Yunnan Sourcing US

This is a fairly tasty ripe puerh with a nice amount of sweetness, very little bitterness, and a moderate amount of fermentation flavor left. I was also experimenting with my new tea toy, the autobrewer from Yunnan Sourcing USA. The first two steeps came out pretty tasty, the third steep was a little weak. The autobrewer is big at 12oz so I didn’t try for a fourth. It does work pretty well, just like in the video on the Yunnan Sourcing Facebook page. You use a small amount of tea but the autobrewer takes about two and a half minutes to brew so it is more like western brewing. It called for 5 to 7 grams of tea and I used about 5.2g or so. Next time I would try the seven gram amount. I wouldn’t want to load the thing with tea like people frequently do for gongfu brewing because you can’t control the brewing time. You could easily fit 15g of tea in it or 20g but I think you would get ridiculously strong tea as it would still brew for 2 1/2 minutes. The autobrewer is a nifty device but it is not gongfu.

First person to review… Well I’ll jump right in! I just recieved this today with my order from scott @ Yunnan Sourcing and it was beautiful. It has filled my cupboard with a sweet cacao aroma. The disk is mostly black with golden “zebra” stripes. It smells of dark cacao and a red grapes. I picked off a generous amount to flash steep in my gaiwan. It can apart easily and smoothly which I enjoyed. Upon brewing, the scent became scrumptious. It smelled of dark fudge and maple syrup. I rinsed the leaves and prepared to consume. I poured out a cup with excitement to taste the delectable brew. The flavor was somewhat disappointing. This is a very decent Dian hong and especially good for the price, but the aroma is misleading. It tastes very bold and robust. The initial flavor is almost identical to Assam. Its a very rustic wood smoke flavor. Its almost difficult to get down with the expectation of a desert flavor. I still enjoyed it thoroughly. Its has a sweetened coffee like flavor. The sweetness does present itself but only until after a few steepings. The flavor of maple sugar and currant fill your senses as a an aftertaste. The liquor is a crimson ruby color and continues this way well into steeping. This is a great value Dian Hong, and its interesting to get black tea in cake form. Yunnan Sourcing never disappoints.

so i already have my beloved ceramic Pristine 2-4 cup English teapot/teaball combo and my equally-beloved Teavana easy tea thingy, but i realized i really wanted to try this gong fu brewing style, what with my continued obsession with all things oolong (and interest in exploring puerhs, raw and ripe!). Enter the Glass “Easy Gaiwan” made for Gong Fu Tea Brewing * 200ml.

This thing is AWESOME! now, i have no way to compare it to other gaiwans, not having used/owned one ever before, but this one surely is a fun and delicious way to enjoy an afternoon (or few days’ worth) of tea. the glassness allows you to watch as your tea unfurls during steeps, the little “handles” plus the knob on the lid keep your fingers lovely and cool while you’re pouring the tea. my favorite bit is that the spout pours PERFECTLY, this is coming from someone who manages to spill any liquid that comes within 30 feet of me, so that’s saying something.

at any rate, this was an inexpensive little item, worth every penny, and even my little boy, who normally ignores mommy’s tea habit, watched me brewing with this and told me this little teapot is really cool. LOL!

get one, i totally recommend.

This tea is mildly astringent with a fairly strong roasted barley taste. At least that is the closest to an accurate description I can give it. Its not bad and not great in my book. I am sure however that some people would absolutely love it.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

Bought more of this not remembering I already had it. It tastes pretty good this morning. It has a fair amount of fermentation taste to it. It also has a sweet note. Yunnan Sourcing USA is apparently now out of stock as they no longer list it on their website. I was lazy this morning and this got brewed western style.

I brewed this one time in a 160z Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 30 seconds after a 10 second rinse.

Brewed this one this morning. I won’t change the rating even though it doesn’t taste as good today. My taste buds are off today. I somehow have a cut in my mouth. It hits the spot though.

I brewed this once in an 18 oz teapot with 9g leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

This is an excellent ripe puerh from Yunnan Sourcing USA. I did not have time to gongfu this today but brewed it western style. Still I get nice notes of either plums or apricots, not sure if I would have gotten them had I not added sugar. This is a mildly sweet puerh with a moderate amount of fermentation flavor left. It is not overpowering.

I brewed this twice in an 18oz teapot with boiling water and 8g leaf. I brewed it for 45 sec and 25 sec.