2015 Yunnan Sourcing "Yang Luo Han" Ripe

Gongfu Sipdown (1455)!

Wow – this is one of those teas that, when you look at the tasting notes on the Steepster page, really takes you for one hell of a wild ride.

Anyway, I have to thank Togo for gifting this sample – it’s one of many Yunnan Sourcing samples he gave me in early August and I’ve been greatly enjoying going through them and expanding my familiarity with YS’s teas.

This was one of those sessions where I kind of feel like I’m in a jungle thanks to all the surrounding plants! This shou is really nice though; it’s a great combination of very thick and wet soil notes like soaked forest undergrowth after a heavy rainfall mixed with dense syrupy sweet elements like fig paste, dates, and molasses. Occasionally a little like oatmeal. It’s such a curious accord of brothy flavours and heavy sweetness/starch. I’ve been steeping very casually in between different working from home tasks this afternoon and a couple times I’ve forgotten I had tea still steeping in the gaiwan – so it’s forgiving and long lasting as well!! All around pretty solid!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CT5LoOflYUR/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbvWxCwIrvY&ab_channel=StJasper

I really wanted to love this tea but something did not click on our first date. Which is strange, because this puerh does display many positive traits: a fairly complex taste with no funkiness, decay or excessive bitterness, a pleasant long aftertaste, resistance to over-steeping…

It just that I did not see any appreciable personality and uniqueness in it. Nothing controversial, eccentric, charmingly odd. This tea was assiduously virtuous, proper and careful about not displaying any negatives. You cannot go wrong with it but you will never get excited either. And why bother then?

The dry leaf was fishy smelling so I gave it a good 20s rinse and the fish disappeared, woot. The rinsed leaf smelled like bitter dark chocolate, baked bread, autumn leaf and buttered nuts. All but the butter came through in the thick brew along with an addition of a flat sourness like tart cherry and sour orange. Highly mineral like wet river rocks, leaving my tongue dancing. Pleasant sour aftertaste. The flavor turned very nutty toward the end and a strong returning sugarcane sweetness appeared. I didn’t get any actual sweet taste like other reviewers. Mostly savory, rich, mineral, sour and slightly bitter.

My mind was elsewhere when I drank this, so I ended up oversteeping it several times but it was smooth every time. This makes me think it would be great grandpa style as long as you rinse it first! I think this Yang Luo Han would be a good conversion shou for coffee drinkers.

Thanks for the sample Togo :)

(6g, 100mL, 212F, 20s rinse, 7 steeps at 30/70/40/55s and 4/4/20m)

I will say within the first sip of this I could tell that I wasn’t the intended target audience for this tea.

Unfortuntely, I must have read the description wrong as YS was very accurate in describing it now that I am rereading it.

The tea itself is obviously good quality: it brews many steeps, and is nice and viscous in the mouth. Be very careful not to over steep this tea if you are going western style; I did a 20 second wash and followed with a 30 second gongfu at 200-205F and it was already very dark at that point.

It has very consistent bitter notes, not something I enjoy in tea, with some slight orange notes and light pepper taste. Overall, bittersweet chocolate is a good way to describe this tea.

It is very strong, dark and of a thick consistency. It was not an easy drinker for me, and it felt like the tea version of biting into high quality chocolate. I ended up drinking the 5th steep with a high fruit/hazelnut (sugary) breakfast and it kind of sat in the background and brought out the nuts; it was very nice taken that way but probably not what it was designed for. I’ll most likely just drink alongside food after this review.

There is a nice, slight tingling sensation that occurs in the mouth area. It does leave a lingering, chocolate aftertaste though; which I can admit was pleasant.

In my own personal book this tea would be about a 65 as it’s going to be a hard drinker for me and the cost was rather high; however, it is my fault for not reading the description properly and the tea obviously clocks in at a higher rating based on the factors I mention above.

This is probably obvious but don’t get this tea if you do not care for bittersweet
chocolate (cooking chocolate).

I had another session with one of my favourite ripes today, and I still like it as much as I used to :)

The woodsy aspects seem slightly enhanced, especially in the dry leaf aroma and towards the end of the session. Otherwise it hasn’t changed much. Today I detected some faint notes of sea shells in second infusion, which had a strong umami and a mineral & marine character.

Additionally, relative to my previous experiences, there was also a hint of star anise in the early steeps, as well as medicinal and leathery notes later on, and flavours of corn and plant roots at the very end. The aftertaste is still mostly bittersweet with a strong dark chocolate flavour and a hint of wet rocks.

The mouthfeel, maybe even more oily and coating than before, is very elegant and supple and plays an important role in the overall experience.

additional notes:  Togo inspired me to dig this out of the stash!  So after not having it for three years, here we go:   the rinse is a bit fishy, but that disappears.  The flavor is mostly starchy.  Drinking this cold with a cold stromboli, the flavor is fantastic.  It tastes more like coffee – I think shu must pair really well with cheese.  I guess I’ve never noticed that before.  Overall, I can’t really pick out flavor notes at this point.  I swear I’m losing my tastebuds.  It’s just a really solid, deep dark puerh. A couple sessions of cake remain.
Steep #1 // 19 minutes after boiling //  rinse // 3-4 minute steep
Steep #2 // 16 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 min
Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled // loooonnng steep

Having a session with mom and the SO. Both of their first time trying this one.

First steep has a strong cocoa flavor for me. Second steep does, as well, along with some hints of coffee. Funny, the SO says it tastes like mineral water, she’s mad that it tastes like no other puerh she’s had so far. Mom is picking up on a bit of coffee but doesn’t have much more to say. Both of them are feeling the qi, though, as am I.

SO doesn’t really like the taste, but mom likes it for the qi, as this is her first time feeling it. It’s got us all nice and relaxed, so I have no complaints.

Brewed in my new porcelain Jingdezhen gaiwan. Water is just off the boil throughout. 7th steeps onward shared with my wife.

After a wash, the wet leaves have a distinctive banana-leaf aroma.

1st – 7th steeps (flash, slowly ramping up to 10 seconds): Seal brown liquid with burnt umber and auburn highlights. Aroma suggests shiitake, ginseng, and banana leaf. Earth, chalk, and hints of chocolate on the palate with the latter hanging on into the finish where it is joined by a hint of stale tobacco and wet stones. The fermentation lends the cup a gentle vegetal/herbaceous quality, suggesting Chinese medicine. No bitterness…nice, medium-full body.

8th – 14th steeps (10 sec, slowly ramping up to 30 sec): Color gradually lightens from chocolate to burnt umber to chestnut – aromatics and flavor remain consistent throughout. Body is lighter.

15th – 20th steeps (30 sec, ramping up to 2+ min): Tea slowly grows paler and loses potency in both aromatics and flavor, although the character of both remain coherent. Some hints of Hawaiian dinner rolls in the finish. Body is lighter yet.

This tea is decent on its own, but works better as a foil to food – in this morning’s case, deftly framing the sweetness of a Pink’s Crisp apple and some quality farmer’s cheese.

Brews a deep deep red. There’s a fair amount of fermentation flavor left, enough that I felt the need to give four rinses. But this tea definitely has it’s redeeming qualities. It’s very thick and creamy, almost buttery except that it’s more sweet than savory. There’s a strong and definite chocolate note, almost like drinking dark chocolate hot cocoa. This is a lower fermentation shou, and it has just a hint of a vegetal pumpkin flavor. Later steeps hint at raisin and ginseng. Overall a nice tea that should get much better with age.

I got a cake of this in July and it’s already more than 2/3 gone! If I’m honest I bought it because I like the goat on the wrapper..but I wasn’t dissapointed!

I think this tea may have changed a bit since I got it because I broke the cake up and put it in a earthware jar to air out.

While there is still a bit of the fermentation flavor, the dark chocolate flavour and creamyness of this tea overpowers it pretty easily (and I hardly notice it anymore). A good candidate for gong fu or grandpa style although I find it doesn’t stay strong enough for very long as grandpa style. A very easy to drink quality shou.