2014 Yunnan Sourcing Ye Xin Raw

Drank through a full sample in most settings and really came to enjoy this tea. It’s subtle and a bit quiet, but productive and yields nice things. Dry and wet leaf aromas a light, floral, and fragrant. The body is reasonably thick and balanced with a cooling mintiness, balanced by some green bitterness and a bit of moderate astrigency, giving it a rounded quality. The huigan takes awhile to kick in. Nicely calming on the whole.

Wet Leaves: Strong vegetal aroma. It transports me to two situations at once: gardening and cooking. Specifically the smell of cut grass, pulling out weeds, soil covered roots. The cooking aspect reminds me of chopping raw zucchini, broccoli, spinach and green onion. Later on the leaves smell very savory, like vegetable stock.

Early Steeps: Honestly reminds me a bit of a chinese green tea, like Bi Luo Chun. Not very bright or heady, more of a darker, stewed vegetable taste. Not overtly sweet, but carries a prominent huigan from the start.

Middle Steeps: Flavors remain the same, but intensify and darken. Mouthfeel is intense. Finish is incredibly long, stays around for minutes. Body effect is very energizing.

Tail End: Bitter vegetable water.

Verdict: This tea is a workhorse. It’s not particularly complex, but has a very strong character that holds up to many steepings. Only for those who enjoy their sheng bitter and vegetal. Full of character and energy.

I do believe my pu-erh seems to be holding up okay in my homemade storage (which is in a wood drawer with a small cup of water and florist foam). I hope to drink down a few of my samples this year. I reviewed this one about a couple years ago but it was reviewed under the 2013 version of this tea. It hasn’t changed a lot in that time. It is still smooth with no bitterness and a nice light apricot taste to it. It’s not very complex but it does hold up well under many steeps.