Interview w/Scott Wilson (Yunnan Sourcing) feat. 2013 YS Da Si [Episode 115] 

And 4 years on, got me. Drinking 2018 Wu Liang Raw Puerh, stumbled on this video, stumbled on this comment and lol'd.

I'm just getting started on my loose leaf tea exploration journey. I'm pretty leary of buying from most but this comment is encouraging me to give these Yunnan Sourcing a try. (Started with Harney's, been trying Red Blossom.)

Cheers!

Vito Farella Pretty cool!

+Sergey Arion Thanks!

+Edward Langeland Thanks! Good tea!

MercifulFate As good a time as any to hear of him and Yunnan Sourcing!

Steve Sheldon Yeah... in Chinese getting tricked and not gaining the upper hand is called "Paying your tuition fees". Glad you are wise to these tricks!

Sadly, I am all too familiar with paying tuition. At least it was all cheap tea. I just wish I hadn't gone "all in" before giving my palate some basic training.

Steve Sheldon My first couple of years in the tea market in China were rough. I decided to stick to offering factory pu-erhs at that time to mediate risk.

+Luca Jooste Scott has some baller gaiwans. Unavailable of course.

+David C Indeed! Good tea for a great price.

Hi +aaron vandereyk , Thanks for the note. I suspect you'll be very satisfied with Yunnan Sourcing. Great tea for a great price really. Please report back your experiences :). Cheers and happy tea drinking! -James ps. Yes. Glad to see another PNW drinker.

Steve Rey thanks bro... Good to hear from you!

Is it? Definitely possible but I can't tell.

Hi Philipp Aba , Totally agree. I can definitely relate to your story on teas tasting different. I've had some humbling experiences and it teaches you not to go to buy-crazy after just one session. Cheers, -Jamess

Philipp Aba Very perceptive indeed! This is something most people scoff at but for those of us who are paying attention to the tea we will notice the differences in taste/aroma/feeling when drinking in different places or different times. The same thing has happened to me too. I really was excited to make a certain tea for someone and it didn't come out right. The biggest thing I noticed was how raw pu-erh tea didn't brew as well on a rainy or overcast/windy day, but on a warm sunny day it comes out well... strong and full of aroma.

True. Beside so many other aspects this is also a great thing about tea because you can drink only one tea but you can experience so many different outcomes and moments with this very one - it's just amazing. I love this complexity because tea can't work on it's own. Like the fact it was always something that brought people together his preparation itself isn't a one man show too. Like in the old ancient times a Chinese tea master said "Even if the tea is a ten but the water is just an eight the tea itself is going to be only an eight in the end. But is the tea an eight but the water quality a ten the tea might become a ten too in the end" And so the stone starts to roll. Because not only place, weather and time could change so much, also the water and the type of teapot you us could change the whole outcome drastically. Tea needs good friend and this is why tea is my religion because it teaches us not only to find our inner peace but also focus on the good in life and appreciate even the most ordinary things and most of all good friends and people you love. Because tea is like a part of your self. Tea can't show his full potential by just being on its own and we people need others family, friends and someone you deeply love because we can't exist if we just focus only on our own. Sorry if you drifted a bit apart but like I said the isn't only a plant it is the whole fusion itself - it is a working and mutually understanding and appreciating of many aspects working side by side together to create the perfect outcome. In my case I noticed the most noticeable difference when it comes to the source of water and teapot type. Because not every type of clay is suitable for every type of tea. Sometimes you need to listen to what the tea and the pot wants. Sounds a bit silly maybe but it is true. Quite a while ago I bought my first Nixing tea pot and because it looked so rustic and vintage I wanted to use it for Wuyi Oolongs but in the first moment I prepared one inside of it the chemistry was catastrophic. Both individuals couldn't work together then I realized what the pot really wanted it was Sheng Pu'er and now both they were like chalk and cheese together. Perfect. One of your (Scott) Jianshui Teapots I bought is only used for Dancong and both fit so perfectly together like if they were made for each other. The clay makes the best out of every Dancong you brew in. I could write further and further but last but not least there is so much history, love and knowledge about this old passion called tea - so much which only starts with the word tea but contains so much more :)

Philipp Aba Well put... hope we can drink tea together in the future. ;-)

Would love to. I hope a chance is going to open someday in the near future ;)

nominal6 1. It's called stone pressing... a heavy stone is lifted onto the just steamed leaves. It's the traditional way and it ensure the compression will be just right. My wife doesn't speak english particularly well at this point, she's shy. 2. Different economy... Taiwan is way more developed than Yunnan. I think if you compare similar quality Taiwan teas to the ones we offer, you'll find ours are priced quite cheaply... but yes they are expensive compared to most Yunnan teas. However Wu Yi Rock oolongs from Fujian can be just as expensive or more expensive than Taiwan oolongs.

I believe he's talking about sampling teas to determine which ones he wants to sell on his website; with the sheer amount of offerings he has, it makes sense that he has to sample that many teas every day. As for the "rough" comment, I think it's because of the very high amount of caffeine and other chemical compounds in the teas he's drinking. Those compounds are all really nice in moderation, but drinking that much tea every day is definitely an overload and has some detrimental effects.

Brian O'Donnell It's a good one!

Brian O'Donnell I was a little distracted but the Da Si really comes out nice even when brewed strong.. It's also hyper-infusable.

+Yunnan Sourcing i just got my sample of it.....and i gotta say i was pleasantly surprised. interesting cooling effect in the mouth. smooth and full feel. delicate, yet you can run with 60+ second infusions out of the gate.

+Brian O'Donnell Hehe... I drink alot of young raw pu-erh... I have been drinking like 12-15 mao cha everyday in the last month to choose which teas we will press for our 2016 YS line of raw pu-erh cakes.

Scott most definitely does drink a ton of tea.

I think he drinks a good portion of the steepings available for each tea (although I'm not sure if he drinks until it completely loses flavor). By doing this, he can see how the tea changes throughout the session to determine if it's good. For example, if Scott tries a fresh sheng pu-erh, and its flavor drops significantly after only 4 steepings, then he may not want to offer it on his store. If he hadn't steeped the tea that many times, he wouldn't have noticed

Ren Obscure Got it several years ago in China. Have not seen one since.

balob Nice! Enjoy. Cheers! -James

Sadly, yes it appears so. I think he produced a 2016 one too, but that looks to be gone too.