Here's my favorite tea...
I've been exploring the world of tea for about 5 years and have tried just over 200 teas of nearly all tea types. There is one tea that I've consistently gone back to since I have discovered it. It is a sheng puer from Yunnan Sourcing. I have an interesting relationship with this tea. I have never thought of this tea as wildly complex or as an experience. Instead, it has balance with just the right amount of intrigue to work as a daily drinker. I'm always happy to drink this tea.
2020 Wu Liang Mountain (the pic of this post)
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2020-yunnan-sourcing-wu-liang-mountain-wild-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake-1
Tasting notes: Thick texture; mineral, wood, and sweet body; citrus and herb high notes; a bitter-to-sweet aftertaste transformation.
Not sure if this counts but matcha is my absolute favorite tea. My partner recently visited Japan and brought back multiple seasonal/Japan exclusives and I could multiple cups every day.
Been meaning to start trying some looseleaf teas though is yunnan sourcing a good place to just try out random quality teas?
Do you have a source/website of matcha that you would recommend? I have only tried matcha a couple times, of varying quality.
Yunnan Sourcing has low-to-mid price options and seems to have a reliable enough quality. They do have many types and styles available as samples, so I would recommend them for random sampling.
Ippodo is my current personal favorite. Prior to bringing it back straight from Japan, I just purchased it off Amazon. Ippodo also has their own website. They can be a bit expensive but I like ummon-no-mukashi ($51 for 40g on Amazon) for drinking it plain (usucha, unsweetened) and then for matcha lattes I like ikuyo (I'll typically get the 100g bag just because I drink a ton of it, also around $50).
Edit: add link