Yunnan Sourcing LLC - Reviews

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


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May 20th, '08, 23:02
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by Salsero » May 20th, '08, 23:02

augie wrote: Pu Ehr needs a less prissy cup to drink from tho, maybe?
I don't know. After seeing how good it looks in Trioxin's European style teacup, I am thinking maybe gong fu is NOT the only way to go. I think a nice puerh would look great in that cup, Augie, although a week ago I probably would have pooh-poohed the idea, so to speak.

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May 21st, '08, 00:12
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by Trioxin » May 21st, '08, 00:12

Thanks for the compliment on my cups everyone. I'm still jealous of everyone elses cups and pots though.

As far as drinking pu out of an European cup,.. I like it. I drink a lot of tea, so being able to drink a whole cup at a time is nice, besides, I'm European. Also, the larger cup gives you a better idea of the color and clarity of the tea.

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May 21st, '08, 20:58
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by augie » May 21st, '08, 20:58

Trioxin wrote:As far as drinking pu out of an European cup,.. I like it. I drink a lot of tea, so being able to drink a whole cup at a time is nice, besides, I'm European. Also, the larger cup gives you a better idea of the color and clarity of the tea.
I was just thinking that to myself this past week. I have several hand-thrown pottery tea cups that I bought at a fundraiser. I adore the way they look on the kitchen window ledge. I hate the way they feel in my mouth, sipping. Not comfortable at all. Maybe I am just destined to drink from an english set?

Triox: Your Momiji cup is the perfect warm color for tea. Pu Ehr brings out the warm tones in the leaf and gold trim.

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May 26th, '08, 00:55
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Xiaguan "Golden 8100" Raw Cake

by Salsero » May 26th, '08, 00:55

Wow is this cake tightly compressed! For those who keep track of such things, I brewed it gong fu 5.00 g in 120 ml pot, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 23 s, 40 s, 1 m, 2.5 m, 2 m.

I was quite happy with the first infusion: flavorful, white fruits, some body, very smooth. Smoky? I settled in for a nice session. But from there on it just seemed to get weaker. Especially since I don't normally rinse sheng, I expect bigger flavor in the second, third, and even fourth infusions. This one seemed to just get watery, and the later, long infusions were quite rough on the mouth.

This has happened to me with several teas lately, notably all the Pride of Menghai series. I don't know if it is me or maybe Menghai cakes. I will give it another try later with more leaf.

Does anyone have enough knowledge to generalize about Menghai puerh characteristics? Should I change my brewing approach?

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May 26th, '08, 01:33
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Re: Xiaguan "Golden 8100" Raw Cake

by Trioxin » May 26th, '08, 01:33

Salsero wrote:Wow is this cake tightly compressed! For those who keep track of such things, I brewed it gong fu 5.00 g in 120 ml pot, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 23 s, 40 s, 1 m, 2.5 m, 2 m.

I was quite happy with the first infusion: flavorful, white fruits, some body, very smooth. Smoky? I settled in for a nice session. But from there on it just seemed to get weaker. Especially since I don't normally rinse sheng, I expect bigger flavor in the second, third, and even fourth infusions. This one seemed to just get watery, and the later, long infusions were quite rough on the mouth.

This has happened to me with several teas lately, notably all the Pride of Menghai series. I don't know if it is me or if maybe these Menghai cakes (the Golden 8100 is from Youle Mtn which is also in Menghai County.) I will give it another try later with more leaf.

Does anyone have enough knowledge to generalize about Menghai puerh characteristics? Should I change my brewing approach?
Hmmm. Mine mellowed out a little after the first couple of infusions (as expected) into a nice full flavored tea, and didn't give in until many infusions later. Any changes to you're water recently? I've noticed when I use the bottles water from work, it makes extremely weak off flavored teas that die quickly.

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May 26th, '08, 01:47
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by Salsero » May 26th, '08, 01:47

No changes to my water that I know of, but I may give it a try with bottled. I am also not getting the gorgeous color pictured in your review. I think I am doing something way different from you, but I don't know what. Maybe infusion time?

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May 26th, '08, 03:26
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by Trioxin » May 26th, '08, 03:26

Your infusion times aren't too far off from mine, and you've a higher tea to water ratio than me. The water in my area seems to be perfect for tea. Pana mineral water made by Pellegrino seems comparable as far as pulling flavor from the leaves. Might wanna give it a try if you can find it.

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by Salsero » May 26th, '08, 04:55

Thanks for the suggestion, Tri!

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May 26th, '08, 12:43
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2007 Guoyan Youle Mountain

by Salsero » May 26th, '08, 12:43

Brewing: 5.00 g in 120 ml pot, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 25 s, 45 s, 1 m, 90 s, 2 m, 3 m, 5 m
This is a $10.90 cake supposedly made by the Mengyang Guoyan Tea Factory from all spring material. The compression is not very extreme: it was easy to work off a nice piece of the lovely leaves using my hands.

It started off with a deep straw color and bland taste, but inoffensive, which I suppose one might expect of a spring production. As I went through the infusions it got my attention as the color changed to a light orange and the taste and color both reminded me of mandarin oranges. Throughout the second half of the session I noticed that it didn't really have an aftertaste so much as leaving a refreshing feeling in my mouth, what some call a cooling sensation, I suppose.

Overall a nice session. The spent leaves are pretty, a fact which probably says little about the future of the tea but which gives me something to play with when I am done.
Image
This tea, by the way, was the subject of some controversy in a post on Bears' Puerh Community LJ: http://community.livejournal.com/puerh_tea/199235.html

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May 29th, '08, 22:57
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Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde

by Salsero » May 29th, '08, 22:57

Trioxin, those photos of your tea cakes, the pot, and the cup are just so beautiful! Where is the pot from and what is the capacity?

I got to the Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde and had a pleasant enough session with it last night. The compression is moderate to light, pretty easy to break up the nearly blue-green, dark, large leaves. The attractive leaf material seems to be the same all the way through the cake.

The liquor was pale to medium yellow and it went a good ten rounds. Quite aromatic, the taste was light, reminding me of pear for a while and Dan Cong for the whole session. Modest but pleasant aftertaste. Not unexpectedly in a very young sheng, it was pretty rough in the mouth and not something I am eager to go back to soon, but I think it could be pretty nice stuff in a couple of years. At $21 a cake, I think I am making a reasonable bet.

Parameters: 5.00 g in 120 ml pot , off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 45 s, 1 m

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May 30th, '08, 06:58
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Re: Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde

by augie » May 30th, '08, 06:58

Salsero wrote: The liquor was pale to medium yellow and it went a good ten rounds. . . At $21 a cake, I think I am making a reasonable bet.

Parameters: 5.00 g in 120 ml pot , off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 45 s, 1 m
10 Infusions? Wow, that is awesome. I am going to definately check out YS next time. I have heard a lot of folks on the forum buy good teaware from YS as well. Every time I look at their website I end up getting so confused and leaving. So much to choose from.

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Re: Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde

by Trioxin » May 30th, '08, 14:00

Salsero wrote:Trioxin, those photos of your tea cakes, the pot, and the cup are just so beautiful! Where is the pot from and what is the capacity?

[/i]
Thanks Sal. The pot is a cheap one from chineseteapotgallery with a capacity of 280ml. Gotta give it up for the ball filter on this pot. Very smooth, fast pour for such a big pot.

So where are your review pictures Sal?

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Re: Mengku * Mu Ye Chun * Raw Tea Cake of Yongde

by Salsero » Jun 29th, '08, 03:43

Salsero wrote: At $21 a cake, I think I am making a reasonable bet.

Parameters: 5.00 g in 120 ml pot , off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 45 s, 1 m
I went back to this cake for a second session the other night using 20% less leaf and roughly the same times. I was very impressed. It had a nice oily feel on the lips and a pretty good aftertaste. I'm even flirting with the idea of getting another one.

I guess it's time to have another go at the Golden 8100.

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De Hong "Golden Melon" Raw Puerh

by Salsero » Jun 29th, '08, 03:54

Luxi Wantong Tea Factory, Ingredients: DeHong Wild Puerh, 500 gr cake, $11.00, At 2¢ per gram this is extremely inexpensive tea.

Brewing: 5.00 g in 120 ml huang ni pot , off boil: no rinse, infusions: 13 s, 21 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, 60 s, 1:15 m, 2 m

This melon is not too tightly compressed for a tuo. Leaves are greenish black, very dry, and inside material is more like dirt or ashes than tea leaves, although the outside leaves are OK looking.

First infusion is a slightly cloudy, medium orange or amber color. It smells like a light shu. Taste is not bad. I could imagine drinking this with food, maybe made a little stronger and maybe after a couple three more years. Sort of reminds me of weak ginger ale taste, virtually no body, no aftertaste, and no strong aroma, a very little astringent, but basically nice in the mouth, maybe a little minty or refreshing.

6th infusion very nice, light but with an earthy taste or maybe more like the aroma of warm sand. The spent leaves are a very, very dark, uniform green but NOT black and mostly broken but quite attractive looking pieces.

Evaluation: It's nice and worth experimenting with at this price. It would be a good tea for someone who drinks sheng as their main tea all day and keeps a large quantity on hand. It could well age into something much better, but that's a guessing game. I haven't tried it Euro style yet, but that's my next plan with it.

Addendum Tried it Euro style at work today and it was very nice, nothing rough, astringent, or objectionable about it. Elegant to have sheng at work!

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