Yunnan Pure Small Bud Black Tea Gold Tips .Yunnan Sourcing LLC

October 2, 2007 at 5:34 pm | Posted in Black Tea, Tea Reviews, Yunnan | Leave a comment

TEA> Black Tea> China> Yunnan (for more)

Yunnan Sourcing LLC (review) $24/250g = $2.72/oz , 44/lb, nice! … + s&h
Production period: Spring 2007
“Early spring tea is picked when the buds are still young, the tea is then rolled, briedly fermented and then wok-dried by hand. The flavor is the smoothest… “

Dry leaf: leaf smells pretty medium-high like apricot+honey
theres little hairs on the leaf, and leaves behind plenty of golden dust on the paper.

Method: 1 blk dispenser ‘tbsp’ 3min 190F, also tried 200F

Liquor: probably the same golden dust makes a contribution to liquor being cloudy, and adds some frothyness on the margins of the cup(when it dries you can see the gold dust particles), also the gold dust adds texture in the last sips (when most it is settled around the bottom of the cup). [the picture here is from 2nd or 3rd infusion].

Flavor: mmmm yunnan, id say flavor is more strong/prominent than the premium yunnan from them maybe its the young leaf it has stronger flavor to be extracted= there is a more prevalent sort of mild astringency feeling, not very harsh, aftertaste does not stay long. but its not watery as some of the cheap crap yunnan from WHF.

i’m not going to say smoothest flavor. i’ve had smooth, this does not fit that.

i’d say this taste profile goes towards my ‘foody’ sensation, and wine-y. some tobacco-ish sensations?! ,,, …not my liking. i think im about to say it feels …confusing… might be due to my feel of the astringency and the prominent flavor – i think they wine-y part reminds me of keemun/qimen. no, i think its sort of …darjeeling-ish, from that tobacco sensation. oy.

this definitely has caffeine. yup… not felt that in a while from a tea. i think its rather strong. good for me, i need it at the moment.

Overall: i like it. but i personally prefer yunnan with a touch of smokiness, not the wine-ceylon-foody (as i sense it).