Changda Hao

Sweet and mellow with nice energy and it produces a lovely aftertaste! After reading an older note on Hobbes’ blog, I was intrigued by the history and attributes of this particular cake. I was determined to find this tea but I was somewhat doubtful that I would — then I actually found it at Puerhshop.com.

I was not familiar with Manluo Tea Factory (now Changdahao) but apparently back in the day they were highly regarded. This particular cake is made from high quality leaf gathered from an ancient tree farm on Mansa’s high mountain (in the Yiwu tea growing area) and is part of their 2005 Six Famous Tea Mountains collection. Produced using very traditional hand processing and stone pressing. The dry leaf is beautiful – intact large leaves throughout – moderate compression making it easy to pick off a small amount. Clear yellow-gold tea soup that tastes honey sweet with a nice huigan. A little pepper on the tongue in the first few cups. Nice balance and very pleasant in the mouth. I have thoroughly enjoyed this one over the past two days. Gotta love tea blogs maintained by experienced people (e.g., Hobbes) for great tea discoveries!!