Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! I’m back today with another Stateside Steeps post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Adagio Masters – 2019 Yun Wu. As you all know I’ve had nothing but amazing experiences throughout the last few months with all the 2019 teas I have tried from Adagio Masters. Through reviewing their 2019 teas I have found so many new teas I now love and I’m so thankful I was given the chance to try so many things from their 2019 harvest.

Here’s what they have to say about this tea over on their website: “Cloud and Mist Tea, or Yun Wu in Mandarin, is harvested at high altitudes on Huaguo Mountain where the fog is thick, keeping the tea bushes hydrated and protected from the sun rays. Once processed, Yun Wu tends to have characteristically irregular twisted leaves, however, it has also been seen rolled up into small pellets or spiral shapes. Its unique growing conditions yield a layered cup with fruity notes and a very light smokiness.”

”Grown at an elevation between 800 and 1200 meters above sea level, our 2019 Yun Wu is a Huang Shan big leaf cultivar and was hand-plucked in May from 20-year-old trees. Known locally as “rolling mao feng” it has a consistency of one bud with 1 or 2, 3 cm long leaves.”

Tea Tasting Notes

For this tasting session I was finally able to break out my gaiwan so I only ended up trying this on its own but I did actually get 7 full steeps out of the leaves I used which in my opinion is fantastic. These sample bags are so reasonably priced and such a great way to introduce yourself to a larger variety of tea.

If there is anything this tasting session in particular has taught me is that I need to make sure I use my gaiwan for of the Masters teas I try going forward, I’m definitely going to go back and do a gongfu style brewing with all of the ones I have tried previously to this one as well (I probably post about those over on my insta when I do get round to doing it.) The only reason I don’t do more tasting sessions with gaiwan is my health problems they get in the way of everything but I’m hope that 2021 might be a better year.

Steep 1 – Medium bodied, soft, light smokiness, sweet vegetal notes, No astringency, no sourness. The moment I took my first sip of this I knew I was going to love it. Even though there was smokiness to it, it was very light and actually did a great job of cutting through the vegetal notes and the natural sweetness this tea has to it. It has a nice soft and smooth mouthfeel too it and is not drying at all. There is absolutely no astringency to it at all and its such a pleasure to drink, to me this tea is like a wet, foggy and fresh autumn morning in a cup its much more unique than they teas I’ve tried from Masters so far but I love it for that. It may be light and some of it’s notes are much more of the subtle side there are so many layers of depth to it’s flavour profile. This is definitely once I would suggest steeping gongfu Style so you can enjoy each and every note within its flavour profile.

Steep 2 – This steep was very similar to the first one aside from the fact that the smokiness was a little bit subtler. The vegetal notes were still present a a little less sweet than they were in the first cup. There was still no sign of any astringency at all and it was still overall a smooth, soft cup to drink. It’s much lighter than a few of the other green teas I’ve had from Masters teas but still just as delicious.

Steep 3 – Steep three was where that smoky note I loved in this tea became all but non which was disappointing but it was so subtle in the first two steeps that I wasn’t too shocked that it only seem to get lighter and lighter as my steeps progressed. The vegetal notes seemed to stay the same strength but that sweetness that was present did also start to get weaker from this steep onward. Again though there was no astringency to this at all and it remained a soft and smooth cup. This would be a great tea to re-steep throughout a few hours on a cold rainy morning to start your day off slowly.

Steep 4 – Steep 4 was pretty much the same as the third steep and not much really changed. This steep is where I learn just how forgiving the tea really is. It’s another one of those teas that you can steep and steep and steep and no matter how long you steep it for there isn’t an astringency doesn’t even come into this picture. You can brew this as light or as strong as you like without it ever tasting weak or bitter.

Steep 5 – Steep five was again very similar to the previous steep but there was no sweetness to it. But that really didn’t effect my overall enjoyment. The vegetal notes without the sweetness started to taste a little bit like garden peas which was interesting and definitely not what I expected but it was still enjoyable and quite fresh actually which made me think that this would also be really nice cold brewed which I’ll definitely try over the next few days.

Steep 6 – Was much lighter than the previous cup and where that vegetal note started to dissipate. Again though still a fantastic cup but after this cup being so much lighter than the 5th steep I decided I would stop at 7.

Steep 7 – Anything more than 7 steeps and I think this would have became far too light, In fact looking back I probably should have stopped at 6 as this cup was light in ever aspect. I’m still happy with how much steeps it did though and that it lasted them all without gaining any kind of astringency at all. It such a fantastic tea for the morning and early afternoon and it’s definitely one I would repurchase time and time again. I would actually be really interested to see how the overall flavour profile changes in each years harvest.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Adagio’s Masters Teas and purchase some of the harvest of this tea for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll do my best to answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley

*The tea featured in this post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and have not been paid for*