Shuangjiang Mengku Tea Company (Yunnan Sourcing)

This was a nice ripe with some pleasant flavors. It had a fair amount of fermentation taste left. Not really sure if it had chocolate notes because I had some dark chocolate while drinking this. Towards the end I did find a fruity note although I can’t be specific. This was a nice tea and the price was right.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Silver teapot with 13.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

This is a fairly tasty but bitter sheng. The bitterness was quite strong for the first eight steeps. About steep nine a sweet note took over. You might conceivably use the word apricots to describe the sweet note but it may not be quite that sweet. On a side note I got my teamail while I was brewing this. And my postman is a little bit odd. He asked for some tea. So I gave him what I think was the fourth steeping of this. He will probably have had quite a shock as sheng is something of an acquired taste. We’ll see if he ever asks me for tea again. I didn’t put sugar in it for him either. Just gave him what I think was the fourth steeping. It was still quite bitter at that point. This tea took a good eight steeps for the bitterness to depart.

I steeped this twelve times in a 130ml gaiwan with 7.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I could have gotten more steepings out of this tea but I had had enough caffeine for today.

Bought this a couple of months ago from Yunnan Sourcing. Just getting around to trying it. It is a nice tea overall. There was a mixture of bitter and sweet to this tea. The bitterness that was there was not the sort I call an abiding bitterness, it was more subdued. Early on I got definite fruity notes, perhaps apricots, perhaps stonefruits, perhaps something else. This fruity taste only lasted a few steeps but it was still overall very smooth and sweet. The bitterness was noticeable for only a few steeps but then it was there on the back burner. It didn’t go away completely but was not noticeable really. I didn’t get much qi off of this tea. It would have been nice but I’m really not feeling anything. Still it was a very good tea.

I steeped this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The tea was not watery in the twelfth steep. I could have kept going if I wanted to. Would have gotten a few more steeps out of the leaves.

This is a powerful and aromatic tea layered with sweet fruity notes. It’s obvious after the first rinse that these are well-sourced and expertly-processed leaves. The dry and wet leaves are large, intact, and highly aromatic. Early steeps are of classic dried fruit/sugar plum, sweet hay, and a very subtle smokiness that accents the floral notes rather nicely. The tea then becomes more juicy in the way oolongs can be. It has that sweetness and texture of a well-ripened black plum.

There are strong floral notes in the huigan, very pleasurable mouthfeel, consistent body, and expansive energy. These qualities never fall flat, which lead me to believe the leaves were picked from older trees. The aroma of the empty cup is impressive.

It’s hit the 10-year mark, but dry storage has allowed the tea to retain those high floral notes and dark olive green tinge in some of its leaves. I’d say it’s cross between EoT’s 2006 Wild Peacock and Finepuer’s 2009 Wild Raw DaXueShan from Yong De. After steep 6, it reveals more juicy fruit notes and just enough bitterness to add interest. It’s a very easy drinker.