2013 Yunnan Sourcing "Year of the Snake Red Label" Ripe Puerh

Looking through the cupboard while at a loss for a tea I particularly wished to drink, I put my hand into a pie and pulled out a plum. Well, actually I pulled this tea at random out of my pu samples tin, but that is a less vivid image so let’s ignore it.

The dry leaf in the sample was loose and chunky with an earthy smell. The liquor was thick and black, almost like coffee and the mouthfeel was the same, being full-bodied, smooth and thick. Taste-wise, it is earthy with a slight iron tang, some plum notes and a hint of honey. It is a no-nonsense enjoyable tea that feels nicely cooling and has a relaxing, friendly cha qi. For the price I think it is really good value, and I shall probably add a couple of beengs to my next Yunnan Sourcing order.

This tea has a fairly weak, sweet smell, mostly reminiscent of decaying wood. As for the taste, it is quite bitter for a ripe pu-erh, probably as a result of the lighter fermentation. It is also somewhat sour, especially in the aftertaste. I also get some butter taste in the finish.

The mouthfeel is soft, coating and slightly effervescent. Nothing spectacular, but decent enough in this price category. I reckon the most noteworthy aspect of this tea is the kick it gives, the cha qi is definitely stronger than in the usual shou you can get.

I imagine it would definitely benefit from longer term aging, but as far as drinking now goes, I think there are better deals out there.

One of the more intense shous out there, Year of the Snake turned off a few people I shared it with, especially the early steeps, which are the darkest I have seen a tea get. I didn’t detect much outside of the standard ripe pu’er profile (particularly dark chocolate), but what was there felt turned up a notch in potency. This isn’t terribly complex, but when you get the urge for something strong, or want to show a tea newbie that tea can in fact pack a punch, it’s a very solid option.

Snake Red is an in-your-face, powerful shou. At first it was overly smokey but now, over three years later it’s lost its harshness, smoothed out and the smoke has mellowed into a tongue tingling sensation that really lingers. Deep, dark, complex, delicious and I think it’s still got a ways to go on its developmental journey. So glad I have another cake stashed away!

This is my first sampling of any puerh tea. I’ve prepared it gong fu style.
Prior to steeping, the tea smell is light and earthy with notes of straw and sweet grass.

First infusion: 5 seconds
Color: Light red/orange
Smell: mossy and vegetal
Taste: Bright and earthy up front with a lingering straw, wood finish.

Second Infusion: 10 seconds
Color: Much darker red, maple syrup
Smell: deeper vegetal, steamed spinach
Taste: Leather with a slight bitterness on the tail. Sweet light wood finish that lingers. Satisfyingly astringent mouth feel.

Third Infusion: 20 seconds
Color:Dark red amber
Smell: Damp straw, delicate but sweet leather
Taste: Bitter raw leather with sweet straw and spinach

I continued with the infusions until the flavor began to subside . Overall I found this very enjoyable. I don’t think it would be fair to throw a number at this as I have nothing to compare it to but it was a wonderful new experience. Would recommend.

Ru Yao dragon teapot gong fu.

Dry leaves: light to medium musty.

Wet leaves: slightly more musty, old books,

Light steep: light minerals, light camphor, light earth, medium sweetness.

Yummy!

Medium steep: slightly more camphor, slightly more earth, light minerals. Medium sweetness.

Even more yummy!

Heavy steep: medium camphor, light minerals, medium sweetness. Medium earth, just under medium old books.

Best to steep heavy. Yum!

All in all this is an amazing tea!

I rate 100 and strongly recommend this tea!

dry leaves
https://www.instagram.com/p/BACz4xop42p/

wet leaves
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAC2Kmwp477/

liquid
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAC0SSVp43o/

THIS TEA IS A GUT BOMB…

I just wanted to make a review here ot mentioned it. It’s a good tea. Had a good mouth fell
and a lot of energy < cha qi >. I felt tea drunk most of the session. If I didn’t had the black
color in the cup, I’d have belived this was a raw puerh… It’s not bitter per say but it is
POTENT AS a lot of Menghai raw blends…

I did 6.6g/90ml… felt VERY ill… aproach this tea like a raw puerh… gently and with less
leaves that you would usually…

Edit: This was sampled off the transport… which sadly might have screwed me over. I’ll resamble and repost a new note in about a month.

Cheers

Happy Sunday evening Steepster….
It’s been a busy weekend and I’m at home here now relaxing and just taking care of some things. This is from the Yunnan Sourcing “dark tea of the month” club. Sorry but I can’t remember which month it arrived!

This is a very mild shu, which is good. I appreciate the light fermentation in this tea. I’ve been doing a few short steeps and picked up a coffee flavor, as well as a slight fruitiness. It has a nice mellow energy, which is good for reviving me a bit but hopefully won’t keep me up tonight! Overall this was a tasty shu but I don’t think I need to add more to the permanent collection.

Sample included in one of my past YS orders. I enjoyed this one, though it doesn’t call out to me like others. This is a good puerh for folks who don’t want something overly intense but still offers some varying notes in it. There was almost the hint of smoke in this one…but i would never call this a smoky tea, if that makes sense. another smooth tasting tea and enjoyable earlier this morning.

I much preferred this ripe pu-erh to the “Hong Kong” style I tried earlier. This was much softer, and felt more mature. It wasn’t musty but had a delicate sweetness to it.

I had to modify my brewing time because the first brew was quite weak (I guess the leaves hadn’t fully woken up), but the second brew created a very deep dark liquor.

A very faint smokiness on the second infusion that dissipated on the third that just revealed a sweetness. A very easy one to drink for a beginner like me!

New Ranking
Price = 100
Taste = 85
Representation = 80

New Rank = 88.33