Tea Tasting: Yi Mei Ren Wu Liang Mountain Yunnan Black Tea

When I try a new tea and if it leaves something lacking, I try it a couple more times before I make my decision on whether it's worth it to drink more, buy more, etc.

I think you often have to sit with a tea to see what it tries to tell you. Not all tea sessions will be good; you could be 'off', your water isn't at the correct temperature, or maybe you don't have enough tea.....any myriad of reasons could be why you might not like a tea. (It's not the tea's fault!)

So, here's one example of a tea that I tried several times over. Here's the description from Yunnan Sourcing.com

"Yi Mei Ren" (彝美人) means literally Yi (Minority) Beauty.  This tea is named "Yi Mei Ren" as its made from Wu Liang Mountain material, an area inhabited primarily by Yi Minority people and bears similarity to both and oolong and a black tea in its fragrance and taste.  Yunnan large-leaf varietal material is used and the tea is wilted and fermented like a black tea, but for a longer period of time with several intervals of vigorously shaking the leaves.  This promotes more thorough wilting/fermentation and leads to it's darker color.

The brewed tea is highly aromatic with a chocolaty sweet taste with no noticeable astringency.  The tea liquor is super clear and deep gold with tinges of red if brewed longer.  Due to the higher level oxidization this tea can be stored for several years with subtle changes in aroma and flavor. 

Production time: Mid-March

 

Notes from 8/1/19

I got this as a sampler from YS (20 g sampler)
This was the right tea to drink tonite. It’s an interesting tea…best for a late afternoon tea. However, I’m not sure I would order it once this sampler is done.

The flavor initially starts of very thin velvety chocolate, but then blossoms into a robust flavor of sweet toasted aromatic wood/florals with the barest hint of minerality; it’s like the aftertaste is where all the flavor lies.

It’s a weird combination that makes it a fairly well-balanced tea. And the finish is extremely clean. This tea is really easy to drink. And there’s a very faint hint of cha Qi, which given that I ate before the session is saying something.

Steepings are consistent and very forgiving. (5g tea/150ml water). I pushed this from 20 seconds (#1) to 60s (#2), 80s(3) to 2 minutes (4), then 3min (#5) and there was no astringency at 195-200 deg F. I’m sure this can be brewed full Western or Grandpa style with a large amount of leaf without it getting bitter.
But for me, the initial thinness of flavor puts this in the 2.5 out of 5 star range. The robust aftertaste and cha Qi saves it.

I’m going to try this again as full ChaZhou brew with some crushed leaves to see if it improves that initial thin flavor.

Notes from 8/14/19

Okay, tried this again CZ style with a bit of crushed leaves. And overall, this is a much better tea with the crushed leaves. It’s a bit more robust than before.

This raises the overall recommendation of the tea.

Also I tried steep stacking this tea. It tastes much better this way; better balanced.

Flavors: Chocolate, Malt, Sweet Potatoes, Wood