2017 Yunnan Sourcing Blinded Puerh Tasting Event Gamma & Delta

This is the second of three posts on a blind sampling event comprised of 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Brand Puerh (the first was here).  Things are progressing rather interestingly through this little event...

Cwyn of Death By Tea has kindly lent her notes and options on all 6 blind samples on her blog recently.  Thanks Cywn for that.

Scott of Yunnan Sourcing has just emailed me the top secret identities of these puerh so I have posted the identities of Part 1 and at the bottom of this post as well.  Before peeking at the identities of the Gamma & Delta I post these notes and guesses...

Gamma

The very small dry leaves smell of sweet notes, fruity strawberry and tropical notes and brisk slight pine/evergreen.

First infusion delivers a very smooth, very intensely sweet and pungent initial taste that slowly evolves into a pine, evergreen forest, and pungent sweet taste.  The aftertaste is of fruits but not overly sweet or pungent and slightly woody.  The mouthfeel is immediately thick and sticky in the mouth and tongue and slightly opening in the top throat.  This first infusion begins to stick to the teeth.

The second infusion has more deeper woody notes up front along with sweet fruit and almost malty tastes and even slight bitter tastes.  The pungent tastes almost come in the mid profile along with wood.  There is a nice cooling and sweet menthol like returning sweetness along with an almost dried fruit taste.  The mouth and throat feel are significant and sticky in the mouth.

The third infusion continues the progression of less intense fruity sweetness at the initial taste explosion and more of a deeper caramel rich sweetness that turns to woody notes and to pungent then back to sweet more fresh tropical fruit before become more of a malty dried fruit taste.  The sticky mouthfeel has a barely a touch of astringent dryness to it in the aftertaste.  This one has a bit of a punchy qi in the body that kicks at my empty stomach slightly.  I feel heavy in the shoulders and light in the neck and head.  The tea has notable body qi, that for sure.

The fourth infusion has a nice strong sweet banana and slight bitter balance in its initial taste which now taste a bit buttery.  It finishes a bit dry wood and a bit pungent and cooling menthol sweetness is less obvious that the drier wood taste.  Minutes later a tropical fruit undercurrent emerges with intense sweet fruity waves on the breath.  The qi makes the hands a bit jittery.

The fifth infusion comes together very nicely and pushes out intense waves of very full mouthfeel which ride out intense fruity notes.  The initial taste is barely bitter and has a rich creamy banana and pineapple sweetness there are garden sweet pea notes in the aftertaste along with fresh tropical fruit tastes.  The sweet fruit tastes linger on the breath there is a base taste of dry wood which adds depth to the taste.  This tea is a fragrant one.  The qi is mildly relaxing and unobtrusively stimulating.

The sixth infusion starts a bit drier in the mouth and the astringency is more noticeable here it starts with peach tasting woody barely creaminess now.  The fruit taste stretches over woody notes into the aftertaste which is still dominatingly sweet with a bit of coolness on the breath.  Deeper dry fruit notes emerge briefly.

The seventh infusion is a touch creamy sweet but is losing some of its more vibrant and interesting sweet fruit notes which appear more in the long aftertaste along with a dry woody taste.  The complexity of taste starts to wane a bit here. This infusion as well as the eighth was left to cool before consuming by accident so will affect the taste.

The eighth is much the same with a subtle corn taste in the initial taste some faint fruit in the aftertaste.  The dominant taste is now dry wood not sweetness and the mouthfeeling is more dry and astringent.

The ninth has 5 seconds added to flash brewing and is more creamy and fruity with a bitter astringency.  A dry woody taste dominates but there is still a tropical returning cool sweetness in there somewhere.  There is lots of fruitiness in these small tippy leaves.

The tenth is much the same and tastes much fruitier and less woody.  The fruit tastes remain vibrant and mouthfeel is more grainy than astringent especially on the tongue.

The eleventh the tastes becomes more cohesive and simple and the taste of mild wood and pear are noticed.  The twelfth is much the same.

The thirteenth is a grainy woody barely sweet tasting experience.  The fourteenth is 30 second steeped and pulls out more fruit but also a turbid bitter taste which is more dominant.

An overnight steep pulls out mild woody barely sweet tastes in a nice full mouthfeel.

Taste like a Jingmai to me with the sweet tipsiness and grainy tastes I guess it to be this 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Brand Jingmai.

Delta

The more compressed and larger sized dry leaves smell of intensely sweet juicy fruit notes and candy like bubble gum sweetness.  The leaves smell of Lincang material to me.

The first infusion has a salty/savory base taste which begins in the initial taste with a barely noticeable blip of sweetness.  The middle profile is salty and otherwise vacuous.  The aftertaste has a slow moving feeling of dry wood, barely coolness, barely sweetness, and then barely rubbery foresty taste.  The taste is quite mild in the first infusion and the mouthfeel starts off light.

The second infusion starts off almost bitter then has a savory sweet edge to it.  It slowly transitions to a woody foresty taste with a mild sweetness trailing throughout the profile. It finishes with distinct cereal notes.  The mouthfeel is thin but full coating and slightly dry on the tongue.  It simulates the upper throat.  Minutes later a rubbery turbid sweetness and cereal taste lingers on the breath.

The third infusion starts with a smooth slightly sweet grainy cereal note.  This taste starts to fade into the mid profile then intensifies slightly in the aftertaste.  The sweetness is dropped and a grainy taste lingers.

Fourth infusion has a slightly bitter grain sweetness initially.  The mouthfeel is a bit stronger now, slightly drying and gripping especially on the tongue and less in the throat. A dry cereal/ grainy slightly bitter taste dominates the profile.  The sweetness and subtlety of this tea disappears under this slightly stronger profile. A grape sweet taste lingers in the throat minutes later.

The fifth infusion starts with a burst of sweetness then moves to slightly bitter grains.  The aftertaste is a touch sweet and grapey in dry cereal taste.  This tea is not complex in taste and the bitterness definitely is significant enough to kick at the stomach.  This tea is something that requires aging and is not really a drink now tea but humbly I continue…

The sixth infusion starts of a touch watery, a touch grainy but mainly sweet and this cereal sweetness stretches into the aftertaste where it expands slightly.

The seventh is even sweeter.  This tea is starting to dramatically change with the sweet note dominating the profile.  It’s not an overly sweet note but more of a corn or grain type of sweetness.  There is a vegetable taste like broccoli in there as well.  The aftertaste turns a bit turbid rubbery in the throat.  The taste is a simple uncomplicated taste which suggests to me a single estate tea.

The eighth has a slight bitter edge to the grainy sweetness.  The sweetness glides through some mild dry wood tastes.  It finishes a bit turbid rubbery taste in the mouth.  The qi of this tea is not overly strong on the mind and has a mild alerting sensation to it and is slightly raw on the digestion.

The ninth infusion starts off with an almost buttery sweetness before slight bitter starts nudging in.  The mild sweetness rides out the taste just as it has done the last few infusions.  The mouthfeel is a touch dry but not overly so and is mainly felt in the tongue and upper throat.  The lips are sticky and stimulated as well.  The qi in the body seems to aggregate in the jaw and slightly in the chest.

The tenth and eleventh infusion are much the same.  I put this one to an overnight steeping earlier than usually because my stomach tells me to do so.  The next day it gives off a very complex thick dried fruit taste layered with lighter fruit and a pronounced bitterness.  There are complex cherry fruit tastes in there as well as peppery flavours.  The mouthfeel is profoundly thick.  This tea could likely go for many more infusions if aged as it still contains much robustness to be explored.

I think this could very well be a puerh picked in the Autumn.  It has that kind of feeling and profile to it.  This tea starts like a grainy cereal tasting Simao but kind of finishes like a vegetal and almost floral You Le character like this 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Brand Youle.  So, I’m going to guess the Youle.

I'll be back in a few minutes to reveal which puerh these are when I check that email...

Peace

Answers:

2017 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Bang" Ancient Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake  <--- amma="" font="">

2017 Yunnan Sourcing "Jing Mai" Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake  <--- elta="" font="">


Double Peace