Yunnan Sourcing

Very nice. This is great breakfast-style black tea. Plenty strong with some bitterness, but not an offensive bitterness like I find in many Assam black teas. A tolerable bite to it which you may find welcome in a breakfast tea. The flavor is nice and complex, with caramel sweetness, a touch of puerh-like earthiness, hints of dried fruit, oak, some sweet potato, and that nice “leathery” texture you get with some black teas. Brews up cleanly with a satisfying darker reddish-brown color and is a great value for a nice tea.

(Spring 2023 Harvest)

(Spring 2023 Harvest) Juicy, delicious, complete.

So, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted anything here, hasn’t it? In truth, I did not mean to step away from Steepster for so long, but I got thoroughly wrapped up in life and work and all that kind of stuff. A lot has changed for me in the past two years. I’ve had to reevaluate where I want to go in life and what activities I want to pursue both personally and professionally going forward. Through my life’s ongoing chaos, the once incrementally shrinking backlog of tea reviews has exploded. There are now reviews that I have sat on for so long that I am no longer certain they are even worth posting. I mean, it’s 2024, and I still have reviews from like 2018 or 2019 that I never got around to putting on here. I guess we’ll see what happens.

Rather than starting off with a more recent sipdown, I am returning to Steepster with something from the backlog. I think I drank this tea in either early 2022 or sometime during the first half of last year. I vaguely remember wanting to see how it compared to similar offerings from Whispering Pines Tea Company and What-Cha. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this turned out to be a quality offering, though it was not as refined as the other Fuding Silver Needles I tried previously.

In order to review this tea, I relied on my trusty gong fu method. Following a 10 second rinse, I started off by steeping 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. Twenty additional infusions followed. 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, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of cinnamon, pine, straw, almond, peanut, and hay. After the rinse, additional aromas of cream, butter, kale, peas, broccoli, and cabbage emerged. There was something of a subtle chestnut hint as well. The first infusion yielded a slightly stronger chestnut scent as well as mineral aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented delicate notes of cinnamon, sugarcane, honey, butter, hay, straw, cream, almond, cabbage, broccoli, peas, and green banana that were chased by hints of earth, grass, kale, pine, and vanilla. The bulk of the subsequent infusions added aromas of grass, earth, green bell pepper, moss, white pepper, sugarcane, white peach, and yellow plum with touches of honey, pear, apple, and white grape coupled with a slightly stronger chestnut scent. Notes of minerals, chestnut, peanut, pear, apricot, apple, white peach, moss, white grape, watermelon rind, green bell pepper, and yellow plum emerged in the mouth alongside stronger earth, grass, and vanilla flavors. Hints of white pepper, guanbana, guava, nutmeg, honeydew, birch bark, green wood, orange zest, and star anise seemed to perpetually lurk in the background. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, hay, cabbage, broccoli, cream, butter, peanut, chestnut, and almond that were backed by subtle impressions of moss, straw, green banana, green bell pepper, kale, pear, apple, yellow plum, white grape, earth, grass, green wood, and watermelon rind.

There was a ton going on in this tea. It was a blast to pick apart, which I absolutely loved, but I did have a few minor quibbles. Traditionally, Fuding Silver Needles should not be perceived as being overtly vegetal, and this tea had some very pronounced vegetal aromas and flavors. It also produced a tea liquor that could be a bit gritty and sharp in the mouth. There was slightly more astringency than one would/should expect to encounter in a few places that detracted slightly from the overall drinking experience. As I am a Western reviewer that is not terribly beholden to traditional Eastern notions of how specific types of tea should be approached, consumed, and evaluated, I was not particularly bothered by what I perceived as relatively minor flaws. I would still not really hesitate to recommend this tea to others.

[spring 2024 harvest]

This black tea is very well balanced, but less sweet than similar teas. It is also not very bitter, but it has a distinct bite in the aftertaste.

Dry leaves smell of leather, caramel, and wet soil. On the other hand, wet leaf aroma reminds me of cherries, wood, chocolate, fur, malt, fennel, and celery at times.

The mouthfeel is thick and creamy. The liqour feels light in the mouth though. There is very mild astringency as well as a cool tingling sensation.

First infusion is vegetal and smooth with umami, woody and spicy flavours, such as those of miso and pumpkin. Second steep is sweeter and cooling. There are notes of bread, citrus zest, mint, butter, and licorice. Later on, the tea also showcases more flowery, malty and bitter sides. Further flavours I detect are like beer, chocolate, and orange blossoms.

The aftertaste is cooling, biting, and perfumy with an additional flavour of maple syrup.

All in all, it is a particulaly complex and engaging black tea that I can really recommend.

I got a cake of this tea blind, but the ripes from YS are a fairly safe bet I find.

This one is very smooth and creamy. It smells of black currants, red wine, earth, and fireplace. The taste is sweet and nutty with mild sourness and astringency.

Aged yancha is usually pretty pleasant to drink, and this one is no exception, even though it is a bit basic overall.

It has aromas of sweet wood and spices, while the taste is earthy, sour, metallic, and a little astringent with an oat flavour.

This pu-erh has a very sweet aroma that primarily reminds me of apricots. There are also notes of peach, forest, yoghurt, and a grassy meadow.

The taste is a bit like green tea: bitter and flowery. It is also a bit milky with flavour of custard and nut oils.

Very enjoyable sheng, cooling and bitter with a complex profile. The dry leaf aroma is a mix of menthol, fruit tree flowers, and vegetal notes while wet leaves also smell of bread, fireplace, allspice.

The taste is nutty, medicinal, vegetal and really quite bitter when brewed longer. There are notes of spices, black pepper, eggs, cabbage, and eucalyptus.

Spring 2023: Green apple, citrus, tart, hints of grapes, with a pleasant bit of grassiness – Actually, to me more cannabis-like than plain old grass, which is cool. Didn’t impress me as much as the “Pai Mu Dan” I purchased a few years back from English Tea Store, but at half the price, this one is not bad at all.

Very nice on its own, but I have taken to blending it (usually 50/50 by weight) with my green teas. It makes a particularly great blend in combination with Yunnan Sourcing’s pure bud bi luo chun. So much so, that I am considering ordering additional quantities of both teas to keep up with this experimentation in blending.

Brothy, numbing, refreshing, powerful

Incense utilized as medicine by the ancients, that luscious floral bitterness present in the most beckoning blood-red rose, the earthy spice and smoke of myrrh resin on a freshly lit charcoal, a numbing kava bitter-root emulsion, the musk of oily fingers dusted with cumin, dried apricots and fresh cream in the distance, tobacco base, stonefruit overtone

A cool swallow, the mouth waters, sweetness returns as a sticky date wrapped in cinnamic shiso leaf

Lavender flowers and blueberry skin on the breath

Quite grounding yet the body floats, the spirit uplifted

A hauntingly beautiful tea

Spring 2023: Another lovely black tea from YS at a great price! I get amaretto vibes from this tea with nice woody notes akin to a shou mei tea. Hints of caramel, chocolate, and spice, plus even some red grape winey notes creeping in. Good lingering aftertaste as well. Not too light, with some oomph that makes it a decent breakfast-style black tea. Warning: I do not use any additives in my tea, so a “strong” tea for me might not satisfy somebody who wants to add milk etc to their tea.

Loose black tea leaves, I have the one from 2023. Chocolate smell from dry leaves, the tea has malty cacao notes, it completely lacks the honeysuckle flavor a Jin Jun Mei should have. The wet leaves smell like a floral black tea, no burnt notes, they are roughly 0.5-0.75 in long, very skinny.

This is one of the better samples from the Introduction to Jin Jun Mei Black Tea Sampler but still not a real Jin Jun Mei. Tastes fine though.

Sold for $7.25/ 25g

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/imperial-grade-jin-jun-mei-from-tong-mu-guan-village?variant=39961841172679

As I am preparing for my move from Florida to Maine, I cleared out my tea cabinet to pack all my tea. I bought a lot of Puerh samples from Yunnan Sourcing which I haven’t drank yet, so I’m going to finish up some of them.

Here we have a quite strong puerh from the Bu Lang mountains. Upon first sip, my taste buds are awakened with a bright, bitter, cacao note. The tea is thick and warm. Zero forest floor funk in this tea – it tastes clean and curated.

This tea smells delicious. Breakfast oats dominate the smell with hints of maple syrup or honey.

The tea instantly turns black when steeped for the second time. The once-subtle and bright bitterness is at the forefront, with an interesting sourness that fades to an oaty finish. Strong and bitter, but not unpleasant.

By the third steep, the bitterness is beginning to fade and make way for creamy, delicious puerh.

This tea is still quite young, but is already so complex. I suspect it will age gracefully.

Time for breakfast!

[Spring 2024 harvest]

A slightly smoky and woody green tea with a really nice fragrance. Its aroma is flowery, but not sweet, with notes of strawberries, sawdust, and butter. The taste is savoury, nutty, and floral, while the aftertaste has notes of green beans and meadow.

[Spring 2024 harvest]

This white tea is at times a bit like green tea, it certainly pays off to get it quite fresh.

The aroma is very nice, dry leaves reminds me of nuts, hay, grass, sage, and apple leaves. When wet, it is more like a cooling mix of flowers, morning dew on the mountain, and laundry detrergent haha.

The tast is strong, quite bitter and also a bit astringent. There is a warming sense to it, as well as a malty flavour and a spicy aftertaste.

(Spring 2023)

(Spring 2023)

(Spring 2023)

(Spring 2023) Very pretty.

(Spring 2023)

(Spring 2023)