2018 Yunnan Sourcing Jingmai (2017 material)

This was the only one I decided to cake sample out of the lot of samples I ordered from Yunnan Sourcing a month or so ago.  This Lucy wrapper always makes my children smile, I think it’s a beautiful thing and the reason this wrapper is one of my favorites.  Of course, the wrapper is not why I purchased the puerh in the first place but rather the good reviews, a nice promotional tasting video by Scott, but mainly due to the fact that I am interested in the pressing of maocha that has been aged a bit before pressing.  Did I mention that this puerh goes for $64.00/ 250g cake or $0.26/g.… that is pretty cheap… another reason, I caked this sample…

This puerh was apparently found (?) as maocha by Scott one year after it was picked in the Spring of 2017.  Scott describes the taste as a very unique taste profile.  He doesn’t state weather its plantation or gushu or anything like this maybe because he wasn’t directly involved with the production of it… I’m not sure, but it cleanly passed the pesticide testing….

Ok let’s see what this one is all about…

The dry leaves smell of intense almost Kobucha like sour fruitiness.  There is a sweet and sour fruit odour that is deeply penetrating.

The first infusion has a sour and dough but not sourdough onset backed by a citrus almost grapefruit and peachy taste.  There are other fruity tastes that layer this initial profile. The mouthfeel is thick and almost astringent in the mouth and throat and give the tea a thick and strong mouthfeeling in the first infusion.  The throat sensation is strong and moderately deep.

The second infusion starts off with edges of fruity sour tastes thick thick thick in the mouth and throat.  The fruity taste feels really strong and is dense and layered with sour, and bread-like tastes.  There are edges of bitterness but more sour astringency than bitter.  The throat and mouthfeel are quite stimulating.  There is some mild pungency then sour fruity tastes.  The thorat stimulation is strong, a sticky almost sandy but opening astringency.

The third infusion starts a touch bitter and touch astringent with a blood orange taste with nuances of peach and even strawberry.  The fruity taste and the sour taste predominate.  The mouthfeeling is thick and coating a bit griping.  The Qi is pretty strong and pushes me into a sweat on the forehead here.  The face flushes and the chest feels almost tight.  My wife comments here, “this is powerful tea”.

The fourth infusion is mainly sour and has suggestions of grapefruit, strawberries, sour peach, fermenting sourness, delicious sour fruit.  There is a touch of a woody thing but the sour is thick, just kicked out some mild pungent.  Mainly sour fruit, distinct and thick.

The fifth infusion has a sour, almost bitterness happening.  There is a nice creamy returning sweetness here under the astringency, and bitterness.  The fruit note is thick.  The mouthnfeeling and throatfeeling is almost sandy, sticky, and astringent.  The throat is quite stimulated with the astringency there.

The sixth infusion is getting more astringent and bitter and the mouthfeeling is more astringent.  The fruitiness is distinct.  The astringency continues to build.  The throat is almost gripping.  The Qi is an alerting type with a tight feeling in the body, like a hug.

The seventh infusion starts of thick sour fruit, slight woody ferment base with astringency and bitter underlying.  This tea is definitely engaging and strong… punchy.  Thick mouthcoating.  There is a strength about it that gets you going, an active qi type sensation.

The eighth infusion starts a touch more fruity and the astringency is a touch dry with less of a thick dense mouthcoating.  It is almost an astringent dryness with a fruity tone underneath.

The ninth has a much stronger fruity explosion now.  It paints the tongue in an astringent fruity note.  There is some mild pungent coolness, then returning faint creamy sweetness and more sour fruitiness.  I can feel the tight Qi in the body.  A tight hug, some tight chest feeling, that is not at all bothersome but more soothing and energizing.

The 10^th starts bitter but fruity and nice strawberry almost peach like sweetness.  Sometimes this puerh tastes like cheap strawberry flavored wine.  The mouthfeel is much less now, almost sandy.

The 11^th becomes even bitterer and somewhat astringent with fruit notes lying underneath.  The taste really flattens out here and never really recovers…

The 12^th is bitter and sour fruit from the onset.  The fruit note is definitely still there but the mouthfeel has lost its depth and there is an astringent flatness to the infusions now.    

The 13^th is the last I attempt before putting it into overnight infusions.  It has a flat sandy mouthfeeling, astringent throat feeling and is subtly fruity and sour underneath.

Overall, it tastes a lot like Korean Balhyocha but with much more layered depth in the first infusions.  The first infusions are very tasty and feel quite full in the mouth.  Qi here is a tight body feeling and some stimulating power.  The stamina here is not good leading me to believe that this is likely terrace/ plantation Jingmai.  On the plus side, It comes with a really nice price tag and I quite enjoy the taste, mouthfeeling, and Qi of the first handful of infusions.  It comes on strong.

The above session I leafed it real hard.  I’ve had a chance to steep this puerh a few times and it seems to be better leafed a bit lighter due to its strength and bitter astringency.  Overall a nice puerh, a bit unique for its price…

Peace

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

Yunnan Sourcing Tasting Event Nu (2013 Yunnan Sourcing Jingmaishan )

 One revisits this sample now after about a month.  This is another late entery from the Yunnan Sourcing Half-Dipper Tasting Event...

The larger darker coloured dry leaves smell of mild distant foresty pungent notes.

The first infusion pours a brown yellow and tastes of thick, muddled forest mushroomy notes. There is a sweet wild flowery edge and a taste of slight spice and even a slight creamy sweetness. The creamy sweet taste comes last and expands in the upper throat. It lingers minutes after.

The second infusion has tastes of soupy, woody, mixed mushroom in its initial presentation. These are slight bitter and sour note at first but dissipate slowly throughout the profile. These tastes then expand into sweeter florals and heavier creamy sweetness. The mouthfeel is full and paints the mouth in sticky, thick coating which reaches into the mid throat. It is here where a heavy creamy sweet taste is left in the mouth. The qi is felt mainly in the chest as ones respiration subtly adjusts and the mind becomes light.

The third infusion has ripe, heavy, distinctly fruity edges which present first with lots of depth. It follows some thick depth before a slight minty edge in there as well found in the throat. The aftertaste is heavy ripe fruits that feel thick with the full heavy mouthfeel.

The fourth comes with bitter tastes that over whelm the heavy fruity base. A nectar taste is left in the mouth stuck to the heavier mouthfeel. There is now a deep foresty-woody base that is revealed. A slight cooling mint taste shows briefly in the throat. The sweet heavy fruit taste is left in the aftertaste minutes later. The qi is powerful especially on the mind- it feels great.

The fifth is a woody, bitter, barely fruity taste. It has a grittier forest profile that plays out nicely. Only a very slight sweet floral is left behind in the aftertaste.

In the sixth infusion is much the same as the fifth mainly just bitter flat woody forest taste.

In the seventh and eighth there is a taste of fruits in a bitter, woody-forest base. The menthol-mint taste still shows although much more muddled now. The menthol taste is deep and seems to open up the chest as it echoes in the throat even minutes later.

Guess: 2013 Wa Long  ???

Actual: 2013 Jing Mai

2009 Fangmingyuan Jingmai

This cake is 1 of 3 that one piggy backed on a friends Taobao Order (the other reviewed being the 2008 Fangmingyuan Bama). Let's see how this cake stands up on this chilly spring day...

The dry leaves are small-medium in size with odours of muted, earthy, and musty earth-forest.

The first infusion delivers a flat, watery, sweet-spicy almost cinnamon taste up front which develops into a spicy, light creamy floral finish. Overall the taste is very faint. The mouthfeel is a touch sticky and thin in the mouth. There is a long creamy aftertaste with some sweet strawberry finish in there as well.

The second infusion sees barely sweet muted flavours over a slightly flat-bland forest-earth taste. This taste develops into faint, sweet, almost berry-like soft notes with a slight bland taste. The mouthfeel is full and slightly coarse in the mouth.

The thrid infusions offers muted-bland tastes upfront with just some creamy notes and faint notes of berry-sweetness found in the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is full, even gripping in the middle-low throat, and still a touch coarse in the mouth. The qi is such that it brings heat to the head and relaxes the mind to the point that things feel slow and look clear.

The fourth infusion has a distinct muted-bland-bitter taste upfront but this time a bit of sweet fruit tries to be noticed underneath the initial taste profile. The aftertaste is slightly creamy and sweet-fruity under the bland-bitter notes. The tongue feels gritty and the teeth sticky- this tea grips somewhat deeply in the throat.

In the fifth infusion the bitter-bland taste has retreated somewhat in the initial taste with more faint mellow creamy notes lingering with a flash of cinnamon. Certain simple fruit notes pop up in the aftertaste over a blandish base taste.

The sixth and seventh infusions see the bitter-bland taste has dropped off leaving some simple creamy notes somewhat suppressed as well. A softer, vague creaminess lingers in the aftertaste with a very subtle spice and nutty fruitiness. The mouthfeel is deep and grainy.

The eighth infusion develops a soft, grainy-bitter initial taste with butter-creamy finish. A simple taste with a simple course mouthfeel is left in the mouth.

The following infusions see very simple tastes of watery berry sweetness with a bitter-bland base taste.

Link to Hobbes (The Half-Dipper) Tasting Notes

Peace

2010 Essence of Tea Bang Wai

This tea is another of the fresh new sheng offerings from Nada at Essence of tea. This one is from the village Bang Wai near the famous Jing Mai.

As steam from the boil fogs the inside of windows, one examines the dry leaf. The loosely pressed leaves smell of musky, rich tobacco. The note is noticeably sweet.

These leaves are placed in yixing and flash rinsed. The first infusion bears a distinct mild corn taste with bean flavours that also come and go gently. There is also an earthy, slightly mushroom taste somewhere in the mix. The taste starts a touch creamy and finishes a touch dry. There is something almost meaty about the taste. The aftertaste is of bland pungency.

The second infusion has a very mild, smooth creaminess at first, then corn and bean flavours follow. There is a present bland taste that occurs with these flavours but is more apparent in the finish. The aftertaste is also much the same but also with more of an overall bland taste to it. The mouthfeel has a certain thick viscosity to it.

The third infusion has more of an overarching pungent sweetness that emerges. The mild, slightly creamy vegetable flavours really start to come out here. The chaqi is already apparent and all indications point to a strong qi sensation with the core of ones body starting to warm.

In the fourth infusion much of the sweetness and mild vegetable flavours have dropped off considerably. Left is a slightly sweet flush of cream which trails off to mild pungent tastes that hint at tobacco.

The chaqi is very warming for such young puerh. The core of the body seems fortified with qi as the warmth is held tight.

The fifth infusion is mild and creamy at first then turns watery. There is a slight sweet pungent mushroom taste that is a touch spicy. The flavours of this tea are quite mild across the board although they show enough complexity to keep one amused. The mouthfeel is not strong as well but is sticky and blanketing.
The sixth and seventh infusions start with a sweet note that fades into a flatter, grainy/ corn sweetness. There is almost a candy-like quality to the very very mild sweetness found throughout this tea. A mild floral aftertaste develops.
Although this tea is characterized by mild taste and feel the chaqi is quite the opposite. It makes ones mind turn and turn while ones body feels extraordinarily calm and light.

This tea doesn't go bitter nor does it really wash out, it has a strange kind of stamina which carries these mild flavours for many infusions. One ends the session with a renewed sense of energy within.
Link to Adam's (The Sip Tip) Tasting Notes
Link to Hobbes' (The Half-Dipper) Tasting Notes
Link to Sabestian's (Vacuithe) Tasting Notes
Peace