Yi Wu Mountain Wild Arbor Assamica Black Tea * Spring 2018

Here we have another review for one of my late 2020 sipdowns. This is also a rare review in which I get to play the role of cranky contrarian. I have no clue why, but Yunnan Sourcing’s Yi Wu Mountain Wild Arbor Assamica never quite does it for me. This was the second production of it that I tried, and I just didn’t get it. It did not do much of anything for me.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of malt, cedar, tobacco, raisin, and baked bread. After the rinse, aromas of roasted almond and roasted peanut appeared. The first infusion brought out aromas of butter and lemon zest. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, cream, butter, and roasted almond that were backed by delicate hints of raisin, lemon zest, baked bread, black pepper, cedar, sugarcane, and eucalyptus. The majority of the subsequent infusions collectively added aromas of black pepper, oats, grass, hay, orange zest, green bell pepper, pine, and eucalyptus to the tea’s bouquet. Stronger and more immediately notable flavors of raisin, baked bread, lemon zest, and sugarcane emerged in the mouth with notes of minerals, hay, oats, grass, orange zest, pine, and green bell pepper accompanying. I also detected a few stray hints of grapefruit pith, tobacco, and juniper. As the tea faded, the liquor continued to emphasize notes of minerals, lemon zest, orange zest, malt, green bell pepper, hay, and grass that were chased by a swell of lingering cedar, tobacco, grapefruit pith, pine, eucalyptus, butter, juniper, sugarcane, cream, and baked bread hints.

I know that previous reviewers loved this tea, but I was a little underwhelmed by it. It was not remotely bad, but it struck me as being a little flat. The mouthfeel of the tea liquor was thin and vacillated between flabbiness and sharpness. I also found the tea’s overall profile kind of uninspiring. There were no peaks or valleys during my review session. There were also no real surprises. It was easy for me to see where this tea was going very quickly, and it did not go on to upset my expectations. Oh well. Yi Wu stuff continues to be largely hit or miss for me. This tea was not bad, but I did not find it to be very interesting or memorable on its own.

This tea reminds me of W2T’s Arbor Red, but it’s not as dynamic and complex I think, but with a stronger huigan. In any case, it’s one of the better black teas I have tried for sure. At less than half the price of Arbor Red, it is probably a better value too.

Dry leaves smell sweet and earthy with notes of tomato vine and wooden furniture. Once wet, the aroma changes to a mix of honey and malt. The taste has a strong woody character complemented by decent minerality in later infusions. It is a very clean tasting tea, but that also means lack of complexity. There is a lot of sweetness, a light bitterness and some citrusy quality here and there. One point where the tea really shines is the aftertaste, which is pungent and very long lasting with a strong huigan. It is also somewhat more fruity overall. The body is medium to full, with a creamy, bubbly, and silky mouthfeel. Another thing worth noting is that this tea, more than any black tea I can remember, made me sweat a bit.

Thanks tperez for the sample!

This is amazingly sweet and fruity, did not guess that from the aroma at all. Nice body for quite a few steeps and just overall some real good flavor. This lasts an extremely long time. I wish I could give a better overview of the flavor, but I love it.