Yee On Tea

Somehow I completely forgot that I had purchased this one with my last YoT order! I found it when rummaging through my cakes. I definitely like this one more than the other Liu Bao I had previously tried. Still haven’t ever tried betel nut and don’t plan on it, so hard to say if that’s the flavor I get.

I wouldn’t say I get the medicinal notes that others get, however. I think the predominant flavors are earthy and root vegetables. Nice mouthfeel and good longevity.

Thank you, Marshall, for this trade! The simple joy of getting tea in the mail is so nice.

Dry Appearance: The leaves on this one are so long! Definitely 3rd, 4th, and 6th leaf on the branch. Even some cute stems! They are dusty-looking with rich, deep chocolate brown notes.
Initial rinse: 1880s house. Lots of old wood notes.
Mouth Feel: Very smooth. Blanketing.
Flavor: Bits of charcoal. Burnt toast. If you steep it too long you really feel like you’re licking a very old wood house.
Sheng is a category I think I would have to explore more deeply to pull out some of the nuanced notes.

A special tea from YOT. I’ve been saving this one for a fun occasion and I had some friends over, one of whom also enjoys puerh. I cracked this out and everyone loved it!

Smoother than butter and dustier than your grandma’s crawl space. This tea is scrumptious. Barely any trad notes. Still some fermented notes, but this has matured 90+% into storage notes, which I love. This is such a great balance tbh.

I mean if I were rich, I’d for sure buy as many cakes of this as possible ofc. But I’m not.

Flavors: Dust, old library books, attic, wet wood, sweet, ancient.

Second tea from new YOT order. Bought a brick of this as well as it was only $0.12/g and it is pretty nice! I think I like it more than the ripe from the day before. It still has a nice camphor flavor, but more muted. Not overly complex, but a nice brick with big leaves.

Dry leaves: Camphor
Wet leaves: Same
Flavor: Camphor, wood, dark

Now this is what I’m talkin about! Seems like there are three categories of flavors in puerh: tea notes, aging (fermentation) notes, and “storage” notes. My favorite of the three is certainly storage notes. I tasted it in the 1985 maocha from LP, and I taste it here. It’s the dusty, attic/basement, old library book notes that are my favorite :). They seem to only come with significant time of storage.

This one is perfectly balanced. Pretty sweet, very smooth. No bitterness or astringency. A bit of camphor, but nowhere near as much as the other two teas from YOT.

Dry leaf: Cardboard
Wet leaf: Cardboard, camphor
Flavor: Cardboard, library, dust, must, old books, basement, attic, camphor.

Sample from YOT. Not too bad, but perhaps not as complex as the first sample I tried. Not sure exactly what to think of it. More camphor and cooling. A lot less intense than the first cake I got as well.

Fairly sweet, especially in 1st and later infusions. Lasts 10+ infusions. No bitterness or astringency. Cooling mouthfeel.

Dry leaf: Cardboard
Wet leaf: Camphor
Flavors: Cooling, sweet, camphor

A trade get… unsure what vendor this is from, though the heavy heavy storage note makes me think Yee On. I also don’t know the year of my sample.

This tea sat beside me for nearly an entire day — I set up my session and started a book on the enneagram types. I took (succumbed to) about eight naps… pouring a steep when I’d wake up, eventually finishing my book and gong fu session. I didn’t realize quite how exhausted I was.

I think I’m a 4w5.

I was prepared for incredible nuance and intrigue with a shu/sheng blend, but this long-ass session fell short (hurr hurr) for me. It presented as a light (reddish) shu with dank basement notes. No cooling camphor or particularly interesting age to find. I really didn’t pick up any sheng pop or influence to speak of; I do wonder if a younger purple mark might not be more up my alley. I guess I’d be risking some wet pile aroma, but perhaps the sheng wouldn’t be fully consumed yet, as it seems here? Maybe… if that’s how this cake even works, who knows.

An enjoyable sample, which I’ll reach for when I’m craving a lighter ferment/heavier storage shu.