Today’s review is Yunnan Sourcing’s 2015 Green Miracle Wild Arbor shou puer. This puer is pressed spring 2014 50-70 year old wild arbor tree material. Since this puer came out, I’ve been told by friends that this shou is really good. I got tea buddies who have finished a whole cake or two of Green Miracle. A tea friend sent me a sample and I thought it was good enough for me to buy cake with my next Yunnan Sourcing order. Once this puer hit my radar, I’ve noticed the price has gone up twice. It is still very affordable for a 250 gram cake.
My cake of 2015 Green Miracle has been aired out well as it arrived when I was in temporary housing limbo. My Green Miracle sat in an open box for 2 months. Once my things were moved to Seattle, I crocked it and then stuffed it in my shou pumidor for a month. My Seattle storage is running pretty humid. This shou has also been available for over a year now. I am pointing out my storage and time as after I drank this tea I checked out the reviews on Steepster and fellow bloggers and was thoroughly confused on the tasting notes. All the reviews of Yunnan Sourcing 2015 Green Miracle is literally all over the place with ranging from funky ferments, astringent, stinky, and thick sweet syrup.
And what is up with this weird looking antler leaf goat?
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
Green Miracle Shou Puer smells earthy and slightly funky.
There is a pretty tight compression on this cake. So tight that I stabbed myself quite badly as the pick slipped and jammed into my thumb. Thought I hit bone and needed stitches, but the bleeding stopped, the Tea Owls air lifted some super glue – good to go!
I steeped Green Miracle shou puer with boiling water, about 1 gram to 12ml vessel (going a little heavy handed with leaf). I did two rinses.
Tasting of Yunnan Sourcing’s 2015 Green Miracle Shou Puer
The wet leaf smells like a melted chocolate bar in a dank wet basement.
First and Second Infusion: 2015 Green Miracle Shou Puer sips in on the light and sweet side. It has an dirt earth floor background, a mineral wet stones finish and some refreshing of an aftertaste. My mouth feels cool after each sip, which is quite nice.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: Each steeping gets darker and darker.
The sip is earthy, but not very heavy or thick despite the black colour. The taste is lightly of dirt basement, but it clean sweeps to bright and clean mineral at the end of sip.There is also a bitter sweet chocolate note in the background. The mineral flavor is the strongest note. The body is oily feeling and creamy.
Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: And the tea is starting to die and I’m battling with steep times, going 5-10 minutes by the end. The flavor is getting more clean, losing that dirt quality and more just bright mineral rocks and bitter sweet. It has a sort of green quality to it, like a few fresh blades of grass thrown in. It has this vibe of trying to be camphor, but doesn’t get there. The aftertaste is still pretty refreshing and crisp as I breath in.
This should puer gave me a surge of energy, directly channeling “drink me while cleaning the house” magic to it. I oddly remembered on a series by Ilona Andrews, “Clean Sweep”, which is about a magical innkeeper who houses other dimension/intergalatic people in her inn… without anyone human knowing in her small Texas town. It is quite a cute book series. I am entertaining my inlaws as I write this, and I got tea drunk enough to magically over pack a dishwasher, while dreaming of having magical brooms and beating up demons at my local Costco.
Tenth and Eleventh Infusion: Milking all that I can here out of Green Miracle. There is a Big flavor shift here as all the earth left and I got caramel and mineral flavor. It is on the sweet side making for a great finish. I did a 20 min steep as the final and it was super sugary caramel sweet!
TLDR: Green Miracle tastes like sitting on a cold mountain while sucking a tasty dirty rock clean, then drizzling caramel sauce on it.
Comments
Yunnan Sourcing’s 2015 Green Miracle Wild Arbor shou puer is an inexpensive priced shou with great clean notes and a more lighter taste. From the sounds of the other notes, time did do this tea wonders as I missed the funk and tart notes that people got a year ago. I believe this shou puer has a lighter fermentation, so it has room to grow, thus why it seems reviews on this tea are all over the place.
Green Miracle has a great transitions between infusions for gongfu, making for a fun session. It might not be funky shou enough for some, or heavy enough for types who want shou that will coat their insides like pepto, but maybe time will tell. It is a good all around shou, with a friendly price of $24 250 grams (at this time).
