

Light malt and a note of toasted bread transition to a mildly sweet fruitiness that lingers into the aftertaste. While lacking the depth to truly stand out, this tea is fairly enjoyable regardless, smooth and with a medium body.

Dry leaf: HERBAL, DRY SPICE, CITRUS (dry wood, dill, cilantro, cocoa powder, some baking spice notes, hint of dried red fruit. In preheated vessel – green stem, coriander, citrus, light lemon oil)

Smell: NUTTY, FLORAL (savory, green stem, nutty, floral – orchid-like?)

Taste: NUTTY, FRUIT, CITRUS, FLORAL. In the mouth, there is a base of woody “green stem” and black tea blend that, in initial steeps, combines with light nut oiliness and orchid-like floral notes. There are also notes of baking spices and cilantro. The finish accentuates floral note and sharp fruit/herbal notes. Aftertaste is complex, with peach, red currant, cilantro, and coriander.

Initial steeps are really fun – there is quite a bit of complexity and the flavor certainly changes between steeps. The in-mouth experience is not super complex, but the aftertaste is a lot of fun to explore and enjoy. After about 6 steeps, the in-mouth flavors are a general woody/green stem tea flavor, but the aftertaste remains strong and continues to develop for several more steeps.

This definitely accentuates the pleasant sharp, pungent notes of dan cong – what a lot of folks seem to associate with as “soapiness.” Definitely a fair observation, but I relate these flavors to the sharpness of red currant, with the pungency of cilantro and coriander. You can overdo it with your brewing parameters, but when done right, it is a tasty experience.

Final note – be sure to use enough leaf. It can be a bit watery without a fair helping of leaves in the vessel. You really have to gong fu this sucker – FILL UP the vessel with leaves and use short steep times.

Go get yourself some soap tea and bring back memories of cussing in front of your mom and being sent to the bathroom with a bar of soap in your mouth. Great times! (Just kidding – it really is pretty tasty soap!)

Snake Red is an in-your-face, powerful shou. At first it was overly smokey but now, over three years later it’s lost its harshness, smoothed out and the smoke has mellowed into a tongue tingling sensation that really lingers. Deep, dark, complex, delicious and I think it’s still got a ways to go on its developmental journey. So glad I have another cake stashed away!

From Puerh TTB

I was unable to pick out the notes for a few steeps in. However, after alternating the amount of water to leaf, the tea became noticeable. This tea has a sweet floral and a hint mushroom in the taste. At first, I hadn’t tasted much. The tea had subtle notes of something, but I was unable to claim the flavors.

I will note that even after the session is completed, the mushroom notes are still lingering behind. Definitely an unusual tea, but I think I can drink this again.

Wow, okay. This tea is awesome. Sweet and smoky. I brewed it pretty haphazardly and it was very forgiving. 100% getting a full cake of this on my next YS order. Really interesting tea.

This is my favorite of the Duck Shits that I got from my tea friend.

It has a milky, creamy mouthfeel. It’s thick and almost oily in the mouth, but I’m also getting hints of astringency on the back of the palate after I’ve swallowed.

Flavor wise, it has a bit of that green funk, of which I am a fan. Vegetal a bit? It’s mostly sweet and floral flavored. Very nice experience.