2010 Menghai 7572 Ripe Pu'erh

I let this steep for 5 minutes in the Yixing and I knew what to expect. A strong, dark very flavorful brew. No rinse. This went straight to my head. I could feel this tea immediately. I noticed a vast improvement since my last tasting. I have several young Shu such as this that I will sip from time to time to see how they are aging. This one is getting there. Another raising of the score….

7572 is a classic…kind of like going to a restaurant you know really well and getting your favorite dish! It is always the same and reliable – I drink this tea often, it’s good as an “everyday” kind of thing. Like eggs and toast for breakfast

I am actually drinking a 2009 now, not 2010, but i didn’t see where to list it, and the difference is prolly not so big :)

I read that the 7572 recipe is the benchmark for ripe pu erh, kind of a standard of quality used to compare other shou pu erh’s to. I bought this 2010 version over a year ago, but haven’t opened it. I prefer my shou’s to be 5+ years of aging for most cakes so I let this one sit. Today I was at a friend’s and we sat down for some tea and chose a 7572 he had just opened. We probably used 9g in a 180ml yixing, rinse and short steeps 3-5 seconds. The brew was nice and dark brown with a sweet welcoming scent. My first taste caused a reaction of ahhhhhh yeah, I see! It has a classic Menghai shou taste, rich but not too strong with flavors of mushroom and chocolate with an earthy note distant in the background. It was truly very tasty. I can see why it is the benchmark for shou quality. This could easily be a go to shou, an every day drinker for shou lovers. I’d be interested to try one with a couple more years of aging, but this is certainly an excellent shou worthy of the benchmark label.

The reggular pu er tea. No specific taste. Good color, good pu er taste. Can note nothing

first time I tried this tea was in a TaeTea shop in Beijing. I sat down with the shop keeper and had maybe 8 brews or so. Very easy and warming on the body and adds a sense of contentment. This is my mid day tea. I steep for around 20 seconds to start- similarly to how the shop keeper prepared it. The tea is almost syrupy even at such a short steep. It coats the mouth and there is a mild numbing the way Sichuan peppercorn’s numb, but gentler.