I am very excited! Today I am going to try my first tea from the taiwanese Yuan Yuan Tang boutique brand. This is new territory for me, as I am not really familiar with those boutique brands in general. Definitely they are significantly more expensive. So I hope it is worth the extra dollar - let’s see! :-)
The fragrance when rinsing the tea is very intense. Lots of grassy notes. Also there is some perfume like scent, which I can not really describe. The first steeping tastes very good, but still very light, flora, sweet and grassy. As if the tea still hides its true potential and waits to be awakened from its slumber. So I will keep the steeping times a little longer to find out its secret.
The fragrance gets more dense, almost a little like a vegetable broth. Some pepper spices mix into it - which evolves the already versatile body further. Some astringency is also present, but not in an unpleasant way, quite the opposite. It mixes well with the sweetness of the tea.
After a couple more steepings a more mineraly taste comes through and mingles very nicely with the bitterness. Although the tea is “only” 14 years as of writing, it tastes like it had some more years on its back. In terms of qi I don’t get many sensations - but to be fair I am currently also doing something on the side and not fully focused on the tea.
Letting the tea sit for a little longer (>1 minute) expresses another body with a strong sweetness. Also the after taste is amazing and lingers on for a long time with a slight mentol freshness - very slight.
So that’s it! The first tea from Yuan Yuan Tang and it is a very good one! At the beginning I mentioned the higher price tag due to the boutique brand. Turns out I was quite wrong! The bing (357g!) is available for around $100. For that price you get a great experience of what a proper aged Sheng can taste like. Excited to try more from this brand!
Rating
3.8/5
Tasting Diagram
Statistics & Reference
- Brewing time: From a few seconds to one minute. It’s hard to over brewing - so be bold and tickle out all nuances
- Purchased for 12$ as a 25g sample
- https://www.puerhguy.com/