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These are back at Yunnan Sourcing and were on sale the other day, so I bought 10 of them for a total of 250 grams. I had never bought these from YS, but have had them in the past from other vendors and enjoyed them. The ripe pu’er was straightforward, mellow, and good. I had placed half the tangerine rind in with half the pu’er and had broken the rind into smaller pieces, so that when it rehydrated, it would hopefully release more oils. I did a rinse and a 15-20 second first infusion with boiling water. The citrus usually takes a little while to get going, so I enjoyed the first infusion slowly while leaving the lid on the clay pot. I don’t normally do that, but I tend to break all the rules with these stuffed tangerines. Next, I went for 30 seconds. It was fine, but I still wasn’t getting what I was after. The third infusion, I did not fill the pot fully with water, but instead went about 75%. The leaves were completely covered, but I wanted to concentrate this round. I let it steep for 2 minutes. Ahhh, that;‘s what I was after. It was rich and smooth with chocolatey malty notes , sweet and a hint of citrus. Pushing this hard had no ill effects on the pu’er. There was barely a hint of bitterness, but it could have been the rind of the tangerine. Whatever the cause, it was barely noticeable and worked with the hint of citrus. Everyone’s taste is a little different, but I would suggest trying at least one infusion pushed very hard with boiling hot water to see what you think. If you tried it in the past and thought it was weak or watery, give it a long hot soak and see if it works better for you. I had this after dinner, and there was no noticable caffeine hit for me. I think the stuffed oranges/tangerines are fun, and while I don’t normally go for flavored teas, herbal teas, etc., I do like these stuffed tangerpurines. :)

The 2018 Bing Dao Lao Zhai from YS has increased in price quite a bit since 2016. It is now $0.69/gr for the 400gr cake. I wanted to give this a try, so ordered a 10 gram sample with my last order. This young sheng started with a little floral aroma, but the floral aroma was light and mostly overpowered by the strong pungent and slightly sour aroma of the raw leaves. I never expect to have company when trying young sheng, but my wife decided to join me to experience this tea even with all the warnings. :) I will say both my wife and I picked up a slight hint of what smelled like cocoa. That surprised me. We never got a hint of it in the taste, but it was definitely in the wet leaf after the first rinse. Who knows? Maybe there was some residue left in my pot, but I don’t think so.

I found the flavor profile to be mostly uniform. I heard Scott once describe young pu’er as having cannabis notes, and I find that description to be the most accurate in describing what I experience in the taste and aroma of this tea. Beyond that, it was sweet with mild bitterness initially. In later infusions, it remained very sweet on the tip of the tongue. Bitterness increased slightly on the third infusion, but was not overwhelming. Reducing the steep time easily managed the bitterness while still delivering a solid brew.

So, the flavor profile (to me) is mostly singular, so what is the stand-out quality of this tea? The cha qi is very strong. After two cups, both my wife and I could begin to feel it. After the fifth cup, I was tingling and beginning to get quite the buzz. I felt rather floaty after the 7th cup. There was also a long lingering aftertaste. After the tea session, I hit the road to grab some take-out, and on the way back, I smacked my lips and was amazed that I could still taste the tea.

I haven’t made up my mind if I will order a cake for storage. I have quite a few more samples of raws to get through before making a decision. For someone that has never experienced cha qi and wants to be a tea hippie, YS’s 10 gram sample of this is a relatively inexpensive way to get a little tea high.

When I first experienced this tea two years ago, it was a real winner in my book. I placed my review under the 2016 harvest, but it was actually the Spring 2015 harvest. I aged some of this for a couple of years, and it remains one of my favorites. I think this hybrid tea is practically unknown to most people, but you are truly missing out if you have not tried this tea and enjoy lighter oolongs with fruity notes. The tea character did not really change in the short two years I have aged it. It still produces the same notes and aroma that I noted in the 2016 review. I kept it in the same foil pack that it was shipped in my tea closet. This continues to be one of my all time favorite oolongs from Yunnan Sourcing. I am awaiting a shipment of the Spring 2016 harvest, and it will be interesting to compare the two. I suspect they will be very similar. Since YS does not have a more recent harvest, I assume this was not a big seller for them. What a shame. It’s a great tea. I can only find one negative with the tea, and it really isn’t a negative but more a characteristic of most oolongs. Even with fast brewing cycles, it won’t go for many steeps. After 4 steeps, I’m ready to call it done. Highly recommend this tea if you have a sweet tooth, or if you’re an oolong lover and want something different.

I’ve had 2014 Cloudy Days from Crimson Lotus in storage for a few years and decided to try it for the first time this morning. Since I did not taste it when it was first produced, I read the other tasting notes, and it sounds like it has not changed much over the years except to continue to mellow out as one would expect. There are zero negative qualities to this tea, now. It is ready to drink. I brewed this gongfu style in a clay teapot with quick seconds-long steeps progressively extending the steep time. Cloudy Days is a really smooth and balanced shou pu’er. It is initially quite sweet. There is a warm hay like quality with the typical earthiness and nutty flavors. There is a small amount of bitterness in the aftertaste. I initially wrote no throat feels, but I am now getting a little deep in the throat. There is a little mild chalkiness on the back of the lips after the finish. I think a lot of people would enjoy this. It would be an excellent introduction to shou pu’er. The 2014 Cloudy Days is sold out, but Crimson Lotus has reproduced this tea in a 2016 version that is still available.

Addendum: Don’t be afraid to push this tea hard in later steepings. I got distracted and left the leaves steeping for several minutes, and remarkably the tea was perfect with no initial bitterness. Wow.

Reviewing the Spring 2017 Ju Duo Zai. This tea is surprising in that in contradicts itself from beginning to end. When I opened the bag of this Ju Duo Zai, and saw that rather than being a very dark, almost black-green like in the photo on the YS website, it was brown, I was happy and looking forward to the lightly roasted flavor. The leaves were very fine and rolled lengthwise. When I smelled the dry leaves, I was surprised. It didn’t smell like roast at all. The initial dry leaf aroma was more seaweed than roast. So, now I was expecting it to lean more like a green dan cong in flavor profile once brewed.

I did a rinse with near boiling water, and then steeped for 15 seconds for the first infusion. When I removed the lid of the gaiwan, the leaves had lost practically all of their brown color, and were olive green with some nice oxidation. I’m thinking to myself, ha!, I’ve got you now. You were green all along, and that explained the seaweed aroma. The wet leaves smelled like a young sheng pu-er.

One sip, and I had to chuckle. It didn’t taste green-leaning like I was expecting. Here we have a brown dry leaf that smells green, and once steeped, a green colored leaf that smells like a sheng pu-er, but tastes like a lightly roasted tea with even some fermented black tea notes in the first infusion.

I found this tea a very fun experience because of the constant surprises throughout the session. This would be a fun tea to have at a tea tasting with friends, and not tell the guests what it is, and have them try to guess at the various stages of preparation.

Addendum: I never experienced any bitterness in the Spring 2017 edition. It was smooth, sweet, and left a wet mouth feel.

I tried this tea, and I’m not getting anything like cinnamon aroma. I did it gong fu style in a porcelain gaiwan. I’l try it again with a longer initial steep. Anyone have any ideas? I also have some ginger aroma dan cong. I’ll try that next to see if I can detect the ginger note.

The dry leaf smell of this tea is not particularly strong. It is a roasted tea, but that doesn’t come through heavily in the dry leaf aroma. Instead, the dry leaf smells more like a black tea. The wet tea leaves change dramatically in aroma. There is some definite roasted, charcoal notes present, and I smell a leafy green smell similar to stewed turnip greens. I get a touch of seaweed, as well.

I did a rinse and then a 30 second infusion at around 190F, and the flavor of the tea is initially similar to a da hong pao but with less roasted intensity and not as heavily oxidized. While the tea is held in the mouth, the roasted notes are dominate. But after swallowing, the tea has a long-lasting aftertaste, and the aftertaste is more tie guan yin with green and fruity notes. At all times, there is a sweetness in the mouth. After a minute or so, there is some mouth-drying. The liquor is the color of urine-stained underbelly of a vixen fox. HA! Sometimes the descriptions I see are so over the top with flavors I know I’ll never be able to detect, I just had to throw that one in there as a joke. That’s actually a description of the fur to use for tying a Hendrickson dry fly, and it’s not yellow as you might expect, but pink. This tea isn’t pink. It is similar to the color of maple syrup, but with a bit more yellow.

The second infusion was done at cooler water temp for 40 seconds. There is little difference other than the char notes come out a little more.

Third infusion, I went back to 190F water and did 20 seconds. Char notes subsiding on this infusion, but aftertaste is barely there. Where in the first infusion there was a definite transformation, this infusion remains consistent during drinking and in after-taste.

Fourth infusion is rather weak, and I’m getting some of the seaweed notes. I’m going to call the session here.

Another good oolong from Yunnan Sourcing. I’m enjoying this one, as well. This oolong is roasted, but not as heavily as big red robe. This one does have a pronounced roast flavor on the initial infusion, but it fades quickly. It’s a nice tea to do gong fu style as you get to experience a nice transformation. What starts out as roasted, nutty, charcoal turns into a much lighter fruitier tea by the third infusion. I’m going to try pushing this one hard the next time I try it and go for a 3 minute infusion to see how it behaves.

The “vintage” of tea I am drinking is the Spring 2015 version VS the 2016. I want to echo oceanica. I love this tea. It is delicious. This oolong is so heavy with fruit notes, the first infusion tastes like a flavored tea. This is a real winner in my book.

I did this gong-fu style in a very small 50ml gaiwan, covering the bottom heavily with tea leaves (did not weigh). Short steeps. Dry leaves smell great. It reminds me of a fruit cake, sticky, sweet, dried fruits, brown sugar. Wet leaves smell similar, but have a bright fruity note like white grape juice, lychee.

Tasting is very fruity during the initial steeps. Lychee and white/green grapes is a good description here. Oceanica mentioned mandarin. I don’t think I would have said that on my own, but I agree. I think there is a hint of mandarin in the flavor. Mmm. mmmm. Good stuff.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tea. I could drink this every day. Highly recommended.