Menghai Tea Factory

I’m a newbie in Puerh. never thought I would venture in this area. i was always afraid to try but once i tried i became hooked. read lots of reviews and always follow thread pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
Anyway this particular tea sounded so intriguing so I decided to order from Dragon Tea House site(in my opinion it was the cheapest). I like it so much that i even placed an order for the second. and already got the second. it takes around 10 days incl weekend to get from China and I find it remarkable.
Its very smooth without any offensive smell, kind of earthy, sweet and on my 3th or 4th steeps i noticed some citrus notes and even dried cherry. maybe its my wild imagination;)

Huge f’ing fan of this cake. Much love to my man Shah for recommending it.

Had this one a while. The first time I tried it I was like oh no! I have put this in the pumidor for about 3 months and it has opened up nicely. I think the long ship time may have had something to do with the first tasting. I broke off 12 grams put in the yixing and gave a 10 second “wash”. I then actually forgot and let the leaves sit in the pot overnight. It brews up dark like most shou and has that bit of “musty” aroma to it. this stuff gives an almost touch of a cherry chocolate cordial we probably grew up with and dislike now. Only for a second though. It then turns to a kind of lightly sweetened bittersweet chocolate. It has the usual drying of an older shou also. Not a bad one and not the best but drinkable to a shou pu head like me.

A very nice toucha. Just a hint of astringency that turns into a slight sweetness. A touch of citrus with the sweet. Enjoyable sheng for today.

I’ve been working on this one all day – most enjoyable with good flavor in every cup. Boiling water; (2) 5 second rinses; 30s steep; another 10 seconds added for each steep after the first. Earthy then buttery then creamy. I’m going to order another cake so that I can keep this around for a long time.

This is my first tea picked by my homemade randomizer. It was one of the ones I was hoping to squirrel but the randomizer picked it and I am a slave to the system. I also didn’t take detailed notes about each steep because I am lazy.

I absolutely loved this tea based completely on the superficial. It’s adorable. It’s so tiny and pretty and the box is purple. The look of it made me happy. Brewed, it’s just magnificent. So sweet and creamy. There are times when I sip this tea and it’s just notes of caramelized dates with that smooth creaminess and it was just perfect. Pure perfection. This is one of the smoothest ripe pu’ers I have ever tried.

I don’t think this will be an everyday tea. Not because I don’t love it to bits and pieces but I want it to last. I am tempted in a big way to buy another one of these and a Red Rhyme.

Brewing the “ripe” version tonight. 15 grams in the easy gaiwan. Gave a 10 second rinse and let the tea set a few minutes to open up. Brews a nice color in the cup not sure about the “secret fragrance” part of this as it has the aroma of any normal shou. First infusion almost lychee like (an oriental fruit similar to a cross between a peach and strawberry). Second steep opens up much more with hints of oak and and apple with some dryness to it. Rich and dark but not overly strong with a single taste that stands out. Pleasant without being overpowering. Scoring both the raw and ripe with the same score as both are pretty good.

The previous note on this was for the Sheng or raw cake. Having the ripe version tonight.

Got this in a sample pack to try. Using a gaiwan to keep this one pure. It is called “Secret fragrance” I wish i had an aroma cup for this but I lack one. Goes on shopping list. The first infusion brewed a light pale green color and gave a small hit of tobacco. Second infusion give a deeper golden color and brings out some citrus notes to go with the hit of astringency and tobacco. Interesting on the palate, makes the tongue tingle a bit.It has a small bit of astringency but seems to coat the mouth with an aftertaste of the citrus that lingers for a while. It almost seems to have some floral between the layers of tobacco and citrus. A very interesting sheng. I brewed 13 grams of it in the pot.

I remember not being overly impressed with this tea when I first got it after reading the vendor description of it. If I recall correctly it still had some of the fresh fermentation “funk” to it. I ran across it again in a listing and said what the heck pull it out and taste it. I brewed it in the trusty yixing reserved for Menghai shou. I gave it a 20 second rinse to re-hydrate and off I went. I did a 15 second or so step and watched the dark brew come out. It has a very small tart sensation reminiscent of a persimmon but not as pronounced. It has a little drying effect on the tongue that turns to a light sweetness almost like a fruity red wine. It still has the “earthy” underlying note at the end. It gives a touch of burnt bitter caramel about the middle of the taste session. This is hard to explain all the taste notes you can get on this one but as it has lost the fermentation flavor it is turning to be a decent tea. It has some boldness at times that would stand up well to a rich evening meal. I think it will continue to evolve. I will do later steeps on this tonight as we are expected to have fall weather in the 40s and it is rich in taste as many things are in the fall.

I am digging this one. I’ve been drinking steeps of this over the morning in an effort to hold to my goal of getting through the samples that terri sent me of a variety of puerhs! Initial impressions, so that i don’t lose that is that this is a very creamy puerh. I’m going to toss the leaves to cold brew once i’m done with them just to see how that works but overall impressions of this so far is that this is just delicious!

Sip down! Another wonderful sample from Terri! Gradually working through them. I’ve been drinking this one over the course of the later afternoon. Sadly it’s stupid hot in Toronto so my brain has been wandering. I think there are other puerhs that I prefer more than this one, but I don’t dislike this one either. This is one of those puerhs for me that I could drink all the time. It doesn’t feel like I have to pay as much attention to it as others but is still a creamy ish cup of puerh. I can dig it :)

This after some time in the “pumidor” has mellowed out a bit. Honey notes are more pronounced. any hit of harsh astringency is subdued quite a bit. Aging nicely and getting more enjoyable.

Trying this out tonight. This is the highest grade Menghai cake that I possess. The taste of it is kind of puzzling. The cake is loosely compressed and easy to break apart. I brewed this in the gaiwan to keep the flavor notes from being softened by the yixing pot. It has a buttered pea aroma to it. I washed it once for about 10 seconds and went on to steeping it 3 times and pouring it all in a 10 oz. cup. It sill has some astringency and the color is still pretty yellow for a 6 year old tea. It has notes of honey and flower in it. There is still some smoke to it and the drying on the side of the tongue. A light oiliness coats the inside of the mouth. Head to head against the 8582 from a year younger i would prefer it over this one. Needless to say I hope it will age well. It has given me a bit of sweat that the 8582 lacked. An OK sheng to drink nevertheless. i will try this in the yixing tomorrow.

I have enjoyed 9 steeps of this tea now. I use 3 steeps for the “me” size cup I normally drink. This tea has no astringency no harshness and no “bite” at all. This tea brew a light orange/golden color. It has a light citrus aroma. It taste like a very light green tea with the sweetness of honey to it. I found this to be one of the most enjoyable shengs that I have had. Definitely in the top three. I have the newer versions of this cake and hope they age as well. I was really surprised as this is a secondary code 807 of this tea. Very nice. I will probably buy another one of these.

I’ve been sipping on this for the last hour or so.
This is the 3rd time I’ve sampled this tea, I think.
I do not taste any chocolate. I taste semolina & cream. There is a nice bold depth as well, kind of a coffee edge, which perhaps could be interpreted as dark chocolate, but that is not what I taste.
Over the course of several steepings the cream became butter, with a nice buttery sensation lingering in my throat.
It’s a pleasant tea, & maybe next time…

Thank you Mrmopar for this Puerh sample!
BTW, the new picture is me sniffing wet tea leaves, proof that I am an official tea geek and nerd!

Oh yeah, getting back into my puerh groove! Woman does not live by puerh alone(but I almost get away with it)!

We’re having a dip in temperature…snow flurries then back up to the 50’s and 60’s. A real Rocky Mountain Roller Coaster! Wheeee!
For breakfast today…a strong cuppa PU sounded fabulous! (If you take a look at mrmopar’s cupboard, you’ll see that he agrees with me!)

This particular puerh was great for bold drinking. I was thinking about how you could make a big pot, sit down with breakfast or the paper…even fill a thermos and head out the door. It’s such a big flavorful puerh, reminiscent of what I ‘Used to get’ at Pete’s Coffee way back when! My morning ‘kick in the butt’ cuppa!

Smooth, dark, stands up to additions and the resteeps aren’t weak.

The flavor:
After one rinse, I steeped 30 seconds which produced a DARK red-espresso-brown brew, smooth and full of energy. The taste was raspberry/choco/cedar/nut with a little tang. (None of those flavors distinctly strong). Muted flavors, smooth and sweet.

On later steepings the flavor wasn’t as strong.

At the 4th and 5th steep…I got lazy and put the two steeps together in an 8oz mug, sweetened it and added cream. Yeah! Good!

I kicked back and watched the news, slurped my mug of PU with a furry throw tucked up under mu chin, my feet propped on the bench coffee table. What a life!

This tea is one of those “Whatever you want me to be, I’ll be it for you baby!” puerh’s! (Too bad I never married man like that, oh well!)

Thanks Mrmopar!

100 Grams is really not a very big tea cake, however at 5 G per session, it will make tea 20 times, & of course each session will make many cups of tea to savor. I weighed it, & it actually weighed in at 92G, but my guess is that it was originally 100, & lost weight as it aged.

I started with a rinse, which admittedly, I drank, savoring the gentle essence of semolina & vanilla cake. The wet leaves smell of Kugle. What’s Kugle? It’s a dish made with buttery noodles & custard, which can be made either sweet or savory. I used to make it for my kids when they were young, everyone loved it so. In this case, I’m thinking of the sweet kind, with vanilla.
Here’s my impression of the steepings:
1. 10 sec: It’s so creamy & sweet, & it’s Kugle!
2. 15 sec: Even creamier & sweeter!
3 – 5 at 20, 25, & 30 sec were combined into a pitcher, to enjoy while I was teaching a student, & the flavors continued.
6. 45 sec: the butteriness is replaced by a golden sensation, as if my tongue were covered in a sleeve of pure thin gold. I know that sounds weird, but it’s the only way I can describe it. Still sweet.
7. 1 minute: It feels like I’m drinking cream. The flavor is of a brown crust of WW bread.

I had to leave for awhile, but when I got home, I ran through several more steepings, & could probably continue, but I have somewhere to be, so maybe tomorrow? This is a very nice tea!
7.

I have mentioned that my youngest daughter has become obsessed with cooking. I feel so spoiled! And she asks to drink puerh with me often now. This has led to a slight problem in supply. I am on my last cake of Mandala Tea ripe puerh. I do have a little loose puerh, and I have two flavored ones, and I have two green or sheng puerh remaining. Still….this is LOW SUPPLY! ALARM! ALARM!

Hubby was in den, so I shouted from the living room that puerh makes a great anniversary gift. He asked me where this great gift would come from, and I told him not to worry, I would order it myself! Am I a low maintenance wife or what? I will even open it before I wrap it and make sure it is good! :D

As to taste: I used about a teaspoon, maybe a bit more, in my tiny eight ounce pot. We had a liter glass kettle of water. The flavor lasted for steep after steep. It was earthy and warm.
Youngest remarked that she particularly enjoyed this session. I think that is a pretty good recommendation.

Drumroll, please! There is another puerh convert in my house! Hooray!!!!!!

My youngest daughter has become obsessed, obsessed I say!, with cooking and with trying new things. What a wonderful time when kids hit that ultra adventurous stage. Up to now her favorite teas were Vanilla Black by Harney, any Lapsang but especially Black Dragon from Upton, Baker Street Afternoon Blend from Upton, and Yunnan Golden Tips.

A couple of months ago she cut back on sugar in her tea and finally weaned herself off of it entirely. Then she started cooking and was wanting to try lots of new foods. She discovered that she liked nearly everything she tried. She started trying new teas, and re-tasting ones that she had not cared for long ago.

I nearly fell over last week when I made puerh at my son’s request last week and she asked if there was enough for her, too. Then twice this week she has asked if the two of us could share a pot together.

Today’s choice was Purple Rhyme. I made it western style in my 22 ounce pot and poured it into a larger pot. I used boiling water and steeped for about four minutes, until it was almost inky black! I made a second steep right away which is as dark as the first and combined them. There was no rinse.

This is so good, very smooth and full bodied. This is earthy with a high tang. We drank about 35 ounces of it today. I saved the leaves and expect to get at least another two western steeps out of it tomorrow. I am so happy to have another puerh drinker in the house.

I want to thank Bonnie over and over again for saying she puts her puerh leaves in the fridge to cold steep after she has had some hot steeps of it. I did that two days ago and just let it sit in a big pitcher. I am finally drinking it today and I have to say it is one of the most refreshing things you could possibly imagine.

I posted a link to the recipe for Ent Draught last week, but to me, THIS is what Ent Draught would taste like. It is so perfectly light, refreshing, and clean, clean, clean, while at the same time tasting of purest earth. I think I could actually gulp down the whole pitcher in a very short time, and it is so cooling and uplifting. There is not even a tad of sugar in it. It doesn’t need it.

Ent Draught is supposed to be clear, thus the distilling process, but this is the taste it should have! The color of the cold brew puerh is gorgeous – so orange and clear. It looks like really good Southern sweet tea. I would much rather have this, though.

I am almost looking forward to our sticky summer weather just so I can drink gallons of this!

I drank one steep of my Southern Season puerh and then put the leaves in the fridge to cold brew a pitcher of iced tea. I was feeling unsatisfied, puerh-wise, so I decided to treat myself to several steeps of Purple Rhyme.

I love the box it came in, the careful wrapping of the paper with such beautiful, uniform folds, the stamp that holds the paper tight. I love the care used to present this product to me.

The tea is really dark, because I love strong, smooth puerh and I let it steep longer than most people do. The taste is fresh and so clean.