Yunnan Sourcing

Adjusted my rating upward a little bit.

I left the tuo sitting open for a while since last time, and there has definitely been an improvement after airing out. The “lake” taste is gone, leaving a rich but uncomplicated earthiness. Maybe a bit of mushroom in there, too.

Still not my favorite, but went from a disappointing experiment to a no frills “daily drinker” sort of cup.

Not really sure if I like this tea or not.

I didn’t expect a lot, and I’m glad it wasn’t terribly expensive.

I now understand the description of certain puerh as “fishy.” This one wasn’t unpleasant, but there was definitely something about the scent and the flavor of the first couple of infusions that said “lake water.”

Once that calmed down the flavor was mildly sweet, not bitter or astringent, but without much character. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I don’t think I’ll be reaching for this one very often.

Much like an octogenarian opera singer at the opening night of High School Musical, I’m pretty sure I’m not the target audience for this one.

The dry leaf aroma is superb, and the post-session appearance of the leaves is what I imagine Michelangelo or Rodin would have done if tasked with sculpting sheng leaf out of marble. It is decently long-lived, and boasts an impressive flavor profile, though greener than I am determining I prefer.

However, this tea was not well received by my innards in its current state. In a decade, it will likely be a thing of beauty (and long sold out), but I haven’t the proper setup for the care of feeding of tea over that scale of time.

I can only imagine how robust the spring iterations of this tea are – but for my own safety, I’ll leave that knowledge purely to my imagination.

Dry leaves smell of pipe tobacco and prunes, very pleasant. Wet leaves smell very vegetal with a hint of the dry leaf aroma. Rinsed for 15s, then 10 minute rest.

Steep/Time: Notes
1-3/10s: Bitter and vegetal for all three. It’s not the case for all teas, but I think 6g of leaf maybe too much for this little pot. I’ve removed about half of the leaves as I think 3-4g would be better.

4/10s: Waaahhh! That makes a world of difference! The tea is now sweetly astringent. Still has the vegetal quality about it, but it’s quite good.

5/10s: Surprisingly buttery smooth and sweet.

Got off to a rough start with this one, so no cha qi. I’ll give it a shot again tomorrow.

Got this as a free sample with my last YS order

A pretty strongly bitter young sheng. Not unpleasant, but pretty burly. Light fruityness, green grape maybe. I don’t get a lot a flavor complexity off of it, but it has a very nice lingering quality in the mouth. Fairly heady cha qi.

The 2013 Drunk on Red has proven to be a delightful tea for me and my wife. But at my last YunnanSourcing order, I decided to buy a tong of the 2014 instead, based on the plethora of reviews on YS’s website.

Like the 2013, the 100g bings are neatly wrapped with minimalist art with a motif of the year’s zodiacal animal (2013 was a snake, 2014 is a horse).

I did notice that the 2014 bing is not as heavily pressed as are the 2013s.

As I did not expect much difference between the years, I tasted them side by side for a better comparison. I found that taste-wise, the 2013 and 2014 were identical – or enough as that my unrefined palate didn’t distinguish a difference. They were both well flavored teas with a dark red liquor. Perhaps the 2014 had a bit more potency, but not decisively so.

Both teas produce a strong meditative effect. In fact after sipping the two of them together, I was quite lost in my thoughts for some time. Both seem to live up to their name quite well.

Overall, I would recommend this tea. The flavor is good today, and if the 2013 is any indication, it will mellow some with age as well. Additionally the fantastic value of a tong – 1kg of tea in 10 cakes – is hard to beat. The cakes themselves are great to hand out as gifts to those who are into Asian culture, tea, or both.

You guys… something is up with me today.

Not only did I voluntarily pick one of my green teas from my scant green tea collection but… I’m actually REALLY liking it today.

My thought process started out as, “Well, it is going to be abnormally warm for a mid November day in Michigan. Let’s do something different than a black or puerh.” So, I started reaching for an oolong. Then, right next to my oolongs are my greens, so this one happened to catch my eye. “What the hell,” I thought. Lets give it a whirl.

So glad I did. This tea is very tasty this warm fall morning. I’m getting notes of peas, artichoke, and overall light spring vegetable flavors. Not normally my jam but right now it is working. Enough to pump up the rating quite a bit.

This tea is deceiving in that when you first rinse it, the wet leaves smell very bitter. With a flash rinse and a 6 second steep, the flavor is very light, nutty, creamy, with a artichoke type of vegetal flavor.

This tea can be very temperamental, like most green teas. So, if you were to brew this, I would highly recommend a light hand on temperature and steep time. If you are careful with it, it can give you a very nice tea experience. If not, it can become very bitter, very quickly.

This is a solid black tea. It certainly has a tangy raspberry note that everyone seems to mention. There is also a woodsy/slightly green flavor to it. Not vegetal but just an earthy green hint. Slight hint. Classic black tea flavor but with a little more complex twist to it. A decent little tea buzz as well.

While I still wish this tea would last a bit longer in terms of how many flavorful steeps you can get, what you DO get is a wonderfully complex flavor. Some days I drink it and taste all of the roasty goodness. Days like today, I get a full palate of juicy, fruity notes. Wonderful tea.

Golden honey in color, roasty and nutty in flavor. This continues to be a great oolong.

I drank this tea last night. That was a mistake because I couldn’t get to sleep until 4am. Not a mistake in terms in how much I enjoyed it, however.

This tea just reaffirms my continual realization that I LOVE roasted oolongs. The roasty, coffee like flavor is just right up my alley. I wish this would have lasted a bit longer but overall this was a really great tea.

Glad I bought a sample of this before going for a cake

Brews up a dusky burnt orange color. It has fairly strong tobacco and leather notes. Theres a bit of camphor and a light fig fruityness. The main thing that I find off putting is a strong sour/vegetal note that reminds of sauerkraut or artichoke.

The spent leaves look pretty nice. Mostly whole with thick stems and an olive green-medium brown color.

It’s not a bad tea, and I can see someone liking it a lot, but that someone is not me

A very refreshing and sweet black tea. Oxidation is on the lower side. A strongly fruity tea that reminds me of plums and eucalyptus. Slightly mineral and floral, there’s a yammy/sweet potato note and a sweetness a bit like marshmallows. It’s a sweet potato casserole tea!

I think I’m feeling a bit of qi off this tea, a relaxing, steadying sort of feeling. I guess that makes this a magical sweet potato casserole tea!

So, starting with the typical stuff, it’s a Yunnan black. It’s malty, chocolatey, and sweet potatoey.

Comparing it to the other Chinese blacks I’ve had lately, it’s a little brighter in flavor. As soon as I take a sip, there’s a sharp tang of tannins that hits at the front of the tongue. Potato notes hit next in the middle of the tongue, and then the mouth is filled with a dark chocolate flavor at the end. There’s some astringency at the back of the palate.

Though this tea is excellent, I think I prefer some of the other Yunnans I’ve been drinking lately.

Really enjoying this one all day. Lots of sour plummy taste & aroma – I actually didnt like it oversteeped, in fact ive been flashing it all day with lower temps and its just going and going. It can explode with a funky sour taste if left to its own devices imho.

Really interesting tea, a bit like aged sheng but a differentdeep sour, some bark flavour & age or storage but nothing that puts me off. pickled plum/umeboshi tea? :)

I did write a big review all day but closed the tab so its been shortened.

Glad im getting to try these Hei Cha, as I have enjoyed the two ive had so far, & want to try some more (of the nice ones).

A bit one sided in its taste perhaps, and not as complex as I really like but the aroma is a nice one & the huigan was nice in the early steeps. Now im on something like steep 10 & its softened but still pleasant.

I would buy some of this, A good alternative to having aged sheng imo, and a 250g brick would last me forever. (& only $30) I dont know where this one falls for people who know Hei Cha – is it a good one or not? Who knows but its fruity & different :)

It is a very different tea! The purple variety feels thinner and is more bitter than the usual stuff. The notes are sharper and more soapy than fruity and floral. Luckily this has mellowed down a bit, but could still have more body and depth. Make sure you know what this kind of tea tastes like before purchasing a whole cake.

My husband is out with work friends and I almost regret offering to give him a lift home. His problem is time escapes him and before he knows it the bar will be closing and he stumbles into the street at 4am. I have work in the morning and it’s already 10:30pm, hopefully he phones me early so I can snuggle in my bed. I got a teddy bear soft sheet that Oliver kitten loves, he has a thing for sucking soft wool things. Apparently wool sucking in cats and kittens shows that he was taken too early from his mother and he is trying to find a way to bond with her. I had him when he was 4 months, he was the one found on the street and so I took him in. I do worry about him sometimes, does he even remember his mother? What about his siblings? I can only pray that they are alright.

Anyway, back in the world of tea I am drinking this in the hopes that it will keep me busy to help me stay awake. My eyes are feeling heavy and a little droopy but if I’m not clear minded I cannot drive. Enter some purple tea in a beautiful cake form. I’m three steeps in and am impressed by it so far. It tastes like you expect for Sheng but it’s darker in colour than you would expect, of a normal Sheng that is.

It’s sweet and smooth with earth, musk and floral notes. On the whole it’s easy to drink and would make for a nice everyday tea. The cake was $8 for 100g which I feel is a very good price. Usually I cannot stomach cheap Pu Erh, it’s either too strong, too sour or it lacks flavour altogether. This may not be top quality, but it’s certainly nice enough to make me want more. I think I’m going to steep the shit out of this tea!

BTW steep three in a teapot was large enough to open the leaves fully and for the most part they are whole. I love seeing the leaves after, it’s a reminder that I’m drinking something natural.

I will be here, steeping and waiting for a drunken phone call.

Dry leaves smell of stonefruit, prunes and tobacco. Makes you want to sit around with your nose in the bag for a while. Wet leaves smell of tabacco with a hint of prunes or dates.
One 10s rinse for this one.

Steep – Time – Note
1st – 10s – Interesting mouth feel. Sort of tingling on the tongue. Very light, almost white tea like with peach and floral notes. Wow, that mouth feels stays with you for a little while.

2nd – 10s – Had to pause for sleep… I know.. such wasted time that could have been dedicated to more tea. Anyway…. The mouth feel of this tea, wow. I’ve seen people describe a mouthfeel/cha qi as numbing to tingling. Not sure about cha qi yet. Taste is a little more grassy, but the sort of floral not is still there and there’s a bit of sweetness.

3rd – 10s – The huigan, sweetness at the back of the throat, is amazing! There’s a fruity again, but I can’t quite put my finger on what sort. Feel like a use plum or stone fruit too much. My cup just emptied itself without warning or provocation. So, time for another steep.

4th – 20s – Really lovely sweetness at the back of the throat. Still have that interesting tingling/numbing mouth feel going on. Initial aftertaste has a starfruit like tartness. Grassy with a sort of green apple note. Sweet, dry finish. There is a bit of cha qi going on as well, but very gentle and energizing.

5th – 30s – Love the sweetness at the back of the throat. Melon! Sort of honeydew with a tiny bit wheat grass, that’s the fruity note I was trying to pin down earlier. Tingling, numbing mouth feel continues. Based on how quickly my cup keeps emptying I believe there may be a secret hole in it that perhaps opens to another universe… one in which some being is stealing my tea. >:( LOL! _

6th – 60s – Fruity notes are gone and a bit grassy. Mouth feel remains.

7th – 60s – Not much huigan left, just the semi-sweet grassiness with the dry finish. Amazed how the tingling/numbing mouth feel remains even as taste fades. I do feel like pushing the steep time by much more would bring out some bitterness at this point as I am detecting a slightly bitter note when it first hits the tongue. The cha qi should have quit at this point, but it’s too legit and thus has not quit. :P

8th – 90s – Interestingly, kicking up the steep time has renewed the melon flavor and huigan. I’ll push it to two minutes on the next one just out of curiosity. Really feeling the cha qi now which might not be so great since it’s well after midnight now, but I always say that I can sleep through anything. That said, I think this cup just made buying a cake of this tea worthwhile to me… depending on the cost. (Runs over to YS to check price.) $45!? I’ll take two! :) I forgot that the leaves came just outside of MaHei village. That makes sense given some of the flavors in my cup.

9th – 120s – Same as the previous with a more intense mouth feel. I was hoping to finish this session tonight, but looks like I can extend it into the morning a bit.

Next time I try this tea I want to see how hard I can push it. Maybe 20s on the 3rd steep then 30s on the 4th and 5th just to see if it becomes overly astringent. This session leads me to believe that this is unlikely.

Lovely tea, as I expected from these Chinese blacks. The dry leaf smells like grapes and cranberries, and at this point I’m hoping I’ll finally be able to taste the fruitiness of a black tea that people keep talking about.

No such luck.

It’s still a lovely tea though. It’s sugary sweet, like honey. There is a slight hint of mineral and astringency I could do without. At this point, I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t just my extremely hard water that’s giving my tea that mineral taste.

The dominant flavor is an earthy sweet potato flavor with an underlying medium caramel. Soooo tasty.