2006 Mengku Wild Arbor King Raw Pu-erh Brick

A great daily drinker for those who like adolescent Lincang teas. Nice camphor and dead wood notes with just a touch of sweetness. There are some similarities between this tea and a Keemun. It’s quite generous for a factory tea as well. I get well over a dozen steeps out of this. Nice contemplative energy as well.

Finally, a middle-aged tea that I really enjoy! This must have been very dry-stored, I would even venture to guess this is how most of us in the U.S. will see our cakes age. Or maybe some of its character comes from the fact that it is a brick, and tightly compressed, rather than a cake. The color is deep gold-amber. There is absolutely no whiff of that mushroomy flavor that inevitably prevails in much of the aged pu erh I’ve had. It is zingy, sweet, a little fruity, with just a faint hint of leather/tobacco/smoke. Good astringency, and super charged qi. This hits the mark for me after a long time of searching and trying different aged pu’s. Hoping the brick doesn’t differ too much from this sample as I plan to order one…

Incredible tea! At least to my taste. A good complex taste, fairly old puerh. Woody and incense notes. Will last for a good number of infusions and if you buy the whole brick it can be affordable per gram.

Dry – Thick, refreshing (camphor), sweetness with fruity notes, a candied red fruit scent.
Wet Very sweet, candied fruit, refreshing (faded mint sensation), wood, apricots dried reduced fruits, aged wood bitterness.
Liquor – Golden

1st 3secs Smooth with a clean sweetness that develops herbaceous and fruity character that seems a bit younger than the age stated, yet very pleasant with camphor (which can be indicative of the age and good storage). refreshing and pleasant huigan.

2nd 3secs Smooth with bittersweet to bitter floral notes that transition to a bittersweet to sweet notes while maintaining a tart and bitter fruit base and developing wood notes. The wood note has hints of dried fruits, but ends up becoming herbaceous and refreshing.

3rd 4secs Smooth and increasingly bitter to bittersweet on the front with deep honeyed notes and now apparent wood character with herbaceous accentuation that linger as the notes become sweeter and fresh with the camphor that lodges in the throat.

4th 6secs Bitter and bittersweet , honeyed, fruity some floral notes with wood notes and now some astringency appears with a slight drying sensation, but remains bittersweet and sweet with a refreshing finish.

Final Notes
I had about 11 steeps of this one. I feel like it help up with strong notes up to the 6th steep and started collapsing, but I could easily correct the times by the color of the liquor and scent.

The overall notes are good with only some astringency which is not a bad thing if you are considering aging. What I liked about this tea is that is one of those that is still defining itself in terms of age characteristics. You can see get the traits of youth from the herbaceous and fruity/floral notes; followed by the aging characteristics of aged wood and camphor. I’m not going to score this one yet. I’m going to finish my sample piece another day and updating this note with ‘updates’ and a score.

Clean dry leaves with a woody, sweet nose offering a hint of incense. Golden liquor with good clarity. Vegetal flavor and a touch of mushroom with a touch of sweetness; tiny amount of bitterness in the first two cups. Smooth with definite character in later cups. Ample complexity beginning in the third infusion and lasting through the remaining six resteeps. Good aftertaste in the mouth. Potential to continue improving with age.
Note: good tea but not my favorite Mengku and not even my favorite Arbor King from Mengku.