Yunnan Sourcing LLC - Reviews

[heavydoom]

i had some samples to try from scott of this baby :

2006 Mengku * Wild Arbor King * Raw Pu-erh tea brick 1000g

http://tinyurl.com/6p5pt2

it's a great brick, not bitter at all even when over infused, i would start with 20 secs, up to 4 times of the same length and then there are still plenty of infusions left of this lovely piece of pu. highly recommended!!

[Salsero]

2006 Mengku * Wild Arbor King * Raw Pu-erh tea brick 1000g

Thanks for the note. That's one big brick! Sounds good.

[heavydoom]

i also ordered this interesting raw pu erh cake :



2004 Ron-Zhen * Camellia Flower and Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

http://cgi.ebay.ca/2004-Ron-Zhen-Camell ... m153.l1262

this one can be drunk now/aged, so i will defo sample this when i get it to let you know how this cake is, i have never seen a pu erh mixed with a flower before. have you?

[Salsero]

... i have never seen a pu erh mixed with a flower before. have you?

Bears recently posted on the topic. http://puerh.blogspot.com/2008/06/exper ... -1999.html

[heavydoom]

... i have never seen a pu erh mixed with a flower before. have you?

Bears recently posted on the topic. http://puerh.blogspot.com/2008/06/exper ... -1999.html

cheers, will study this.

[heavydoom]

has anyone here ordered this from yunnan sourcing?

1999 Gu Pu-er * Simao Raw Pu-erh "Fang Cha" brick tea

http://cgi.ebay.com/1999-Gu-Pu-er-Simao ... m153.l1262



what do you think, those who have ordered this? i want to know what you think of this mini brick. i am very curious.

[tenuki]

I've been eyeing the Yunnan Gold - anyone had that?

[Salsero]

Thanks to Trioxin for sending me samples of three 2008 Mengku Shuangjiang cakes.

These two apparently from the Yong De sub-branch of Mengku (I have no idea what significance that has):
Mengku Sage Verse
Mengku *Mu Ye Chun* Old Tree
and this one not:
Mengku *Old Tree Green Cake*.

I included the *Old Tree Green Cake* in an order to YSLLC the other day, partly because Dizzwave also liked it as a value selection ( http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p= ... apie#55726 ), but I'm now thinking I should probably also have ordered the *Mu Ye Chun* Old Tree as a little more gutsy selection at about the same price ... oh well.

I found all three to be very light, mushroomy, sweet, white fruits. The Sage Verse was definitely my least favorite. It seemed to last the fewest infusions and presented the least character. It would probably make a fine Euro style brew, but I usually do gong fu for sheng. The *Mu Ye Chun* lasted the most infusions (14) and may have been the star of the group.

In my estimation, the three cakes are very similar in their flavor profile, light and aromatic, and drinkable now. I rank my preference thus:
1) *Mu Ye Chun*
2) *Old Tree Green*
3) Sage Verse.

Does anyone see a logic to Scott's use of asterisks. They seem a little arbitrary sometimes.

[heavydoom]

just broke this 250 grams brick open to try and it's very good. i rinsed it twice. first infusion of 20 secs and the brew was smooth, no bitterness. for a 2006 cake @ $6.50 usd, this is a great tea. great after taste, i detect a hint of honey suckle honey dew kiwi lime with a splash of alien hybrid road side wild aboriginal flower petals.

2006 Wild Tree Floral Raw Pu-erh Tea from Luxi * 250 g

http://cgi.ebay.ca/2006-Wild-Tree-Flora ... dZViewItem

" This brick is made from leaves collected along the border region between Myanmar and Yunnan. Wild Tree Pu-erh dark in color, collected by hand from roadless mountain areas. This Pu-erh when brewed has a nice floral scent (due to it's proximity to other flowering trees and bushes). The taste is mellow due to a nice mix of leaves, many of which are quite large! The level of processing and separating is primitive, thus this represents the distinct flavor of just one area. "

[Salsero]

Yikes, I have one of those I bought in April of last year and still haven't opened! I paid only $5.25.

[shogun89]

Yikes, I have one of those I bought in April of last year and still haven't opened! I paid only $5.25.

Salsero the bargainer, always taking our tea!

[Salsero]

just broke this
2006 Wild Tree Floral Raw Pu-erh Tea from Luxi * 250 g

OK, after the shame of finding that I have not tasted this tea in the 16 months it has been sitting in my pumidor, I thought I better take it out for a spin. Here is the Luxi sitting among a bunch of other things I am supposed to be drinking up. You can click on the photo if you want to spy on what surrounds the Luxi.

I found the brick to be rather tightly compressed, the leaves ugly and broken, and a lot of what looks like dirt or sand in the middle. I've seen this sort of ugly before and learned not to pay it too much attention.

It brewed up with a nice series of tastes, with a rather unique flavor profile. I found some very mushroomy tastes, loam, vanilla, and a little rotted manure (like what you garden with). In some infusions I found less of the earthy tastes and more acidity (that means slight tartness or sourness.) For a while there was a nice camphor flavor. I would say this is not a good tea to feed to a beginner, but for someone with a little pu experience, this is a delightful brick with some nice tastes you won't find elsewhere. There is very little astringency and it tastes several years older than it's 2006 vintage would suggest.

I would guess that it is, like many puerhs, the product of a minority group that lives in the border region between Myanmar and Yunnan. Anyone know what minority group?

Doom, thanks for getting me off my butt and into my pumidor to taste this stuff. Great experience and certainly a good buy at about 2¢ per gram!

I see I also reviewed a De Hong "Golden Melon" sheng from Puerhshop in June that was a product of the Luxi Wantong Tea Factory. Don't know if that is the same Luxi factory as made this YSLLC offering, but there is some similarity in flavor profiles.

[heavydoom]

sal, a much better review than mine. the purpose of my post was to let others know about this bargain of a brick. good for new pu heads. here they can learn how to hack and slash a brick and drink a good tea as well at the same time.

there is another mini cake i want to let you guys know about from yunnan sourcing.



2002 Ming Quan * Bang Wai Mountain Raw Pu-erh tea 250g = $24 usd.

why did i choose this one? i was looking for cakes that had aged a little so that i can drink it now. this one is a mini cake. pretty compressed. leaves did look broken apart but what the hell. the brew packs a punch. don't oversteep too much. i steeped for 20 secs initially and it was wow. strong but not to the point of being bitter. nice and strong this little tea.

here is what yunnan's write up had to say about this little gem :

"Bang Wai mountain is neighbor mountain to Jing Mai in the county of Lan Cang (Si Mao Prefecture). Bang Wai mountain teas are strong in flavor with lots bitter flavor and fast sweet after-taste. At the same time Bang Wai teas take on a complex aromatic flavor that is totally unique. This cake is compressed entirely of first flush material from Spring of 2002. After the tea was picked it was stored in loose form in Menghai until it was compressed in 2004. The brewed tea liquor is reddish and thick. The taste is strong, sweet and thick with complex flavors that are unique."


http://cgi.ebay.ca/2002-Ming-Quan-Bang- ... m153.l1262

[puerhking]

I have that Luxi brick and I did not care for it. It is somewhat unique but only for a couple of infusions. The flavor profile was somewhat narrow and later infusions gave me nothing. I just brewed it this week and went through 10 infusions and found it disappointing.

[teakid]

Just tried this tea:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Mengku-Bing-Da ... dZViewItem

Very strong and bitter even with very short infusion time. Some say this is good for aging....