Sunday 21 October 2012

2008 Menghai Classic Raw Pu-erh sample - Jas-etea.com

Today's tea is  Menghai tea factory's "classic" blended plantation sheng (raw) 2008 vintage.  This tea was part of a sample pack from Jas-eTea.com  which included a few different sheng Pu-erh's. 
Here is a blurb taken from  the yunnan sourcing site about this tea:

Commentary from Menghai Tea Factory (translated by Aaron Davis): 


These "Classic" fresh and ripe Pu-erh cakes were produced by Menghai Tea Factory to commemorate the selection of Dayi tea production techniques as a national cultural heritage. Sixty-eight years of accumulated craft has resulted in the classic quality of Dayi Pu-erh tea. "Classic" fresh and ripe Pu-erh cakes were produced using traditional Dayi techniques and production formula. Their flavor is strong and balanced with rich, layered kougan (mouth sensation) and ample yunwei (lasting flavor). This tea is named "Classic" because it represents Menghai Tea Factory's many years of accumulated tea producing art. "Classic" ripe Pu-erh tea possesses the following special traits: tight, evenly woven strips of tea; oily smooth reddish-brown color; fine gold hair spread evenly across the surface; full, sweet, and mellow flavor with smooth "kougan"; and the clear aroma of age. "Classic" fresh Pu-erh is marked by: plump buds and leaves with visible fine hair; evenly distributed, tightly woven strips of tea; oily smooth yellow-green color; bright golden yellow tea liquor; rich and mellow flavor with strong astringency and a sweet, saliva-promoting quality; and pure, unadulterated fragrance.
Product Name: Da Jing Dian (aka Big Classic)Net Weight: 357 gramsIngredients: Blended Raw Pu-erh teaProduced by Menghai Tea Factory
Fascinating is it not?  Anyways onto the prep method.

         Prep Method:
11g of tea 
90-95c water
120ml Yixing teapot with "Ghetto Ghasket" to prevent lid seepage  
1 rinse/cup warming at 95c


First infusion: 
 Flash 90c

Fairly low astringency so far a earthy smokiness on the arrival  that melds into a tangy citrus on the sides of the tongue  slightly dry finish


Second infusion:
Flash  (slow pour due to tea blocking spout.)

Arrival is Nazi facemelting astringancy that dominates but slides into that citrus tang  extremely dry finish. 


Third infusion:
Flash(similar pour)

Arrival astringancy is more manageable this time still very dry almost smoked walnuts citrus is still there but more laid back.


4th infusion:
5s(plus pour)

Tea has calmed down now smokeyness and dry astringancy up front slightly sweet finish. 

5th infusion:
10s

 Smokeyness has deminished a bit  pulling sweet minirals forward time to up infusion time.



6th Infusion:
20s

Earthy and sweet still dry.


7th infusion:
30s

Earthy almost mushroom like flavor still sweet.


8th infusion
1m

Minerals and sweetness ghostly citrus tang can be detected.


9th infusion:
1:30

Similar to above. For the readers sake i will return when the tea changes.






 So this tea went on to give up the ghost on the 23rd infusion.

Thoughts:
 well i enjoyed the tea  it has been a while since i did a Sheng session.  this tea due to being in a plastic bag since i'v gotten it  hasn't aged as well as it should of but there is still some age to it.  So to the tea, It in itself is a bit simple flavor wise but what flavors it has are easy to pick out  and come across in a rather forward manner.

   Now onto something totally different!  Lets talk Yixing for a bit.  In my opinion  Yixing's unless heavily seasoned should not be used for analytically tea reviews, due to their very nature.  Yixing tea ware are the vampires of the tea world.  Depending on seasoning methods  you may have these little flavor suckers, sucking the flavor out of your tea for quite some time.  There are many different ways of seasoning Yixing tea ware but that is for a different blog post.  Anyways my little Yixing has been though a few seasoning sessions and has had some tea made in it, so in my findings it hasn't leached too much out of the tea for this review.  Now something you can do to add some visual appeal and also speed up the seasoning process of Yixing tea ware is to feed your tea ware.  You may be confused by my statement, but its simple.  You know that little bit of tea left in your cup with all the little bits of tea dust and other things that you spill out?  Yea that,  Pour that over top your Yixing tea ware.  With every dribble of tea your adding color and shine enhancing tea oils to the outside of your tea ware.  Eventually you should see the color darken and it have an increased luster. 
So in conclusion Yixing tea ware are not the type of vampires that need staking but instead you should feed them.  a well fed Yixing leads to a happy tea drinker.






2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. thanks i managed to stretch the session over 20 so i was happy. it was nice having a really long session again. most of my regular teas only last 8 or so. and at just over 2 hours of constant tea intake I'm feeling pretty good.

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