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I’LL POST FULL TASTING NOTES WHEN I DIGITIZE THEM.

TLDR: My heart broke when I couldn’t buy a full sized cake. If you can get your hands on this shou, do it!

2006 Classic 66 Dayi from Liquid Proust
It’s a delightful Shou Pu’er from Yunnan.

8.17g per 150ml gaiwan, 195°F
Rinsed for 10 seconds and then I did a 10 second infusion with +5s on each consecutive infusion.

I’m currently on infusion 6 and I’ve been drinking it all day. I’ve felt energized, yet calm the entire time. I’m assuming it has a nice theanine to caffeine ratio given how it is affecting me.

Overall, it is woody, sweet, and smooth. In the beginning it had notes of licorice and dried herbs. Over the infusions that was replaced with a savory nature with strong wicker notes and a hint of grains. It had a light nutty (almond?) taste on the 3rd infusion. But as time has gone on, the tea has tasted brighter with a pleasant crispness. The astringency has been building, but it adds a nice mouthfeel.

I ate a few meals today with the tea.

I had a bacon, havarti, and salami sandwich on brioche with the second infusion. It brought out a mellow sweetness in the tea, which I enjoyed.

With the 5th infusion I ate a salad (walnut, apple, cranberry, blue cheese, chicken, with a sweet and creamy dressing). I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but it was fantastic. The contrasting tones highlighted the sweetness of the fruit/cheese with the savory qualities of the tea. The smooth woody notes added a lovely touch that tied everything together.

I want to experiment more with food pairings that are more targeted towards the tea’s profile.

Either way, I’ll probably continue drinking this one for a while. I might save the leaves in the fridge to see how they do in later infusions. I bet I could get 8-10 decent infusions from these leaves (and I didn’t even use a tea knife to loosen the leaves) even though I broke some of them whilst removing them from the main cake.

-For picture:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTir_qeHlSp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Rich Sayaka-No-Mukashi Matcha- Ippodo Tea

Dry tea

Bright lime green, small smooth particles

Smell: Fresh cut grass, mild sweetness, light notes of sugar snap peas, steamed spinach, hints of zucchini, light indistinct floral notes

Koicha

Deep jade green, smooth, thick

Smell: creamy plant milk notes, deeply vegetal, grassy, steamed spinach

Taste: Deeply vegetal, not bitter, smooth, grassy, creamy, sharp, bright, hint of zucchini

Usucha

Jade green, bubbly

Smell: bright, grassy, sweet, creamy like oat milk, light steamed spinach notes

Taste: smooth bubbly mouthfeel, grassy, crisp, bright, light sharpness, light bitterness, creamy plant milk notes

Video of whisking this ceremonial matcha: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CVJmbEsJOl0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Fancy Grade Yunnan Yellow (Certified organic yellow tea) – Yunnan Sourcing
2020 Spring, 6.03g / 150ml gaiwan
10s rinse, 10s +5s for each consecutive infusion. 175°F

TLDR: Excellent tea. Anyone who enjoys white and green tea should try this. It’s glorious iced and serves as an excellent palate cleanser and food pairing for most dishes. I recommend brewing a large batch of iced tea to drink over the course of several days. Take it everywhere and drink it with everything. It creates an interesting experience that benefits most dishes and cuisines.

Dry tea:
The leaves are beautifully coiled and completely intact. There is no tea dust or broken leaves.
They smell sweet, delicate, almost like dried flowers and undergrowth. It’s creamy like oat milk with notes of cut hay. It strongly reminds me of dried honeysuckle. It smells a tad like nutmeg with a strong prune smell. The prune notes remind me of this delicious golden monkey I once tried from tealyra. I’ll review that one in the future.

Wet tea:
It took several steepings for the tea to uncoil completely.
It smelled of candied fruit and prunes. It smelled like the light undergrowth of a forest floor. The buds we’re almost tangy, with notes of wet hay and maple water.

The first few infusions were sweet with notes of prunes, dates, dried honeysuckle, and wet hay. They were creamy with a soft yet lightly astringent mouthfeel. There was no bitterness. It got more buttery each time.

From the third to fifth infusion, it became less complex and developed a slight bite. It stayed sweet with a nice candied fruit taste. It completely lost complexity at the fifth infusion.

So it peaked at 2-3 and fully degraded at 5.

I really enjoyed it and will be keeping some around from now on. If you like naturally sweet teas, I’d pick this up. Yellow tea is a remarkable tea and everyone should try it.

ICED TEA:
2 1L infusions, 175°F, 3 and then 4 minutes (5g per 1L). Infusions were mixed together into 1 pitcher.

Appearance: brownish amber, clear
Smell: kind of sweet, light floral and vague fruitiness
Taste: Sweet, light indistinct dried fruit notes, vaguely floral like fresh flowers, crisp and refreshing mouthfeel

It has a delightful light floral pungency. It’s a beautiful and delicious iced tea that needs no additions. I’ve been drinking it for days and it goes well with various foods. It tastes a little awkward with brightly sweet apple, but does well with more savory dishes.

FOOD PAIRING: Iced yellow tea with Teriyaki beef bowl, Tonkotsu Ramen, mochi

I got some takeout from Wasabi Sushi PDX yesterday and paired it with a batch of the YS yellow I brewed a day beforehand.

The mild sweetness of the iced yellow tea does not overwhelm the creamy savory nature of the ramen. It’s quite refreshing after the ramen and serves as a palate cleanser so you can relive the flavors of the foods every time after you drink the tea. The cooling and refreshing qualities as an unsweetened iced tea gives the preferred hydration in between heavy foods.

I’ve noticed through the last few days that the yellow tea compliments and contrasts most foods. It’s mild sweetness and savory notes pair with a surprising amount of foods of various cuisines. It’s also delightful when out and about in place of water.

When consumed with mochi ice cream/sweets, it adds a lightly savory nature to the experience with a slightly contrasting tone which accents the sweetness of the ice cream. The natural sweetness of the tea blends with the sweetness of the ice cream and serves as a structure. It does not overwhelm, it simply adds some nice tones to the otherwise simple experience.

By drinking yellow tea in place of water or soda you are adding complexity to the experience that accents the best qualities of the food. It just is and coexists peacefully with the foods around it.

These are some of the reasons yellow tea is my favorite tea.

P.S. Wasabi Sushi’s N Failing location has fantastic, modern, and affordable food. I pick up food from them often.

Food pairing: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUWOoR-FCOK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Feng Qing #17 Pure Bud Golden Needle Black Tea -Yunnan Sourcing, Spring 2021
4.96g, 150ml ceramic gaiwan

Dry tea
Appearance:
Fully gold with some dark brown accents interspersed
Mostly full intact buds, very fuzzy leaves
It’s one of the prettiest black teas I’ve seen.
Smell: Deeply fruity, prunes, figs, candied stone fruits, sweet

Wet tea
Appearance:
Dark khaki brown with dark brown accents
Intact fuzzy golden buds
Smell: Almost musky, Figs, Prunes, sweet, light animal notes, brown sugar, creamy

Infusion 1: 212°F, 150ml, 10s
Appearance: golden amber, rich, bright, clear, almost jewel tones
Smell: light animal notes, light prunes, sweet
Taste:
Prune retronasal action. Creamy taste, crisp mouthfeel, candied fruit, a little musky on the finish/back end. Almost savory, sweet, no bitterness

Really nice, pleasant. I like this a lot. It’s fruity and crisp. Pleasant drying astringency.

Infusion 2: 212°F 15s 150ml
Appearance: bright vivid amber, clear
Smell: deeply fruity, candied stone fruits. Fruitier than the first infusion. Light muskiness, sweet. Dates? Prunes? Not quite prunes. Richer, brown sugar
Taste:. No retronasal smells before swallowing. The finish was sweet, lightly fruity with indistinct stone fruits. Sweet, but a little hollow and watery. It lacks body. It’s still crisp, but empty and not mouth-filling. It feels like a fourth infusion of a medium quality tea.

Infusion 3: 212°F 30s 150ml
Appearance: rich amber, vivid, clear
Smell: sweet figs, watery. Lacks body.
Taste: Empty retronasal. Very weak finish. It basically tastes like nothing. It’s vaguely sweet water. It doesn’t even taste fruity. Extremely weak body, crisp mouthfeel, thin, watery.

The first infusion is amazing, but after that it completely falls flat. I’ve never had a tea fall apart like this and it makes me sad because it started phenomenally.

This tea is currently for sale on their website. They also teach a class every year about how to make yellow tea (and how to do it following FDA guidelines). It’s a fascinating science packed class that any tea nerd who loves and wants to understand yellow tea should take. I really enjoyed it and will be taking more of their classes.

Now onto the review:

Mississippi Sunshine- The Great Mississippi Tea Company
(yellow tea)

Dry tea:
Appearance: Visually interesting. It almost looks like brush from a forest floor. The leaves are not dried in an even method, but it looks like whole leaves.
Smell: Light fresh fruitiness, almost a mix of oatmilk and fresh nectarines. Very floral.

Wet tea:
Appearance: Deep army/olive and blackish green with an undertone of brown. Long twisted whole leaves.
Smell: Pungent, medjool dates, sweet, really interesting and complex. Hard to unpack. Wet dried roses.

HOT TEA: Chinese prep
Gaiwan: 5.20g 120ml

Infusion 1: 175°F 10s
Appearance: clear golden yellow
Smell: Sweet, fruity, medjool dates, hints of tamarind, light brown sugar like dried figs
Taste: Fresh figs, undergrowth, almost mossy, sweet, fruity, a little pungent, almost a dark earthy fruitiness. A bit complicated to unpack, but very interesting.

Infusion 2: 175°F 15s
Appearance: dark gold, clear
Smell: Nectarines, sweet, deeply fruity, dark stone fruits
Taste: lightly vegetal like fresh figs, light sharpness, vague fruitiness, almost tangy. Lighter and less complex.

Infusion 3: 175°F 20s
Appearance: dark gold, clear
Smell: Sweet, fruity, lightly tangy, tamarind
Taste: A little sharp, fresh figs, pungent, vaguely vegetal, almost mossy, not really fruity

Infusion 4: 175°F 25s
Appearance: dark gold, amber, clear
Smell: lightly fruity, sweet, indistinct dried fruit
Taste: Vegetal, vegetable water, vague fruitiness

HOT TEA: Western Prep
2.41g 120ml

Infusion 1: 175°F 3 min
Appearance: bright amber gold, clear
Smell: Pungent, sweet, medjool dates, almost earthy, fruity
Taste: Pungent, savory, lightly sweet, tangy, light animal notes, wet hay, light musk /muscatel
There’s a lot to unpack.

Infusion 2: 175°F 4 min
Appearance: amber gold, clear
Smell: Sweet, fruity, muscatel, medjool dates
Taste: Sweet, indistinct fruitiness, vague earthiness, light muscatel/ muskiness, not as complex, vague aftertaste

It heavily degraded in complexity on steep #2 with the western method.
It degrades heavily on infusion #3 for gongfu method.

ICED TEA
2x 1L infusions in an electric kettle w/ infuser basket using 6.15g
Infusion 1: 3 minutes 175°F 1L
Infusion 2: 4 minutes 175°F 1L
Pour both in a pitcher and stick it in the fridge until it is cold.

Appearance: bright amber golden yellow, clear
Smell: pungent, tropical fruits, bright fruity notes, hint of melon, hint of cut hay
Taste: Pungent, a little tangy, fruity, fresh figs, sweet but not overly sweet, almost savory, floral, wet dried rose buds

W/ breaded chicken and sauce:
The plain chicken and tea don’t really blend or clash.
The bbq sauce and the tea don’t really have an effect on each other. It’s a lot like drinking tastier water.

The sweet chili sauce is a GREAT match. The tea offers a refreshing palate cleanse. Its mild sweetness matches tones with the sauce enough to blend, but the difference in sweetness is enough to accent the sauce’s sugary nature. The tea is also hydrating and refreshing in a way that is more satisfying than water after the spiciness of the sauce.

Video of wet leaves:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CU8dEUghKvf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

2003 Cang’er Xiaguan -Liquid Proust
Sheng Puerh cake sample

8.21g/150ml gaiwan
195°F 10s rinse
Infusion 1: 10s
Added 5 seconds to each infusion (2-8)
Infusion 9- 60s, 10 – 65s

Dry cake:
It was a very compact cake with greenish gold leaves and buds mixed with dark brown leaves with gold flecks.
The cake smelled of sweet honey, light caramel, with notes of menthol and indistinct dried herbs.

Wet tea:
It took several steepings to loosen the cake, but it smelled sweet with a light herbal/menthol scent. It had light notes of undergrowth and almost a caramelized baked goods smell.

In the first infusion it was sweet and light. It reminded me of delicate flowers and honey. It had a bit of honeysuckle without the fruity notes, and strongly like honeybush. The aftertaste coated my mouth sweetly and was reminiscent of honey. It was complex and interesting.

The following infusions smelled sweet, much like cane sugar. It had a light herbality to it with delicate menthol notes.
As the infusions continued, the tea got sharper. It started in the back end and eventually was throughout the tasting. The second infusion was a lot like honeybush, but by the third it was much more like rooibos.

In the third infusion it started to have an herbal tanginess to it that I couldn’t place. By the fourth and fifth I realized it was like lemon balm without the fruity and lemon notes. If you’ve never had a pure dried herb lemon balm infusion that might sound a little strange.

I started eating an Asian sesame salad with cabbage with wontons with the fifth infusion:
The salad brought out the savory nature of the tea. The herbal notes stood out more. As a contrasting pairing it was very pleasant.

Infusion 6 was herbal, mild, pleasant and the aftertaste of the salad softened the bite of the tea.

As the infusions went on (6-9), the taste of honeybush became stronger and the tea developed a sharp bite. It maintained a nice sweetness. Though it became less complex, it was still interesting and enjoyable.

I left the leaves in my gaiwan overnight and when I went for infusion 10, it didn’t really taste like anything. It was still sweet, but it was mild and indistinct.

I enjoyed this tea and I look forward to trying it again after a few decades in controlled storage.