Yunnan Sourcing

Tasting my last sample portion today.

Warming, pleasant astringency with a drying sensation on the tongue. Wet tobacco and leaf.

Spring 2023: Incredible tea. Much smaller leaves than I was expecting, as I am accustomed to seeing the larger-leaf style Yunnan teas. This one might still be large by comparison to many other teas, but definitely on the finer side for Yunnan tea. Also much more golden than I was expecting – There is less black than shown in the vendor’s picture.

Smell is amazing, with a nice honey sweetness, chocolatey notes, and sweet potato fragrance. These notes translate very much into the taste, with milk chocolate, sweet potato, and honey at the forefront. You also get other typical Yunnan flavors which creep in at times, with occasional notes of hay, spice, grapes, and the faintest whispers of smoke.

The sweet potato seems most prominent in this one. I can taste the milk chocolate notes, but shared with a couple of family members who couldn’t agree on the chocolate but were definitely feeling the sweet potato.

This sheng has medium body and a soft, creamy mouthfeel with very little astringency. It is quite vegetal with decent bitterness., sweetness and umami, as well as more sour fruity and floral notes.

The flavour reminds me of apples and leafy forests, while the aroma is more earthy with notes like celery. There is also a toni-like bitterness in the aftertaste.

Spring 2023 harvest: I also purchased what I believe is lower grade of this tea – I’m not sure, because the website doesn’t spell it out – but I believe the “Yunnan Green Spring Snail Bi Luo Chun Green Tea” is lower grade of this same tea? Anyways, these two teas are much more similar than different. I love the aroma of both teas, with a strong peanut butter-like scent unlike any other tea I have experienced. Very nutty green tea!

This higher grade seems to have more prominent vegetal notes, however, with asparagus being prominent in smell and taste, rather than the lighter “grassy” notes in the the lower grade of tea. Absolutely lovely tea! Another great one from Yunnan Sourcing!

I’m not sure whether I prefer the lower grade or the higher grade at the moment, so I am scoring both the same and will continue sipping on the two until I can decide. Probably will adjust my scores one way or another.

If only they would offer some great ginseng oolong teas, I think I could find everything I need at Yunnan Sourcing. I’m pretty certain that next time I order I will pick up a bit of puerh, because I also enjoy those teas once in a while, and it really seems to be their “main thing.” They have such a wonderful selection of almost every type of tea, though. I know I am gushing like some kind of paid shill for Yunnan Sourcing, but they really do have an awesome thing going on there, with loads of interesting teas available at reasonable prices. The only catch is the hassle and expense of shipping from China, but you can avoid that if you choose to purchase through the separate “US” website, at least if you are a US customer.

Another store I was mad-impressed with is Silk Road Teas (the San Franscisco-based company, not the Canadian one) – I think they have one of the best selections of Chinese teas, and I haven’t placed an order with them since the early days of my tea obsession. I really need to revisit them soon. Between Yunnan Sourcing and Silk Road Teas, I have my two favorites.

I really like this sheng. The aroma is complex and very pleasant, at first like a sweet orchard, then more like a nutty meadow. It has a full body and a thick oily mouthfeel that’s at the same time quite light and smooth.

The taste is sweet and extremely floral, but also fairly nutty and bitter like sage and walnuts.

There is a glorious sweet spot to this tea. If steeped at just the right (mysterious) parameters, it smells and tastes a little like brioche, wheatgrass, and osmanthus (edit: originally mixed up my flowers here). It’s mildly sweet, verging on buttery, as well as slightly nutty and honey-infused. It’s thick feeling — even rich at times. It reminds me of the sweet-smelling grasses and vegetation in Hawaii (also, the sweetgrass in my own region). It’s such a joyful flavour/aroma profile.

I’m not sure if this is characteristic of this tea or because it’s oxidized overtime to the point that black tea characteristics are now present (it’s a 2021 harvest). I love it though! (OK, looking up the website’s description, sounds like this is just what this tea is like. Amazing).

In other steeps, I sometimes get a slightly bitter and sour vegetal-wood note (think asparagus and pine notes) in addition to the above-mentioned characteristics, That also is an enjoyable cup; the nippier quality of this profile mellows and diversifies out as it cools too. The general complexity and richness makes it a dynamic multi-steeper and a rewarding tea to commit to.

Steep Count: 4

Spring 2023: Some green chestnut, some apricot, some grassy florals (maybe dandelion?). Nothing really pops on this one, though. An enjoyable, but not great, tea. I suspect this would make a decent iced tea.

[Spring 2023 harvest]

Really good black tea with a thick liquor and a complex taste.

The dry leaf aroma is cosy with strong notes of tomato vine, nuts, and malt. Wet leaves, on the other hand, smell more like chestnuts, cocoa, and acorn. The tea has a smooth, creamy mouthfeel and a woody and nutty taste. There are flavours of almond shells, roasted peanuts, and muscovado sugar. In the sweet and spicy aftertaste, there are further hints of peach and cinnamon.

Love the aroma of this tea! It is so nutty that it almost smells like peanut butter, but also with some hints of spice (coriander?) and a pleasant mild grassiness. The nuttiness is prominent in the taste as well, with some sweetness and a little bit of a grassy bite to make things more interesting. This might become an “everyday” tea for me!

Spring 2023: Dry leaves have a pleasant, sweet, fresh-baked bread type of smell. Steeping western style, I would recommend one minute for the first steep at 175° – 185°. Definitely steep at a lower temperature and a lesser duration because this one does get fairly bitter if over-steeped. Nice balance of fruity, grassy, and nutty tones all coming together to make a fairly complex tea that just feels good and has a nice lasting aftertaste. Almond, green apple, lemon zest, not a small amount of grassy/hay-like notes (none of which I find offensive unless steeped too long), and along with the grassy notes there are some slight hints of spice such as coriander.

There is a clear flowery Mengku character here, but the tea also has a slight off-putting bone broth taste. I couldn’t quite warm up to it in my first session. The sweet and cooling aroma is, however, attractive.

This tea has only a light bitterness, but a lot of sugar beet sweetness. It has a smooth and silky mouthfeel and its aftertaste is a bit sour and very floral.

Specific aromas remind me of conifer forest, butter, mint, and carrot cake. In terms of flavours, there are many vegetal ones, such as broccoli, spring onion, celery stalk, and bell peppers.

Finished a sample of this tea from my own dry storage. Quite different compared to the one that was more humid-stored from mrmopar. Depth and punch are similar but my own is notably greener, more like yerba mate — slight smoke and moderate alkaline savoriness with a strong herbaceous hay-tobacco note, but topped off with a heap of pollen, a chunk of beeswax, and later, a spoonful of apricot jam.

Two nights in a row of 2013 Chen Sheng Hao Na Ka sheng — from mrmopar 5 years ago? Hope you’re well tea friend.

Plastic baggie California storage ain’t no thing to this tea. Champ leaf. Roasted barley nose. Starts moderately date-sweet, then quickly moves astringent with the second cup. That softens with the next 8 or so steeps as cactus bitters prickle my tastebuds. Bittersweet throat. Ends gently sweet with the long steeps. The sheng that end sweet make it feel like a complete experience. Only issue is it’s a bit thin some pours.

This had been humid-stored before it landed in my cupboard. Wet, decaying wood and some rain-filled ashtray notes. Sounds notsogood, but if you know what you’re getting into, it might be a welcome flavor. This tea, both evenings, has paired well with laying down in bed :)

Jin Jun mei sampler. Spoilers: None of them are high quality jin jun mei, professional sommeliers might not consider any of these real jin jun mei. All the brews came out red or orange instead of golden. The set is $44/200g, it’s on me to think it’s possible to get the real stuff at this price point. The teas taste fine, but these are fancy lapsangs at best.

sold for $44

https://yunnansourcing.us/products/introduction-to-jin-jun-mei-black-tea-sampler

Loose black tea leaves. Sugary smell from dry leaves, yam scent from wet leaves, this one does taste good when you flash steep it and ONLY when you flash steep it. Honey, malt, light fruit.

Problem: The tea isn’t made out of buds, and real Jin Jun Mei is an all buds tea. Most leaves are broken, majority at 0.5 – 0.75 inches, longest at 1 inch.

The tea is reminiscent of a Jin Jun Mei and tastes pretty good if you steeped it the right way, but it’s still not a Jin Jun Mei, like how a good salmon roe is not a caviar. For that reason points are deducted, but this is the better tea from Yunnan Sourcing’s Jin Jun Mei sampler.

sold for $7.50 / 50g

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/classic-robust-jin-jun-mei-black-tea-of-fujian?variant=32460494110823

Yunnan Sourcing included a generous sample of about 16.3 grams of this tea with my recent order. Dry leaves don’t seem nearly as green as what is pictured, and what I have here is more a mixture of green and brown. It is now roughly 10 months after harvest, so maybe the leaves have oxidized more in the packaging? I don’t know. There are quite a few white tips evident in the dry leaf. At first I thought a lot of twigs were included in the mix, but I think this is mostly due to the “large leaf” nature of the Yunnan tea – the stems are larger and more prominent as well, maybe? There are some rather large twigs.

Brews to a nice clear amber color, with the wet leaves giving me a smell reminiscent of Darjeeling black tea. The flavor is kind of similar to a second flush Darjeeling, too, with muscatel notes, but also with a pleasant oakiness. Much lighter in body than a typical black tea, of course. It is pretty nice, and a good value for the price.

I prefer the much greener bai mu dan I purchased a while back from English Tea Store – It had more delicate but delicious flavors including hints of mint, pine, apricot, green grape, etc – But was also a bit more expensive.

On the other hand, I would prefer this to the “pai mu tan” I purchased from Harney and Sons not too long ago – That one was kind of blah.

Seems to me to be down the road a ways and somewhere between a bai mu dan and a shou mei. That is pretty much alright with me, as I like a good shou mei. Never purchased a proper one, but maybe this is more akin to a gong mei?

Another winner from Yunnan Sourcing. I am drinking the Spring 2023 version of this tea, and find it to be quite nice. It is reminiscent to me of the Spring Pouchong I tried from English Tea Store, but also has its own unique characteristics. Dry leaves are beautifully formed and very much as pictured.

I think the ideal brewing temp might be around 185°, but works very well with the insta-hot water dispenser at my office, which I suppose is around 195°. I notice honeydew melon, (lilac?) florals, and a touch of creamy lemon curd in the flavor. Also pleasant hints of grassiness. I brew western style, first steep 2 min, second steep 3 min, and third steep 4-5 minutes seems to work well with this tea. I notice the flavors seem to pop more on the second steep, so might try adjusting my first steep to get similar results. Awesome tea!

Jin Jun Mei. Dry leaves smelled like toffee, wet leaves smell like burnt yam, I flash steeped this and the burnt scent still can be picked up from the tea. This might be the maltiest tea I ever had, light in sweetness and fruitiness. However it completely lacks the floral quality a jin jun mei should have, I feel like I’m drinking Horlick without sugar. Doesn’t taste bad, but this does not taste like a high quality jin jun mei.

sold for $8.25/ 50g

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/premium-grade-aa-jin-jun-mei-fujian-black-tea-of-wu-yi-shan-1?variant=43188282589383

Just beautiful – Glad I chose to go with Yunnan Sourcing for my latest tea order! This is everything I want in a black tea – Strong, assertive taste without bitterness, orchid florals, nice peachy notes (like a good dark formosa oolong), honey-like sweetness, and some nice chocolate-y notes (without going too far in that direction). And all that without breaking the bank. The dry tea leaves are beautifully formed, clearly reflecting the one leaf/one bud picking. And I can’t believe they offer a higher “imperial” version of this one – That is definitely going on my list next time I make an order. This tea is magical.