Yunnan Sourcing

Spring 2023: A good amount of smoke, some grassiness, strong chestnut notes, and a broth-like feel to this tea. Savory and thick. Quite a bit different from most of the other Yunnan green teas I have sampled on my recent order from Yunnan Sourcing due to the smoke, but it isn’t overbearing or offensive in any way. In fact, the smoke is a contributor to the savory qualities of the tea and can give the impression of bacon or similar flavors. Not my favorite of the bunch, but definitely another nice and worthwhile Yunnan green tea.

Spring 2023: Keemun black tea is a touchstone for me, as it is the first style of tea that I really fell in love with. Over the years I have tried various grades, and I really haven’t found any Keemuns that I don’t like. I’m always looking forward to a cup of this old standby.

In this offering from Yunnan Sourcing, I find that rose is the most prominent note, with some oakiness to back it up, and some hints of dark chocolate. Not super complex, but rather the tea seems more refined, clear, and clean – probably reflective of its higher grade. There is also an oily texture to the tea, which coats the mouth and lingers.

Prepared in my Jian Shui gaiwan, and served in my porcelain tea cup via my glass cha hai. Filtered Santa Monica municipal water just off the boil throughout.

Dry leaf is brightly aromatic with notes of stone fruit, melon, wildflowers, and alfalfa. The brewed tea evinces the same elements but with more subtlety. Hints of chocolate and malt as well.

Tawny to Titian Red liquor depending on steep times.

Flavor is gently vegetal/savory with malt and grass intermingling. Blind, I’m not sure I could identify this as a black tea as there are flavors that bring to mind white or even green tea as well. Delicate and complex with a grainy/grassy finish. Hints of fresh water chestnuts and wood ear. If pushed, more dark chocolate flavors emerge, but at the cost of bitterness and a touch of astringency/sourness.

Quite energizing – caffeine made me break up the session over a couple mornings.

Unique but at this price I won’t pick up a cake.

[Spring 2023 harvest]

I am not very fond of this vintage. It has a decent aroma, similar to the previous ones. However, the flat taste is not so pleasant overall. The tea is a bit sour and has some dryness to it that rubs me the wrong way. In any case, as a tea to dring with breakfast it is still fine.

Backlog and Sipdown

I noted in my log over the weekend that this was a good “fresh, green, vibrant, & sweet” tea. I noted that based on the price of the cake, currently, I’d probably avoid buying more than the 25g. I don’t mind the rare money drop on a single cake, but it has to be worth it.

Walnut bread, decaying acorns and leaves, very woody and dark. This shou has a phantom sweetness when you first sip, like white chocolate, but then it’s immediately gone and the flavor is aged wood, raw walnuts in the shell, oak vanillins, and lake water. Muted in the mid-palate, but silky and round with a playful, light saltiness. The wet leaf aroma is sweet old wood, like antique Amish furniture, or an old, worn, wooden rowboat.

Spring 2023: Very similar in taste to the Wild Tree Purple Moonlight White Tea from Jinggu, but I find less of the cannabis notes here. Both are incredible teas. Here you have apricot/grape and sometimes Darjeeling-like fruitiness and lychee florals, set against a cannabis-like bitterness which is intriguing. Pleasant lingering aftertaste.

Spring 2023 harvest: Intensely malty. Whole wheat crackers, very little sweetness. Strong aroma of Wheat Thins, sun dried tomato, bitter boiled roses, and a hint of cigar. The vegetal / floral bitterness fades away after a few steeps, leaving a very nice cocoa cookie / chocolate graham cracker flavor that lasts through several steeps and lingers on the tongue. Love the appearance: silky black and gold pellets covered in bud dust / hairs. Great quality for the price.

Spring 2023: Another wonderful green tea from YS! Dry leaf fragrance is awesome, smells almost like an apple pie. Complex flavor with apple sweetness, but also hints of herbs and cinammon, florals, cooked veggies, and a buttery texture. Only drawback is it seems to have a really drying effect on my mouth, so probably wouldn’t pick this to drink every day.

Nice aroma and good flavours, but ultimately this tea lack something special to stand out for me. It has a flleting taste with a good hoppy bitterness and nut much sweetness. However, one can find sour, woody, nutty, malty, bready, fruity, floral and even smoky qualities.

Spring 2023: Lovely winey black tea. Not unlike a good Keemun, with perhaps less orchid/rose florals and with more cinnamon notes. Very fruity with plum and dark grape notes, hints of chocolate, and buttery texture. Yes, this one is a joy to drink!

Spring 2023: Wow, this one has an “Indian spice” scent to the dry leaf/brewed tea – maybe like a garam masala? Has sauteed onions flavor, some oakiness, and a few herbal/spicy notes that come through into the flavor. Also a bit of pleasant grassiness, not too rough. It is nice enough, but not sure if I would seek it out again.

The dry leaves smell like tamarind and after steeping for 15 to 20 minutes, the notes transform from marshmallow without the overwhelming sweetness to a noticeable cinnamon. However, the flavor is still morbing as I am writing this. This tea is more on the savory side. Pleasant to drink!

Robust and slick, that’s how I think of this Dian Hong. It has a fairly classic profile with strong chocolate/cocoa notes. It is sweet, woody, a touch bitter and drying. It also reminds me a bit of eucalyptus, partly in the flavour, partly due to the cooling, astringent mouthfeel. Generally, the liquor is pretty thick and satisfying.

Spring 2023: Wow, this tea is really different! Has a fruity/strongly cannabis-like aroma to the leaves. The dry leaf smell is very strong and intoxicating when I stick my nose into the bag. The leaves are beautiful, larger-leaf white tea leaves, in varying shades of green. The brewed tea is lighter yellow in color with notes of lychee florals, mint, peach, cannabis, and green grape.

Spring 2023: Love this. A very delicate green tea. Sweet and nutty with soft florals and notes of juniper. Nice complexity with some lingering aftertaste.

Spring 2023: A nice cup of flowers! Very floral oolong tea. Sweet. Another great find from Yunnan Sourcing. I think the processing of this tea is somewhat unusual for “duck shit” varietal Dan Cong oolong, but I am not very knowledgeable about this tea. IMO, not a bad idea to use this processing method.

Spring 2023: The dry leaves don’t have much aroma but look very nice. The tea does smell like stewed fruit once brewed, but not a lot of fruit in the taste. This tea leans more vegetal/herbal. Strong notes of celery and herbs like parsley and oregano. Nuttiness in the background, with a good amount of sweetness which is kind of masked by the herbal notes. Maybe some lemongrass. I can agree with previous reviewer that there are flavors of grilled vegetables, green pepper, and a whisper of smoke.

This is a very interesting tea overall, as I haven’t had too many with this kind of flavor profile. I can see why maybe puerh drinkers would enjoy this, and I would venture to guess that the parsley/oregano herbal notes in this tea are the same kind of notes which translate into the “medicinal” notes commonly found in puerh teas. I think I see a similarity there.