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You’ve set the bar high. :) I love this one in between other teas. It’s just that powerful. I recommend purchasing a lot of samples from the Yunnan Sourcing brand to experience the breadth of their young teas.

Yes the bar is set very high, there’s no turning back now. It is powerful stuff I agree! So far from YS’s Raws, I have tried 2015 Autumn Nuo Wu Village, and the 2015 Autumn Bang Dong Village. I liked those decently, but just loved the Da Qing Gu Shu from 2016. You have any recs of other YS raws to try based on that?

YS raws are really my favorite teas right now because they’re well processed, strong, tasty, and have lots of character. I recommend starting with the Huang Shan gu shu (personal favorite), Han Gu Di, 2016 Wuliang, 2014 Mangfei, 2015 Da Hu Sai, 2014 Autumn Bingdao, 2014 Qing Mei Shan, and the 2016 Bai Ni Shui. There are more I know I need to try.

I’m really hoping prices remain reasonable this year. I cannot buy as many teas as I would like.

tanluwils you rock! thank you for the recs. I’m gonna have to try the Huang Shan gu shu now! Can’t wait :) I might order some soon as I think I’m gonna get a cake of the Da Qing Gu Shu to age, so I’ll get some samples of others!

My first tong I ever bought was this summer, the Jing Gu White Puerh Cake from YS. I don’t know if you’ve tried that or like white teas, but to me it’s magical. My favorite white I’ve ever tried, the caked leaves are beatiful, and price friendly!

Any time! I’m eyeing the new 2017 YS cakes and it looks like prices are still reasonable for me. I plan to sample the entire line this time. The Da Qing Gu Shu is the same price as last year ($82) before the price spike, so I may grab another cake. I’m a huge fan of the 2016 version.

Are you referring to the white tea silver needle Jinggu (100g) cake or the Gu Shu Bai Cha Jinggu cake? Both are delicious, very affordable, but completely different!

Ooh good point! I hadn’t heard of the Gu Shu Bai Cha. The one I tonged was the White Silver needle Jinggu, and I bought the 2016:
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=986&controller=product
But the Gu Shu Bai Cha looks interesting! Have you tried that? Does it taste like white tea at all?

I didn’t see yet that the new cakes were out! I’m always on the American site :) Prices are good you’re right! Maybe I should just sample the line before buying a Da Qing to age. It doesn’t look like there’s a Huang Shan in this set though, the one you like. Do you have a particular year you like of the Huang Shan?

I have the 2012 and 2014 silver needle mini cakes have a nice honey and Asian pear flavor. I haven’t revisited them for some time, though. The Gu Shu Bai Cha to me is nothing like the YS description. To me, it was a lot more (in a very tasty way) tobacco-y, bitter, with a fig-like sweetness. Good depth, qi, and consistent, too. I wasn’t a fan of the description (rum) on the website so these notes were a pleasant surprise.

I’ve been eyeing the new teas like a hawk…carefully planning my next purchase… It’s better than Christmas! I’m eyeing the Teng Tiao, Gu Shan, and Lin Xia Sheng Tai, the latter being a bit out of my budget… What about you?

IMO, I would go all in on the DQ. It’s totally worth it. I haven’t actually tried the 2016 version of the HS, but I hear it’s very similar. I am very happy with how the 2015 one is coming along well. There are some new spice notes developing with some dried fruit and more pronounced cooling in the front of the mouth! I should drink as much as possible, though, since I actually prefer those young high floral notes.

Oh nice! Thats cool you have a couple of those white YS cakes. I like em because they’re just fun and crowd pleasing. It’s an easy tea for me to brew up for other people and that aren’t complete tea heads, and know that theyre gonna like it. I have the 2016 cakes, from jing gu. Gonna toss em in for the long haul and see how they go! I really really like aged whites (especially ones with a nice tea-drunk effect), so I’m wondering if anything like that will happen with these, though they are processed differently.

I think I’m going to take your idea and just go sample crazy on the new YS line! Going to sample a whole slew of them and see what I like. And thanks for the advice on the Da Qing, think I will go with a whole cake on that. It’s just great tea, and I love that the energy is strong but not sends you into focus rather than out of it. A good tea for work! Though a luxurious one :)

I also might grab a the new ripe, Rooster King!

I think there’s a lot of confusion around white teas in the West. There is proper white tea (bai cha – skips the kill green and processed only with sun drying and then lightly baked). Then there is silver needle pu’er tea – the mini cakes you and I have, processed like pu’er (kill green and then sun dried). They taste quite different. Both can all be aged, but how well they age depends of the quality of the leaf. I like where they’re headed right now, although I’m told by a few people that they don’t change much. If you really like proper white tea, I recommend you check out Wuyi Origin’s selection of white teas. Honestly, it’s hard to find impressive white tea from most vendors, but their’s is the best I’ve had. I think there’s a summer sale going on there too!

The DQ is truly a value buy. It’s hard to find teas of that quality at that price point.

Interesting! Thank you so much for clarifying that. I’d had sneaking suspicions of that distinction, but wasn’t quite clear on it. Makes a lot of sense! Thank you!

I mainly drink the white puerhs for flavor, I think theyre mouth friendly :) And that jinggu cake from last year of YS just happens to be my favorite of all that I’ve tried. I’ve tried their 2013 Yong De silver buds and didn’t love it. And I have the Phoenix collection Big Snow mountain 2003 that’s so popular on here and that’s alright. Like you said, I can’t real feel it’s age. Other than that I really like aged bai cha’s for the taste and effect. I like the Aged Shoumei that white2tea has. I just had a sample of that. Though I wasn’t crazy about their Moonlight white. Didn’t grab me. I do like their Hot Brandy tho, that’s a fun one! I did just buy one of these off of streetshop on ebay, i’ll have to see how it is!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231953654843
I was thinking of maybe getting one of white2tea’s $20 old whitey’s and ageing that long term. Do you have any aged bai cha’s you really like?

Yeah you’re right. I’m definitely gonna get a DQ and age it. Just deciding which year. You confirmed my love. I’m ordering a few YS 2017 samples now. I also think I might get a sample of this Lao Banzhang and get totally knocked out, even though it’s expensive. You ever tried anything like it?
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2016-hai-lang-hao-lao-ban-zhang-gu-shu-ancient-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake?variant=40940322438

So tanluwils thank you for the great advice, I went all in on the Da Qing and got a cake! It’s really great to have. I’ve been sessioning it a number of times. I wanted to get your answer on something though, as you may have experience with this cake or with other YS raw cakes: It tastes different than the sample. I can’t place exactly what it is, but it just tastes really different. I did let the cake breathe for a while before drinking. I’ve drank it a number of times over the last week, and it’s been sitting out wrapped in the nei fei, but not in a box that whole time. Have you ever experienced this? Is it because samples age faster or in a different way as they are sitting in bags on their own? I’m really wondering!

Yeah, I experimented with Yue Guang Bai-type white teas for a bit. The dry leaf is gorgeous and smells nice too. But, after trying various levels standard Chinese white tea, I found a fresh one that really hit the spot. I think my body really craves fresh tea.
Tha Da Qing is really worth the price. It’s an incredible tea. I’ve had samples taste different from the cake. Usually this simply means that the cake needs to acclimate longer in your environment…and sometimes it takes more than a few months. Did you order the cake from the US site or international site?

By “standard Chinese white tea”, I mean those from Fujian that are processed in the traditional way. Yue Guang Bai whites are technically not true white teas since they’re processed differently.