2011 Yunnan Sourcing "Ba Da Mountain" wild arbor raw pu-erh tea cake

Already astonishingly aged and so so GOOD!

Bouquet: The steaming aroma starts with a very mouthwatering sourly layer and smoky tobacco notes which also shape the major aspect of whole experience. There is a certain mix scent and taste-wise to this fellow which contains a fusion of those great lovely pistachio nutty aspects purple leaves varieties got and those thick and already more mature aged facets of wet thick tobacco profiles with smokey pinewood nuances followed buy grilled pears wrapped in cranberry ham and sprinkled with subtle traces of Worcestershire sauce.

Liquor: Taste-wise like I mentioned before both stages walk more or less side by side. As amazing and breathtaking already the steaming atmosphere was as marvelous and magical is its actual tasting experience. The liquor is creamy soft with a constant dense wet tobacco flavor filled with smokey woodsy notes and astringent sourly nutty layer while finished within an echo of grilled ham with cranberry notes and pears but also slightly notes of grilled butterfish with a fine lemon-Worcestershire-marinade plus fine lemon peppery notes of Sichuan pepper and a certain dark rye bread flair fresh out of the oven at the very end of it. Within the 4th infusion its whole character looses a bit of its creamy texture but gains a much more naturally sweet profile.

Opinion: This is really a great slightly aged Sheng which got a massively amazingly potential to be outstanding if you age it for another 10 or more years. Definitely worth buying a whole cake or even a tong.

First installment of my taste tour through Yunnan. I picked some samples from Yunnan Sourcing that hit different areas throughout Yunnan just to note any characteristics that teas from one region had in common. I stuck with all YS productions and kept everything around the same price range, just to maintain a little consistency. Ages were 3-5 years old or so.

So, here we go:
Region 1/4: Western Xishuangbanna – Menghai county. Location 1/3: Ba Da mountain

Fairly interesting experience. Has a lot of herbal and green flavors, with some fragrant smokiness and a vague fruitiness to it (straight up Juicy Fruit gum flavor.) The thing I like most about it is that once the main puer flavors peter out, it sort of transforms into a green tea, with some vegetal and corn flavors, even a little roastiness. That went on for about two or three steeps.

YS suggests some pine needle flavors, and that is absolutely true. It is very pleasant and refreshing.

No bitterness and very little astringency. Not super long-lasting, but nice enough while it lasted. I really enjoyed the unique flavors it presented.
*
Dry leaf: EARTHY, SMOKY, SWEET (hay, pine needles, dill, parsley, mesquite smoke, some sandalwood, light sugar and honeysuckle notes). In preheated vessel – stronger smoke notes with syrupy sweetness.

Smell: SMOKY, HERBAL, SWEET (campfire, pungent green herb, zucchini, saccharine sweet)

Taste: WOODY, HERBAL, VEGETAL, SWEET, EARTHY (green woodiness, fresh dill and parsley, pine needle, sweet floral, zucchini, roasted corn, char. Aftertaste of saccharine sweetness, sweet minerality, hints of citrus.