Yi Mei Ren Wu Liang Mountain Yunnan Black Tea

Harvest & Year: Spring 2020

I had a cup of this earlier and all I stopped to write was

Very flavorful.

Well that’s very helpful. I did like it.

Roasty and nutty with a hint of chocolate. I brewed this one western style and its getting nuttier as it cools. It reminds me of an almond/peanutty version of Big Red Robe. The second, western brew is a bit weaker, but still pleasantly nutty.

(Notes from 8/1/19)

I got this as a sampler from YS (20 g sampler)

This was the right tea to drink tonite. It’s an interesting tea…best for a late afternoon tea. However, I’m not sure I would order it once this sampler is done.

The flavor initially starts of very thin velvety chocolate, but then blossoms into a robust flavor of sweet toasted aromatic wood/florals with the barest hint of minerality; it’s like the aftertaste is where all the flavor lies.

It’s a weird combination that makes it a fairly well-balanced tea. And the finish is extremely clean. This tea is really easy to drink. And there’s a very faint hint of cha Qi, which given that I ate before the session is saying something.

Steepings are consistent and very forgiving. (5g tea/150ml water). I pushed this from 20 seconds (#1) to 60s (#2), 80s(3) to 2 minutes (4), then 3min (#5) and there was no astringency at 195-200 deg F. I’m sure this can be brewed full Western or Grandpa style with a large amount of leaf without it getting bitter.

But for me, the initial thinness of flavor puts this in the 2.5 out of 5 star range. The robust aftertaste and cha Qi saves it.

I’m going to try this again as full ChaZhou brew with some crushed leaves to see if it improves that initial thin flavor.

Notes from 8/14/19
Okay, tried this again CZ style with a bit of crushed leaves.
Overall, this is a much better tea with the crushed leaves. It’s a bit more robust than before.
This raises the overall recommendation of the tea.

Also tried steep stacking this tea. Much better this way…better balanced.

My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. This was one of my favorite Yunnans after I tried it for the first time about 7 months ago: rich smell, deep and distinct malty, ashy and chocolaty taste…

I reordered another 100g of it – supposedly, the same harvest. There is no smell whatsoever and only the faintest, sickly sugary taste. Even after I crammed in 3 times as many leaves as I usually do the tea was almost tasteless and undrinkable. The generic Lipton bags are way better.

I don’t know how it had happened. Maybe it’s because they stored it into some horrible conditions? Maybe it is a harvest from, like, 4 years ago? I had to throw out all the remaining 90g – and this is the first for me. If anyone thinks about buying the 2018 Spring harvest of it consider yourself warned.

This is a good black tea to have when you want something different from the norm. It still has some familiar black tea notes, notably roasted nut and sweet potato; however, there is some funky fruity sweetness that runs through the whole experience that makes it stand out from others.

I keep using “grape leaf” and sweet potato to capture some of these flavors, but there are some other fruit flavors that are present, especially blackberry syrup.

Given its name, there are certainly some parallels with Oriental Beauty oolong – there is always a certain fragrance about the whole experience that is a bit floral and fruity that you almost never get with black tea.

All that said, YS is selling it super cheap, and it’s a great departure from the heavy-handed nature black teas can sometimes have. There is always a certain lightness to this tea that is refreshing.
*
Dry leaf – grape leaf, grape vine, raw peanut. In preheated vessel notes of chocolate, date, and blackberry syrup

Smell – roasted nuts, sweet potato casserole, grape leaf, hints of blackberry syrup

Taste – roasted nut, sweet potato, grape leaf. Aftertaste has notes of date and chocolate sweetness, hints of fresh mint

Thanks Christina for sending me a sample of this tea.

This is the spring 2015 version.

I thought based on the reviews and the initial dry tea smell that I would love this one but it has been weird for me.

The dry tea smells nice and sweet and malty, with a bit of dark chocolate notes. However after brewing, the initial sip is quite a turn off for me. All I can taste is burnt dirt, earth, and mushroom-y type flavour. As it cools, it turns into the more malty, sweet black tea I was expecting. There is no more earthy or mushroom flavours. But it unfortunately loses a lot of its “punch”. It is not horrible but luke warm tea is not my favourite. I have played around with steeping parameters but just can’t find what works for me with this tea.

Thanks Christine for sending me this one to try.

So, I am drinking the Autumn 2013 picking of this tea. I may have dulled my palate prior to drinking this by eating pizza drenched in habanero sauce, but I’m still really enjoying this tea! I really like how it has lots of malty and chocolatey notes, but it isn’t a tea with big tannins, which allows some very strong floral notes to come through. The combination isn’t what I’m used to or what I expect out of a black tea, but I get the feeling that this tea might grow to be a favorite.

Not 100% sure that this is the one Dexter sent me, but since this is the one in her cupboard, I’m going to log it here. (Sorry if I’m incorrect!)
Anyway, I couldn’t look up the steeping parameters, since my kids were using the computer at the time, so I just winged it. 2tsp leaf/8oz water/boiling/5 min

This was chocolatey and comforting and just plain delicious. It was exactly what I was looking for at the moment… Really, really delicious. :D
I steeped for a second time (8min) and got the same chocolate notes with a little bit of a fruity quality going on… just lovely!

Ok… I guess I’ll go clean my kitchen now. blarg.

This is another tea from Yunnan Sourcing Dark Tea of the Month… I am enjoying my club so far!

As the description says, the flavor of it is something between a black tea and an oolong. It is light bodied with a sweet and somewhat flowery base. Aroma of the tea is somewhere between floral and chocolate which is my best guess for how to describe it. The aftertaste is so sweet it seems like it’s sweetened with honey. If you’re a fan of Oriental Beauty tea you should look into it.

This is a good tea but I personally prefer black teas with a bit more heft in them… might be nice as an afternoon tea instead of a morning.

Crisp breeze in the air means it’s time to hit the Yunnan Sourcing pile of tea in my cupboard. Use cracked celedon pot for this tea. It brews up quickly for the first 4 steeps then added 10-20 seconds for further out brews. The flavors are so clean and spot on for what I like about Yunnan black teas. Soft flavors of malt, cherry, orange blossom and caramel, bouquet of chocolate and orange blossom; nice energy but not grating, a hint of bitter but it corrects the flavors somehow to make it more flavorful. The batch I purchased was the Autumn 2012 and I bought a lot of it.