“I started this review three times… Notes: Young coconut (slightly sweet, papery), thick tea soup, edging toward bitterness (but never reaching it), and a good bit of energy. Not worth the $96 USD,...” Read full tasting note
Love-Struck Rascal – POTENT and DELICIOUS Mengku Raw PuErh
The Love-Struck Rascal comes from ancient trees (estimated 200-300 years old) growing in the forests around Bang Dong village in the Mengku area of Lincang.
It exhibits the revered Mengku characteristics – smooth, sweet and warm in the mouth with plenty of minerals and botanical complexity, plus a body sensation to delight and surprise.
Love-Struck Rascal has an excellent balance in the mouth, bridging creamy with refreshing. It has a deceptive complexity which shifts through different movements.
The initial experience is redolent with steamed puddings and oat cookies which builds in hot-stone minerality and orange-fleshed fruitiness reminiscent of apricot yoghurt or creamy persimmons.
A bright sappiness like green bamboo or aloe joins the party to bring memories of munching young coconut flesh straight from the fruit and steamed bamboo baskets of dim sum sweet buns.
The only hint at the tea-drunk potency of this Rascal is that fleeting, mineral bitterness which transforms almost immediately into a sweet juiciness. You are left with a cooling and laundry-fresh floweriness in the aftertaste.
The body sensation is hard to describe, but the wrapper artwork evokes the feeling it gives me quite perfectly: loved-up excitability with a touch of rapture and rascal cheekiness.
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EYES – DRY LEAF
Burgundy and taupe brown young leaves with shiny dark silver buds.
NOSE – DRY LEAF
Chocolate milk, sauna wood and rocks, brown bread and custard.
NOSE – WET LEAF
Strawberry jam, steamed sponge cake, apricot nectar, hot pavements.
EYES – LIQUOR
Straw gold liquor.
MOUTH – TEXTURE
Medium thick and very smooth.
MOUTH – TASTE
Steamed lotus seed dumplings in bamboo baskets, oat cookies, persimmon, aloe and young coconut flesh.
NOSE – EMPTY CUP
Apricot yoghurt and ginger biscuits.
MOUTH – FINISH
Mineral bitters which instantly transform to strong, cooling, flowery and slightly soapy sweetness.
EYES – WET LEAF
Light khaki green delicate leaves.
BODY SENSATION
Potent buzzy energy with a wild and high character.
SEASON
April 2022
CULTIVAR
Da Ye Zhong
ORIGIN
Bang Dong, Lincang, Yunnan, China
PICKING & PROCESSING
Bud and up to three leaves
ELEVATION
1700m
Company description not available.