Yunnan Sourcing

I generally don’t like Lancang area sheng pu’er: I find it bland and lacking depth. But in the spirit of “don’t knock it until you try it” I kept an open mind.

The leaves are the usual “pretty face, ugly butt” blending trick. I should mention that this review is of leaves from the back of the cake. Also, the tea was pressed in January 2009, meaning it’s likely summer 2008 tea material, maybe with lighter fermented stuff from fall.

The first three brews tasted very earthy, like the smell of loamy soil, so I would suggest rinsing this tea twice to reduce some of that taste if you don’t like it. Not fishy or pondy, just muddy. For the large size of the leaves, the tea held out for an impressive 13 infusions, even when pushed for more flavor.

The next infusions were sweet, earthy, woody, finishing rocky. They made me salivate quite a bit, and the “mouthfeel” of the tea was comfortable and oily. Not too much aftertaste, and not too much depth, but enjoyable nonetheless. It took extra long infusions very well. All of this adds up to be a good tea for brewing at work, where I have no one to impress and want passably good tea even if I forget it or otherwise abuse it.

A nice ripe puerh which I think the description of balanced is right on. A little on the earthy or maybe woody side in a good way would likely be its most unique taste factor. Gave lots of fairly consistent infusions with good holding power for a ripe puerh and overall a good everyday puerh with a more unique taste.

When I ordered this tea I also ordered the lower grade “premium” and indeed there is no comparison. In all ways this is the absolute best TKY I have ever had. The scent is of the dry leaves is incredible, floral, buttery, not at all like any other TKY I’ve ever had. tea was prepared in 200ml yixing(like) pot using just enough of the tightly rolled leaf to cover the bottom of the pot. I make a habit of drinking even the initial flash infusion of expensive teas and even a 10 second initial cleansing infusion the intensity of the tea is more pronounced than most teas get from much longer infusions… After the second infusion an intense awareness of everything going on around me subsequent infusions up to and including the final infusion after allowing the leaves to sit overnight was still enjoyable. I easily got a liter plus of tea of tea through 15 infusions from the yixing out of these leaves making the tea, while seemingly expensive, a great value in my book. I will be getting more of this. It’s hard for me to think about a better tea. But there’s always tomorrow…

This tea pretty much underwhelms me. Basically it tastes like a run of the mill black tea with very little of the characteristics one might expect from a shu. The leaf material consists of smaller leaves that smell like I mentioned before, black tea. I will give this tea cudos for brewing up a wonderfully clean, clear and reddish beautiful cup. But here’s the thing if I want a cup of black tea I’ll brew some black tea… If I want some shu I won’t brew this tea.

Opening the pouch and selecting five grams, a gentle sandalwood and citrus stem aroma rise. The first scent off the rinsed leaf is briny, green, and pushes towards delicate paler fruits: plum, apricot, pear, and pineapple. The first two steeps are rather light, but by the third, the excellent quality of this tea has revealed itself, mouthfeel. A silky, glossy, smooth coating texture runs over the tongue, holds in the back of the mouth, and then swells and steams a while longer. A slight ethereal hint of spearmint or wintergreen alights on the roof of the mouth. Lacking that raucous, dry parching sensation that both the Bu Lang and the You Le had, I revel in the delightful heaviness of this tea.

The flavors are solid and delightful in fresh, ripe, light fruit, but for me, this tea takes it home with a thick, coating, almost syrupy rich soup. The texture shows itself as a warm pleasing, gentle, and calm grip of theanine settles over me. I could linger on this sensation, the delicate flavor and the rich texture of this tea until all time has been lost.

Full blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=344

Giving little dry leaf aroma, this tea unfurls slowly and begins in an incredibly mild manner. I stuck with a safe five grams, but again found myself wondering if I should crank up the leaf volume for what proved to be a very subtle tea. By the fifth or sixth steeps, when this tea finally began to push out its full essence, what came through was heavy on the bean-based oligosaccharides, fresh wood chips (think balsam, birch, and hemlock), and high floral herbs a la lavender-scented cotton, laundry detergent, and foxglove. All very enjoyable, but reserved and distant. An underlying strong wet moss and earthen floor pushed up from beneath.

Most notable for me in both this tea and the Bu Lang was the intense parching nature of the finish. That cottony, dry wood, sand, and hot moisture-less air experience has been a new kind of exit in puerh for me. It’s not the most pleasant, as it rasps at the throat and leaves me thirsty, not quenched. In a way, it also lets the classically enjoyable lingering and swelling finish evaporate more quickly.

Full blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=336

I revisited this tea, today, for no apparent reason, and thought to my self…why am I wasting time drinking bad tea? Off to the compost with you…

This tea is just downright perplexing to me. I’m having trouble gathering my thoughts about it. The dry leaf, rinse, and first steep aromas are all quiet, sullen, and distant, pushing through a hint of spice, mushroom, and moss. Flavor? Flavor? I’m looking for it. I’m searching.

In the next gaiwan over, I’ve got the session of Wu Liang from yesterday. I give it a brief reinvigorating rinse to bring it back up to temperature and then pull off a minute-long 12th steep. I felt embarrassed for the Bu Lang cake when I put my nose to the cup of Wu Liang and then loudly slurped a big sip; it was still loaded with flavor, texture, bitterness and aroma.

Moving back to the tea at hand, crickets are chirping. As it opens, it releases a distinct and surprising, wet, moldy basement on me. Aside from some slight date sugar and mulling spice character, I have little positive to say about this tea. It ends parching in an odd cottony sensation. This tea gave me a weird, bad headache.

Full blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=329

Revisiting this tea this morning, after a long period of having a brutal head cold and having been on the road before that, it’s my first session back at the tea table in over a week. It’s also the first time I’ve had this tea since tasting the other three 2009 Yunnan Sourcing cake samples I have. This one is far and away the winner for me. I can’t get over how fragrantly and wonderfully the aroma and flavors come across. I still think the body is a little lacking in comparison to the Ban Zhang Chun Qing, but the fresh, fruity, floral characters of this tea are unparalleled in my experience. Grateful to have ordered a whole cake from JAS eTea.

Easily the most outstanding character of this particular cake is the dry leaf and cupped aroma. It has a strong red currant and fresh cherry tomato scent. Incredibly “red” and vegetable-like. Not in a starchy way, but somewhere between green plant stems and fruit. Much as many garden-fresh tomatoes would smell like if heated just slightly. In the flavor, this translates to a lightly sweet herbal and delicate floral character, with marked pungency. Perhaps the Lan Xiang (orchid aroma) the producers are referring to?

From the forward flavor notes on, this tea is a little flatter. There is detectable astringency towards the finish, but it’s missing a certain bitterness balance and lingering swell. Longer steeps develop a curt, punchy upfront bitterness that’s somewhat unpleasant. Considering this sample employed fantastically large leaves, I may begin to sense that teas with mostly large leaves are able to put off fantastic aromas and front flavors, but lack a certain roundedness in the finish. This tea has endurance for its youth however, as it crosses the ten steep mark without much noticeable loss in depth.

Full blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=323

After trying several Pu-erh’s throughout Seattle I decided to purchase a tea cake at uwajimaya. I chose this cake only because it had been imported by a local distributor. This was also the most affordable choice. I’ve been using the same 400g for about a year now and I am very very pleased with the ingredients longevity per steep. It is becoming deeper and more rich with time. I drink this on a daily basis prior to meditation, reading, or study. Very impressed for the price. Very good or a “Wild Arbor” based tea.

I love this tea like little boys love throwing snowballs. I don’t even know how to describe it, but it’s dark without being heavy and tastes like a fruit, not a specific fruit, but in a way that makes me feel like I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fruit out there somewhere that tastes like this. And the later infusions become sweet and caramel-like and wonderful.