Yunnan Sourcing

Thanks for letting me try this one, Meowster!  Hilarious tea mishaps today.  I brewed this one like a raw on the first steep!  (Better that than to steep a raw like a ripe, I guess.)  I don’t know why I thought this was a raw.  The leaves even looked dark and ripe when I threw the tuocha in the infuser.   By the third steep, it’s so smooth that I would definitely know by now if it was a harsh, overbrewed raw puerh.  No negative qualities here, but I also wish it had a stronger flavor.  I don’t know if the gingko just seamlessly blends in with the puerh flavors, but it really did almost seem like just a ripe puerh to me with no additional ingredients.  Four pretty consistent steeps (except for that first one that was brewed like sheng.)

A belated pull from Arby’s homemade advent! I was craving a straight black tea but didn’t want anything too malty or strong… this really fits the bill! Not sure what year my sample is from, but it’s pleasant: Light and just a little bit tart, with no big flavor notes except something faintly floral. There’s a tiiiny smidge of soapiness toward the end.

Now back to rereading Jane Eyre. :)

Really nice! This tea has an awesome wild vibe to it. The leaves are huge and burly and and slightly greenish. The tea has all the up-front strength and boldness that I hope for in a hongcha, yet also has nice layers of lingering vegetal and flowery ‘greener’ stuff going on. It’s nicely thick as well.

Oof. I like this. I have been trying to be less precious with my samples, and so grabbed this on a whim and brewed it western style last night. First sip took me aback, so I gong fu’d it today to see what was up.

There is a numbing camphor belt that develops around the center of my mouth — tongue/cheeks/roof, all get to play in the halo. Nut skins, florals, dried fruit, spices, toast… it’s smooth and complex and the qi is so lovely (ie. not making me want to crawl out of my skin, a feeling I’ve been having more often than I’d like lately).

I do not need a cake, for reals and truly, but I’d spring for one of these if I did.

Edited to add: I’m drinking this western again tonight and having the same sensory experience that I’m just now remembering I had last night: “This tastes like makeup smells… in a good way.” I guess that’s baby powder and whatever eau du essences… just popping in to bookend: “I like this.”

[End sample, persued by bear.]

After aging for 7 years, admittedly in a container with a Tibetan flame brick, this tea has mellowed considerably. The bitterness has faded a lot, while the vegetal, cooked vegetable, hay, and grassy notes stepped forward. Overall, this is not my favorite raw puer, but I feel that it aged a bit faster in the mini-tuo form. It has some returning sweetness, and is not a bad daily drinker. I brewed this western style, thinking it still intensely bitter, but next brew will be in a small teapot.

Wild grilled herbs and some crude newly roasted yancha notes. Some fruit and also leather/vinyl. Interesting but very brisk and in a different style / not as smooth to my taste as many top tier yancha for instance YS’s AA Da Hong Pao.

(2023 harvest) Roasted barley, cacao. Lots of minerals, moss, earth with some bitter notes running through the palate. Good when brewed carefully.

I brewed this tea Gong Fu style as I do with most teas.
The initial aroma of the wet leaves was super promising, nice sweet grass and twiggy notes with just a touch of malt. However, the actual first steep more closely resembled what I’d expect of a sheng pu’erh of this age: herbaceous and astringent notes with a pleasant touch of grassiness with an aftertaste of linen. Medium astringency and a thick body that coats the inside of your mouth

Overall, not a terrible tea. Well aged

Circling back to gong fu Day 9 of the Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown box, since I missed it. I really wish I was getting more out of this tea. I feel like I’m supposed to be. But I’m just not. It feels thick and rich with a pleasantly creamy note but beyond that ::shrug emoji:: Maybe I’ll have better luck with the other one on another day but it’s a bit of a bust today. Which is to say, this is enjoyable but doesn’t feel particularly distinctive today.

Adventageddon Day 9 – Tea 4/4

I wasn’t really in the mood to brew anything gongfu today so I decided to make one of the two dragon balls included for today as a big Western style pot of tea instead. It was actually quite a bit nicer than I expected it to be. The liquor has a thick syrupy quality to it that feels appropriate for the surprising notes of amber maple that are coming through. In addition to this sweeter component, it’s also quite fruity with a distinct ripe peach note that compliments a subtle creamy undertone and a more woody finish. Pretty complex, even for this Western style of steeping. I wasn’t really in the mood for a white tea at all when opened up my advents this morning, but I’m definitely having a very good time with it.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0pgjjIuitc/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xc7gCuGcXg

Spring 2023 Harvest
Brewed western style.

Dry leaves are beautiful, fine and golden.
Wet leaves smell of leather and caramelized sugar.

Sweet, caramel, sugarcane, malty. Light and delicious, with hints of burnt sugar and leather.

(Spring 2023 Harvest) Bouquet of flowers. Similar to pomelo flower, maybe even more perfumerie quality.

(Spring 2023 harvest) Florals and pencil lead on the nose. Some bitterness on the palate, somewhat astringent.

(Spring 2023 harvest) When brewed right, the aroma leaves me speechless. Perfection.

Desert island tea.

(Spring 2023 harvest) The aroma is heaven. Very very smooth. Top tier.

Spring 2023 harvest.

Brewed western style, lightly sweetened.

Wet tea leaves give off a sweet tangy red fruit and dark chocolate aroma, akin to a nice red wine.

Tea tastes of dried red fruits, cranberry, red apple, malt and cacao, with a pleasant hint of tannins. It’s very smooth, not too dark or bitter. There’re hints of cinnamon, pear and freshly baked wheat bread in the background, and a nice, slightly dry lingering finish.

I’ll have to update this review as I experiment with time, temperature and method. This tea was medium-light in body, though I’m sure with hotter water and more time it could be heavier and more tannic.

Overall a delicious tea. I’m very fond of teas with a red fruit flavor and this delivers that in spades, balanced with gentler malt, pear and bread notes.

This is a very nice Oolong. Grassy and fresh with a piquant jasmine floral note. Nothing offensive and quite mellow.

This is a great daily driver tea. It’s not offensive at all, the aroma is crisp and clean as is the taste. Decently long aftertaste of nice roastyness. Bitterness increases with each steep.

The brick is very dense and tightly pressed.

I got this as a free gift from Yunnan Sourcing during a promotion, so it was a really great price!

TTB tea! I’ve ended up trying a bunch of pure chrysanthemum through various TTBs, and I enjoy them every time. This one isn’t quite as juicy and fruity as some, but it was quite refreshing cold. The cold resteep was tasty too!

(Spring 2023) Faintly grapey, green plummy notes to the leaves, but doesn’t quite come through as much on the steep. In fact aroma is pretty mute, surprisingly. Palate is creamy, lactic, round & pleasing, with some floral echoes. Tried at 180 but resteeped at 195 for 2.5 mins and much better.

Ok. This is the first puerh that I can really get into… Dumping rinse of first steep was critical, and this is not too fishy. The tangerine definitely tempers the earth/dirt notes with some fruit. There is a fascination to the aromas. Like a real mycelial, loamy smell of freshly turned, decomposing wood chips. And it has decent smooth texture and body. Maybe my gateway puerh?