Yunnan Sourcing

(Spring 2023 harvest) Dark amber. Wow. Smells like a botanical garden. Nice roasted note, but such a floral bouquet. Brisk palate. Second steep loses florals, but still satisfying. One of my favorite yancha so far.

(Spring 2023 harvest) Very subtle. Nose has honeysuckle, hay, and the palate has melon, silky texture and a light astringency. This is objectively very good, but I find it, like most white tea, a bit subtle for my taste.

(Spring 2023 harvest) Woah- heady aromatics. White grape, guava, kiwi and gooseberry nose. Some husk cherry too. Palate is juicy and tart. Unbelievably unique. Though to an extent I don’t find myself reaching for it often.

(Spring 2023 harvest) Mid deep amber roast. Some honeysuckle, gentle satisfying toasty notes. Brisk. Second steep and even cleaner florals- echo of honeysuckle, hydrangea, rose, jasmine. Ultimately very nicely structured, mid-roast and still somewhat green oolong palate.

Incredibly smooth in the mouth. Savory tobacco. Nice study companion.

from mrmopar several years ago

Two rinses with long rests. Good tea. Very clear, flavorful, smooth, mellow, alkaline turning slightly acidic. Wet pile fish broth on the nose but not in taste. Getting some aged TCM peppery notes to go with the tobacco, dark wood, bread dough, wet autumn leaves and root beer; hints of camphor and eggplant. So compressed I’ll probably be nursing the pot for 3 days.

Neutralizing feeling in the body. Not particularly warming or cooling or caffeinated. Balanced.

This tea has a lot of character, I can recommend it to anyone looking for a complex Mengku pu-erh without the hefty price tag associated to Bing Dao or some of the other more famous villages.

The aroma is really engaging – herbaceous, sweet, and grassy when dry and more fruity during the session.

The rinse is not so representative of the whole experience. It tastes a bit like sencha, with sweet, sour and grassy notes. The first proper infusion is then herbaceous with a very sweet and nutty profile. The mouthfeel is thick and very soft and creamy.

Later on, a lot of florals develop, including mild bitterness. Sometimes, drinking the tea reminds me of a summer meadows, which is slightly dried out. The aftertaste is very sweet and aromatic. It bring further notes of bread and barley.

I agree with RichD: sweet, simple & smooth. A good daily drinker.

I think this tea is nice. The leaf is absolutely gorgeous. The tea is sweet, soft and round, but for me, like most bud-heavy black teas, lacks just a little bit of strength and boldness.

Superiore al resto dei bai mu dan già provati (teavivre e teaway), il sapore è sempre equilibrato, a differenza dei precedenti che risultavano inizialmente più aspri e pungenti. Olfatto sentori di frutta ed erbaceo, il sapore è un delicato sapore di frutta, delicato ma corposo

Gong fu cha method 95° | 100ml | Rinse + YunnanSourcing Brewing Times

Sono riuscito ad assaporare fino a 11 infusioni

classico té cinese, sapore di malto, dolce e delicato.
Gong fu cha method 95° | 100ml | No Rinse + YunnanSourcing Brewing Times

Just noting that this year’s harvest has much in common with the 2017 one (which I reviewed more extensively), though I do detect a little more depth/complexity (picking up hints of garden tomato, yam, melon, and some floral elements). Unique and satisfying dianhong, and the perfect way to start off Autumn.

mineral, nutty, sweet earthy note (beetroot), bubbly, #2 stronger, wheat, licorice root, #3 biting, #4 barley

I don’t find this tea to be quite worth the price, although I only had one session with it to be honest. It is mineral and nutty with a swee earthy beetroot note. The mouthfeel is biting and bubbly and there are also flavours of wheat and barley.

Spring 2022. This is a strong hongcha with a lot of substance. The rinsed leaves smell deeply sweet and fruity, and the tea itself is remarkably foamy and very saturated and dark, with lots of forest-fruity sweetness and some spicy, tobaccoish notes. Nice.

For this price range this is a solid blended sheng puer. It is full-bodied, sweet and strong. There isn’t a lot of refinement or elegance in the aromas and mouthfeel though, everything is upfront and without subtlety. There is moderate bitterness and astringency.

One of the more peculiar tea that I have in my cupboard. The leaves after the first few steeps smells like resin and maybe pine needles. After a bit of rest the tea leaves emits some smoky notes. The soup is amber colored and has the mellow, creamy aromas of black tea. The taste for the first steep is a bit bland. The most dominant tastes are perfume and walnuts (?). I remember that I’ve tasted this exact brick 2 years ago and was a totally different experience – the taste was more heavy on the nuts and walnut side. Is it possible that the tea just died a silent death in my cupboard?

Spring 2022 batch.

Prepared in my Jian Shui gaiwan, and served in my porcelain tea cup via my glass cha hai. Filtered Santa Monica municipal water just off the boil throughout.

Dark gray, twisted wiry strands with some patches of yellow/gold. Fairly uniform. Unremarkable dry aroma.

Butterscotch liquor. Delicate nose is vegetal/waxy/and faintly grainy.

Mild, faintly malty flavor with hints of piñon and dried plum. Linear, slightly dusty finish. A bit more leather and hay emerge if pushed along with a mild bitterness/astringency.

Medium-light body.

Decent, but not much character – will revisit after the package has been open for a few weeks and revise if things improve significantly.

The first time I had this I drank it grandpa style, following the advice of Zhen Tea on youtube, and I’m so glad I did. The aroma after pouring boiling water just over the top of the tea leaves was incredible. I’ve never had tea smell like baking cookies before! But I digress.

This tea was fantastic. Very buttery, and nutty. Not bitter or astringent at all. I had a lot of fun munching on the tender leaves as I was drinking as well (although those were a bit astringent but not unbearable). I was using a very tall glass so I only got 2 infusions out of it but that’s really all I needed. I’d never tried anything western/grandpa style and it was so neat! I will be buying this again.

A very ancient tasting ripe puerh with deep texture – applies both to the soup and the aromas. The first steeps brings out the foresty and earthy notes, and the later ones bringing the camphor and cocoa powder-like taste.

I finished this one up a while ago but forgot to post a note. I feel bad because it was a tasty and charming white tea. It deserved better.

I recall that it reminded me of a green tea at times; it had the hay notes you see in many white teas, but it was altogether grassier than what I expected: bamboo shoots and sweetgrass too! It was a temperamental steeper and could get grass-bitter if oversteeped though. It made me think of a laying in a grass field and listening to the blades rustle in the wind. All in all, a very restful and vibrant tea.

2023 Ode To Tea – Part II – Y

Another sheng I haven’t written a note for yet.  From JakeB QUITE a while ago!  Thank you!  And it’s another sheng I think is a great sheng, as long as I only steep for 30 seconds Western.   I love that only sheng tastes like this and it is just so different from shu.  All steeps were fairly similar in flavor.  It’s almost like an odd, otherworldly tropical fruit with a tangy note, yet also a cream quality.  I think it was a good thing I neglected this sheng for a while?  I bet the flavor improved.  I only have one steep session of leaf left.  I love the wrapper design too.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 45 minutes after boiling // 30 second steep
Steep #2 // 30 minutes after boiling // 30 second steep
Steep #3 // 33 min after boiling // 30 second steep
Steep #4 // 30 min after boiling // 45 second steep

Thank you beerandbeancurd for this sample! Initial rinse: Some type of Chinese veggie. Drywall. Creamed…. something. Initial taste at about 30 seconds reveals a silky mouth feel with cream of wheat and old wood in the basement flavors. the 1800 house notes really punch your face the longer you steep. Makes me seriously want to get back to my Ancestry searching but I promised myself I wouldn’t touch it till after I am done with my current tea dream. Oh and pine. Big pine notes too. Walking through a pine forest. Actually, I’m finding some new basement notes in there as well. That smell of crisp drywall and spackle. Each steep brings out more woodsy notes but thus far nothing much different. A bit more cream of wheat, no maple syrup or butter of course. Holy smokes. I just bit into a chunk of rotting wood. You know that big pieces of lumber they used to use to hold up earth before they started using concrete blocks and such. Wow.

Solid JJM. Good malt and cocoa and toast — generally a nice warming profile for the morning. Bought this on a whim when all the blacks dropped in spring and will be happy to pour it for wake-up cups.

Received from Yunnan Sourcing July 2023. Dry leaves a mix of olive green to greenish brown. Tightly packed, I got a lot of breakage and powder in my first session.
Rinsed for 10 seconds at temperature (205F). Wet leaves smell like hops and seaweed, and after a couple steeps lemongrass.
First steep 15 seconds. Liquor is a light honey color. Aroma very clean, makes me think of an ocean breeze/seawater with a hint of cut grass. Not as bitter as I feared for a sheng puerh, very accessible for those who prefer shou but are willing to explore sheng. Light vegetal, bit of orange blossom. Finish is sweet and viscous, bit of cooling on the tongue. Very calming sensation in the chest, like deep breathing.
Second steep 20 seconds. More bitterness apparent in this one but not off-putting, and at the sides of the tongue a new subtle lemony tartness, maybe pairing with more noticeable orange blossom aroma. Color unchanged.
Third steep 20 seconds. Bitterness has faded back to steep 1 or I’m used to it, sweetness also faded. Otherwise consistent.