Review topics: ["taste","blend","sweetness","tea","smell","aroma","fragrance","notes","sensation","aftertaste","character","profile","puerh","puer","brew","mouthfeel","infusions","flaws","side","coffee"].
Reviews
Amazing tea
"Amazing raw. I don’t enjoy raw puerhs usually but this one has change my mind about them."
— Maxim T. (5/5)
One of the gems in YS
"One of my favorite! Nice floral, sweet notes. Very nice fragrance too"
— NM (5/5)
Textbook blend
"This blend is an amazing example of a well-aged blend. It misses all of the characteristics a young Sheng features. Instead, it shows a middle-aged character with notes of apple, pear and some smokiness in the background. If you push it hard, it shows a lot of bitterness. Great that I got it free as part of the BOGO offer. It's also worth buying if you're considering it."
— Maximilian V. (5/5)
I love all the tea
"I love all the tea that this company sells. This tea has such great complex tea."
— Sharon L. (5/5)
Best raw puer from YS I've ever tried
"Oddly enough this one is most similar to the Ai Lao raws that I got from another reputable shop. The Ai Laos that I got from YS can't beat this one's floral notes. A very easy to enjoy tea for everyone."
— Veda (5/5)
whoaaaaa
"I received a sample of this with an order, and this is among the best sheng pu'erh I've ever had... everything about it is ultra-premium. My favorite part is actually the aroma that's left in the bottom of the cup. It just does not go away, and it continues to build in its complexity as the cup cools and dries out. 10 minutes after I've finished my session of 12-14 steeps, I'm still huffing the bottom of the cup trying to wrap my mind around how it's possible for the aroma to be this complex and pervasive even after I've washed the leaves so many times and steeped them for a grand total of 25-ish minutes. Scott and Xiao have cheat codes though - it's the only adequate description that would explain how a blend like this could be brought into existence. The flavor profile is deeper than the Mariana Trench and it's really difficult to describe how powerful and flavorful this blend is... you just have to experience it for yourself. I look at other sheng pu'erh in a different way now that I've tried this. It has broadened my appreciation for the other blends and single-origin cakes also offered through the Yunnan Sourcing brand. I had a similar experience once upon a time with a Mo Li Xiang dan cong but that was around $3.00/gram whereas this is literally a tenth of the price, coming in right around $0.30/gram. If you are looking for a gift to impress even the most discerning sheng aficionado (aka shengaholic) this is definitely a safe bet."
— NN (5/5)
Five star taste!!
"I received the 2018 Guardian as sample (Thank you guys!). The aromatics in this tea, are INSANE!!!! Floral, fruity, with a long lasting sweet, nectarine like after taste. The slight astringency ties it all together into the perfect balance. Although I usually favor Pu-erh that is punchy, rough and more challenging to the taste, this offered me a unique and pleasant tea experience. I'll make sure to buy this cake and perhaps try some of the other house blends. Great work, guys!!!"
— Gabriel (5/5)
Lovely blend with great complexity
"Starting from the aroma, the dry leaves don’t have a strong one, but the wet leaves display a range of forest aromas. There’s oyster mushrooms, lichen and other forest-like and vegetal smells. The smell becomes a little different throughout the session. I also picked up notes of oats/porridge and cookies later on. The rinse is probably one of the most flavourful ones I have experienced in a sheng. There is a lot of sweetness and umami, which gives the wash a green tea like character. Some woody notes are present too. The first infusion is already a proper one. There is no astringency of note and the bitterness is weak too. However, the overall flavour is super strong. It is surprisingly tart and almost fruity. I cannot associate it with any particular fruit though, it just has that kind of character. The concrete associations are more in the vegetal realm – pickled cucumber, grass (not hay, which is more common in sheng) and others. Second steep has some astringency and bitterness appearing, a progression that is nice to see. The taste is more mineral now and by the third steep becomes quite earthy, but not like wet earth or peat. Aftertaste is long and fragrant, now with some tingling and slightly drying sensation in the throat. The first few infusions had a medium viscosity, but the mouthfeel is interesting. It feels as if the liquor was dissolving in the mouth, if that makes any sense. Fourth and fifth infusion are similar to the third, but due to the high complexity I always find something new. There is a peppery note in the former, while the latter has a very heavy sweetness I would associate with a stout. The sweetness lasts for a very long time in the aftertaste, but slowly transforms as well. It reminds me of the sweetness of red grapes and milk. The flavour remains strong and interesting in the later steeps too, the tea doesn’t seem to get flat taste profile until very late. The eighth infusion sees the onset of quite a bitey astringency and in the ninth one I notice a nice coffee like bitterness. Neither the astringency nor the bitterness persist for too long in the aftertaste though, which is still mostly on the sweet and spicy side with an alcohol character. Overall, I would say the Guardian is a very flavourful and complex tea with an enduring sweetness and no obvious flaws."
— Tomáš G. (5/5)
Coplex, strong flavours and enduring sweetness
"Starting from the aroma, the dry leaves don't have a strong one, but the wet leaves display a range of forest aromas. There's oyster mushrooms, lichen and other forest-like and vegetal smells. The smell becomes a little different throughout the session. I also picked up notes of oats/porridge and cookies later on. The rinse is probably one of the most flavourful ones I have experienced in a sheng. There is a lot of sweetness and umami, which gives the wash a green tea like character. Some woody notes are present too. I am now really excited for what the tea has to offer :D The first infusion is already a proper one. There is no astringency of note and the bitterness is weak too. However, the overall flavour is super strong. It is surprisingly tart and almost fruity. I cannot associate it with any particular fruit though, it just has that kind of character. The concrete associations are more in the vegetal realm - pickled cucumber, grass (not hay, which is more common in sheng) and others. Second steep has some astringency and bitterness appearing, a progression that is nice to see. The taste is more mineral now and by the third steep becomes quite earthy, but not like wet earth or peat. Aftertaste is long and fragrant, now with some tingling and slightly drying sensation in the throat. The first few infusions had a medium viscosity, but the mouthfeel is interesting. It feels as if the liquor was dissolving in the mouth, if that makes any sense. Fourth and fifth infusion are similar to the third, but due to the high complexity I always find something new. There is a peppery note in the former, while the latter has a very heavy sweetness I would associate with a stout. The sweetness lasts for a very long time in the aftertaste, but slowly transforms as well. It reminds me of the sweetness of red grapes and milk. The flavour remains strong and interesting in the later steeps too, the tea doesn't seem to get flat taste profile until very late. The eighth infusion sees the onset of quite a bitey astringency and in the ninth one I notice a nice coffee like bitterness. Neither the astringency nor the bitterness persist for too long in the aftertaste though, which is still mostly on the sweet and spicy side with an alcohol character. Overall, I would say the Guardian is a very flavourful and complex tea with an enduring sweetness and no obvious flaws. The price went up recently, but it's still a great value."
— Tomáš G. (5/5)
Interesting tea!
"Very interesting taste. Tried different ways to brew this tea and it worked best if the tea is poured over with the hot water before brewing it."
— Anton A. (5/5)
