Yunnan Sourcing
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This is a warm, wonderful puerh. Today I have abused it: took a good chunk of beeng, tossed it in a pot, added boiling water and ignored it for a few minutes, and then rinsed the leaves several times without further ‘steeps’, adding all to a thermos for drinking at work. And it is tolerating with with a warm, rich, mildly sweet flavor, some depth to it with caramel notes.
Will do a proper tasting later, but this is the 2nd brewing, neither under the best conditions, and it is a very forgiving tea.
Preparation
Another excellent session with this tea: it sat in the small sample bag in the bottom of the tea drawer, and I just happened to pick it up this morning. I wasn’t anticipating a tea log note so didn’t weigh it out, but the small porcelain gaiwan is 1/3 to 1/2 full with the leaves long since fully hydrated. I’m at least 12 and likely 15 steeps into it, and this is so lovely, reminding me a lot of the 2009 Lao ban zhang that is my current touchstone for young sheng. It does take a little care, even 8 or 10 steeps out, because I forgot a steep for at least 5 and maybe a few more minutes a few back, and it was…..unpleasantly bitter. But back to shorter (now 30-60 seconds), and it’s light, delicious, with that anise/herbaceous touch that I love. Mmmmm.
Just ponied up to buy a whole beeng.
Preparation
I ordered a sample of this tea with my first order from Yunnan sourcing. It is quite interesting. There is a lot of body and depth to this one, some bitterness that can be impressive with overlong steeps, but I brew it short, relatively dilute, and get a very nice cup of tea, with marvelous sweetness as I slurp/inhale, balanced by a depth of the later flavors.
About 1 gram per ounce/30mL of near-boiling water, flash rinsed, then 10 second infusions gradually increasing to a minute or more; this is a tea that can give lots of steeps.
Addendum: I have lost count of steeps, but now am certainly past 12, and it is still lovely.
Addendum 2: I finally got to the bottom of it, somewhere around 20 steeps. YUM.
Preparation
I did a head-to-head with this tea and a similar tea from Yunnan Sourcing today:
http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/YunnanOBs.html
In the end, both were lovely teas. Oddly enough, given that the BYO was end-of-bag with more broken leaves, it took the 2nd infusion to start showing the spiciness and full flavor that the YSOB gave immediately. The BYO, however, seemed to hold that lovely flavor a little longer, but by the 5th infusion, both are starting to thin out, pretty much done. I have only had one Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, and that was a rose scented version that was quite unlike roses or like these lovely teas. A high quality Taiwanese Oriental Beauty is reputedly quite hard to come by, but these teas are quite satisfying, and not too pricey, so I don’t feel any particular need to try the genuine article.
1.9 grams of tea
about 4 oz water (larger gaiwans, not preheated)
1st 195 degrees, 45 seconds
2nd 185 degrees (too impatient to wait for full reheating), 30 seconds
3rd 175 degrees (ditto), 1 minutes
4th: 195 (more patient this time), 2 minutes
5th: water just off full boil, 1 minute
(stopping because of diminishing marginal returns)
Yunnan Wild Arbor “Oriental Beauty” Oolong from Yunnan Sourcing
Leaves: thin, dark twists, with sweet fruity tea scent
1st infusion: sweet, plummy, floral, with a spiciness that is not there in the BYO
2nd: spicy, fruity, floral
3rd: losing a bit of the spicy and sweet edge, thinner flavor, perhaps dissipating a little faster than the BYO, but really not much to choose between them at this point
4th: 4th: a little thinner, but still quite enjoyable; not holding as well as the BYO
5th: thinner, still a little fruity/spicy
Wet leaves: dark red leaves with hints of green; scent is sweet/tart
Preparation
What a great comparison! But now I’m wondering if these are not, in fact, the same tea. They’re both from Wu Liang mountain in Yunnan, both made in the “oriental beauty” Taiwan style. And to me, they both look exactly alike. I’ve tried both teas, but at different times, so it didn’t occur to me before your comparison.
They might be. I couldn’t find any consistent different between them. I’ll happily get my next fix from whichever of these two sources I’m ordering from next. Right now, I am happy that I have enough from each source to add variety to my oolong rotation of green TGYs and alishans; dan congs; and darker roast wuyis and TGYs and dong dings.
I get the distinct impression that Norbu buys from Yunnan Sourcing. YS has discounted wholesale prices and Norbu sells teas with identical titles and partial descriptions at a higher price point than equal size orders from YS (actually at about the same percentage increase I was looking at selling for to cover shipping and packaging costs when I was reselling from them). If you aren’t buying a bunch from Scott or want faster arrival time, though, the price difference can totally make up for itself.
I think he may well get some stuff from Scott, but he does make his own trips to Yunnan to source teas, and he has a lot of teas that Scott does not, which include some of my favorites, so I order from him a lot anyway. I also had a good experience ordering directly from Scott at YS, but his selection is more limited outside the puerhs. I would happily order my next OB from him if I wanted something else he carries at the same time.
Right now my biggest problem is going to be sitting on my credit card and NOT ordering any more tea from anyone until I have drunk my way through a good portion of my overstocked cupboard!
I was pleased to discover some of this in a stash in another office, and brewing it up this morning, i was interrupted a few times, so it ended up quite slapdash in my thermos, a little light overall, but even though I know it can be much better when I get it just so, it is still such a wonderful, forgiving tea that hours later in the thermos it is sunny warm welcoming with hay notes more than the fruity notes that predominate earlier. Nothing bitter or unpleasant even under these abusive conditions. Gotta love a tea like that.
Preparation
I really like this tea. It’s like everything black tea wants to be without the bitterness. Fruity, sweet, tart, yum. It’s flexible about brewing, and has pretty good legs.
The dry leaves are twisted and long and dark, the smell is sweet/fruity/spicy.
I start with my usual ratio of 1 g leaf to 1 oz/30 mL water, brewing gongfu with small gaiwan, water between 180 and 195 degrees, infusions 30" t0 1 minute, and repeat infusions until the flavor is gone.
The liquor is amber to red, medium body, sweet, fruity; the wet leaves more mostly intact, medium to large, and retain the strong fruity scent.
I have also ‘bulk brewed’ this one several times for my thermos to share during a workday afternoon and it’s quite popular with my colleagues.
But now my leaves are sitting in a drying gaiwan, I have no more hot water, and after only 3 infusions, I am pretty sure that there was more there to give. Sigh.
Disclaimer: I have only had one ‘oriental beauty’ tea from TenRen, and that one was rose-scented and just seemed off; I composted rather than drank it.
Preparation
many Chinese tea drinkters dont call it oriental beauty. It is called Yue Guan Bai (Moon Light), because this tea is oxidated under the moon light.
Indeed, its flavor and taste is super similiar to true Oriental beauty.
The Yue Guan Bai refers to the Yunnan version discussed above?
Interesting. I like to try to keep track of both english and chinese names for my teas because so often they’re sold as one or the other, which is confusing when you’re trying to find them again, perhaps from a different seller.
I denifitely agree. I think this is also a good point to put in my website. Thanks.
I bought this dark roast oolong along with the light roast oolong I wrote about yesterday. It starts out smooth on the tongue and finishes on a dry, slightly bitter (but still pleasant) note. It is a solid oolong, but when it comes time to restock, I think I will stick with the light roast version.
Preparation
I am very tempted to try this company’s yunnan black tea. It definitely makes more sense to purchase directly from the source…
I have tried several of their black teas. The quality is unbeatable. If you are a pu’erh drinker, they are by far the best source for aged teas. Since it comes from China, the shipping takes a few weeks, but in the scheme of things the overall cost is comparable to american vendors.
True about the cost- shipping is more expensive but then the prices seem generally less. As another benefit of purchasing closer to the source, more details are provided such as harvest date and location…
