Review: Yunnan Sourcing 2009 Yi Wu Da Qiu Feng

Nov 14

Review: Yunnan Sourcing 2009 Yi Wu Da Qiu Feng

Katie’s Teaview Snapshot

"The flavour is full, thick, rich, strong."

Katie’s Teaview:	7.1/10
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First of all, I want to take a moment to talk about my experience with Scott over at Yunnan Sourcing. It was my first time dealing with this company, and it's been a lonnng time since I ordered from eBay, so I had quite a few questions, all of which he answered promptly and patiently. It was a wonderful customer experience overall, and if there's anything that sways me to pick a certain tea company over the many others, it's often great customer service. When my parcel arrived, it was about as bent out of shape as it could be, but everything was so thoroughly covered in bubble wrap that even the vulnerable gaiwan was in pristine condition.

Though my raw pu-erh experience is limited, Yunnan Sourcing took a chance on me and threw in a couple of samples with my order. I began with this 2009 beauty, a raw pu-erh cake from the village of Da Qiu Feng, made from wild arbor trees between 80 and 100 years old.

I'm just breaking in my new raw pu-erh yixing (as an aside, if you're looking for yixing teapots, know a little bit about what you want, and aren't too picky, I highly recommend you visit the nearest Chinatown and go adventuring), so it was no difficult choice to decide to prepare this gong fu style. I filled my teapot about 1/3 full of the small to medium-sized, richly earthy leaves. I then gave the tea two 20-second washes with boiling water.

I steeped the leaves a third time for 20 seconds and sat contemplating this yellow-gold infusion. The brew smells as rich as the savoury leaves (always a good sign). The flavour is full, thick, rich, strong. A bit of fruity sourness compliments the cocoa finish nicely. It is a good, solid cup, but not especially unique or moving.

My second steep is a bust. As I frequently do, I forgot I was making tea, wandered off, and sprinted to the tea's rescue when the timer went off at 20 seconds. This means that the tea really sat for about 25 seconds, and while good, it was clearly about 5 seconds too long, allowing the fruity tang to come our just a wee bit more than I would prefer.

Steeps three through five I leave for 20 seconds each, and all are excellent. The third is my favourite of all of them - perfectly balanced and entirely full of flavour. Mellow, earthy, and rich.

Steeps six though eleven I start adding time - about five seconds for each one - and again they are solid and good, slowly mellowing out with each cup. Infusion eleven I leave for just under a minute, and it is on the weak side, so for the twelfth and final cup, I leave it for a full two minutes. The leaves have lasted this long, and this final cup is again solid, but the liquor has become extremely mild, and it is clear the leaves are ready to give up. Twelve cups for one small chunk of leaf is one of the many reasons I love a good pu-erh.

I have certainly enjoyed my experience with this pu-erh. It hasn't been ground-breaking, breathtaking, or changed my life forever, but it is clear Yunnan Sourcing knows what it's doing, and I'm sure it has a lot more to offer. As I always appreciate, you can buy 25 gram samples the pu-erh cakes, so you can feel free to give one a try before investing in a massive amount of tea you may not like.

— To purchase Yunnan Sourcing 2009 Yi Wu Da Qiu Feng, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.