yunnan sourcing recommendations

[ejs811]

Anyone have some newbie recommendations for samples from yunnan sourcing?
A few green, a few ripe, maybe one or two aged.
thanks!

[tingjunkie]

I really haven't explored their products in depth, but for cooked, you can't go wrong with Menghai's top recipes- in particular, the Golden Needle White Lotus is my personal favorite. For a raw tea, I thought their own 2009 Bulang (made from 2006 mao cha) is pretty decent.

I'm sure others will have more suggestions for you. If you are interested in exploring samples of aged sheng, I highly recommend some samples from Essence of Tea.

[debunix]

I really enjoy the Jade Pole green tea I bought a year or so ago, but I don't see a current equivalent to the the other green tea I got at that time, a "Bao Hong". I've also been very happy with the Yunnan Mao Feng I got from Norbu, and if the YS version is similar, I bet it is terrific: the ones I have are hard to make bitter, and have a fruity edge to them that is just amazing.

I agree that the Menghai golden needles white lotus is terrific. I think that was the only ripe tea I ordered from them, and the rest of my order was young shengs and samples, nothing really aged.

I'd also strongly recommend the Yunnan Wild Arbor "Oriental Beauty", even though you didn't request oolong recommendations. It was an eye-opener for me.

[iannon]

I got quite a few samples from YS a short time ago and really enjoyed all their own YS labelled young sheng.. in particular the Yi Wu "Gua Feng Zhai"
also i grabbed a couple samples of Hai Lang Ho..the Cha Wang was really nice

[ejs811]

wow- I did not realize shipping was so high from china! Not very realistic for a few sampled.
Puerhshop looks awfully enticing yet again....

[Catfur]

If you just want to get samples, don't buy them from China. But the shipping isn't bad at all for a giant stack o'beeng.

[bagua7]

YS doesn't really stock aged shengs. Nothing older than +10, which is a shame knowing the company is located in the heart of the "pu world."

[MarshalN]

Kunming is only the heart of the pu world if you're talking about new stuff. Old teas don't reside in Yunnan, generally speaking, and any older tea in Yunnan tend to be re-imported from other places.

[apache]

Kunming is only the heart of the pu world if you're talking about new stuff. Old teas don't reside in Yunnan, generally speaking, and any older tea in Yunnan tend to be re-imported from other places.

Just to follow up, would that be correct to say most of the pu are aged in either HK or around Guangzhou and some in Taiwan?

[MarshalN]

Just to follow up, would that be correct to say most of the pu are aged in either HK or around Guangzhou and some in Taiwan?

That depends on the time period you're talking about.

[apache]

Just to follow up, would that be correct to say most of the pu are aged in either HK or around Guangzhou and some in Taiwan?

That depends on the time period you're talking about.

I see, the true picture is much more complex than I thought.

[heatwaves]

I second the thoughts on both "Golden Needle, White Lotus" and "Gua Feng Zhai". I also really liked YS's "Bang Dong Village" cake which is also quite affordable. If you just want to order samples and don't care whether they're YS's own branded cakes or not, you can get a lot of the YS samples domestically from Jas e Tea.

[Proinsias]

If you're in the US Steve at Jas ETea might be worth a look. Steve's a great guy and a member here, he's also a good friend of Scott at YS and gets a lot of his tea from Scott. He stocks a few sampler packs of pu-erh but his stock is mostly younger teas:
http://www.jas-etea.com/categories/Pu%2 ... Samplers-/

Nada's shop is also worth a look for some samples of aged pu, he has a good selection all available by the gram. He's here in the UK but shipping to the US shouldn't be too harsh.
http://www.essenceoftea.co.uk/tea/aged-puerh.html

[bagua7]

Kunming is only the heart of the pu world if you're talking about new stuff. Old teas don't reside in Yunnan, generally speaking, and any older tea in Yunnan tend to be re-imported from other places.

Thanks, I didn't know that.

[Marco]

I'd also strongly recommend the Yunnan Wild Arbor "Oriental Beauty", even though you didn't request oolong recommendations. It was an eye-opener for me.

Any brewing advices on this one? I got some in my last order. Thought it is just a nice everyday tea. Perhaps I am missing something 'cause of my brewing.