Yunnan Sourcing

I guess I expected more. But this 25 year old sheng was smooth, woody, and quite quaffable. I brewed 2.5g in 8 oz boiling water for 30 s, and got 8 nice steepings that produced a deep golden liquor without any fishiness, sourness, astringency or bitterness. But it also didn’t have anything particularly appealing to me. For this price, I would get much more enjoyment from a number of other fine teas. Because of the blandness, I’ll only rate it at 65, and recommend it with indifference. Still for sale by YS.

I received this 2005 shou as a part of a storage comparison tea set from YS. It is a potent tea, both in aroma and flavor. I steeped 5g leaf in 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s (after a 10s rinse), repeating for 9 infusions, the final going 30s. Each infusion was dark brown in color, sweet, creamy, smooth and pleasant in taste, with an aroma of sawdust, leather, and leaf litter, with a hint of tea leaf. No fishiness or objectionable flavors, no bitterness or astringency. But certainly no notes of cherry in flavor or aroma, as reported by the vendor and by several other tasters, either. It was a good, basic ripe puer but without anything particularly notable, either good or bad. So I rate it at a solid 70. As of Jan 2025 it is still in stock and for sale as full cakes or smaller samples.

Not too long ago, I tried the Jingmai Raw Pu’erh Cha Gao (aka “tea resin”) from YS, and today I’m giving the ripe pu’erh version a try! Though the raw was good, I immediately liked this one much more. The liquor is very, very smooth with a surprisingly sweet flavour. It’s very honey-like but dark, dense, and golden with a sort of graham cracker adjacent undertone and some expected earthiness. Not like a buckwheat honey, but sort of in that direction. I’ve had a handful of different types of Cha Gao outside of these Yunnan Sourcing offerings, but to be honest, this is probably the best that I’ve tried based on first impression alone.

Plus, the convenience factor is huge here. I know that, as a community, we often turn our nose up at pretty much any form of instant tea. Personally, I think that’s a fault within the community for several reasons, but that’s a discussion for another post. Regardless, if you’re looking for travel friendly tea options then you can’t get a whole lot better than this one. Just make sure to keep it in a labeled bag because it does, admittedly, look a little sketchy to the unfamiliar…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFQoEMjS9XS/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY292wlKitk&ab_channel=TommyNewport

Lovely affordable tea. Nice and dark with wonderful licorice notes and good depth of flavor. No need to wait until it tastes like an old library book. It is great right now. My 50/50 by weight blend of this tea plus 2024 Subduer of Dragons is a 100! Been drinking my special blend almost every morning and can’t get over how nicely these teas compliment each other.

Very woody. Not so much the deep sandalwood notes you tend to get from ripe pu-erhs, but strong oak-like flavors. Some smoke. Not very sweet. Maybe slightly nutty. It seems like a lighter version of ripe pu-erh, overall. Interesting and glad I tried this, as it is my first Liu Bao Cha, but not a favorite of mine. I don’t find much in the way of “medicinal” or minty notes as others have mentioned.

This is a really great, strong tea. Fans of sheng puerh owe it to themselves to seek this out. My lukewarm rating of this particular batch is due to the storage. The vendor specifies that it has been stored in Kunming since its pressing, so it’s all very transparent. Personally, I think more traditional storage is the way to go. This is still great stuff, but it’s kind of locked in time, which is unfortunate.

Really liked the idea of this tea, but I just didn’t really care for the flavor. Sadly it’s been a few days since I tried it and can’t remember specifics, but I put it in my swap pile.

This was a nice, savory, thick and smooth ripe pu-erh, which is perhaps expected from a 28 year old shou. The wet leaves smelled of rank, dirty socks, but the brewed tea didn’t. There were notes of forest woods and leather, without bitterness, sourness or fishiness. I got over 10 infusions from 5g of leaf, 125 ml each, in a small porcelain teapot. Successive steeps in boiling alpine spring water ranged from 10 sec to a few minutes, in 20s increments. (5s initial wash) Produced a dark brown soup at first, finishing as a deep amber brew. I bought this several years ago as part of a discontinued sampler, but it can still be bought by individually from YS. Not my favorite, but far from the worst.