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2005 Mengku Wild Arbor "Zheng Shan Da Ye" Raw Pu-erh Tea | Yunnan Sourcing Tea Shop

2005 Mengku Wild Arbor "Zheng Shan Da Ye" Raw Pu-erh Tea

by Yunnan Sourcing Tea Shop
Sold out
$9.50 - $90.75
$9.50
$9.50 - $90.75
$9.50

This was produced by a small tea factory in the Mengku area from Spring 2005 tea leaves from Xiao Hu Sai area of Mengku county in Lincang.  The tea was stone pressed and compression is medium to light.  The leaves are tippy first pluck of spring and their integrity has been well preserved thanks to the stone compression.

The tea has been stored in Guangdong in a relatively dry storage condition and as such the complexity of the tea has been respectfully transformed.  Nice floral, fruit and camphor tones in this thick well aged tea!

 ** Some wrappers may be bug-bitten with little holes in the paper. There may also be some dust between the wrapper and the cake. Rinse tea once or twice briefly before drinking! If you are squeamish please don't order this tea!

400 grams per cake

Spring 2005 plucking

Overall rating: 4.0 / 5 from 4 reviews.

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Summary topics

Review topics: ["taste","smell","aftertaste","tea","brew","sheng","notes"].

Review highlights

Reviews

Thought after drinking maybe 80 sessions with this tea

"I'm drinking probably the 2nd-last session from the 2nd cake of this that I've drunk. I have another one that I'm keeping for another couple of years at least. I've been drinking this tea for probably almost 7 years now. And I've bought 3 cakes of it. So I think it's pretty good tea. But not 5 stars good. The one I'm drinking now has not been at Kunming for something like 5 years, so what you buy will taste different from what I've got. The smoke has faded from mine, for example, where a cake that was taken out of a just-opened tong that's still at Kunming might still have it. Mine is at sea level near the coast at a subtropical latitude, so the soup it brews is doubtless darker than what you'll get from one that stayed in Yunnan. It's Lincang tea. YS offers a lot of Lincang tea, if you haven't noticed, and tends toward a certain style or tendency of it in their "house taste." It's lighter in body than Menghai material and has briskness from the earliest steeps. It's very fragrant: this tea, at 18 years, leaves a *strong* dry cup scent just from the rinse. On the other hand, it has no trace of camphor, which I had been hoping for by this point. Some folks say that the Lincang ye sheng da ye does not age well, and perhaps this is what they are thinking. Notwithstanding, it is definitely 18-years-aged raw puer tea with lots of big fancy buds in it, which despite the lack of camphor still has the distinctive whatever-it-is of good raw tea with some real age on it. Also I take back part of what I said about the smoke. You get about 6 steeps in and you can still smell it on the gaiwan lid."

— Wade S. (4/5)

This tea is from the same place used to make lapsang souchong?

"The dry leaf, while slightly smokey had another indistinguishable aroma that I never figured out. The wet leaf smelled of lemons & after staying out overnight, had a very sweet lihing smell. The hot brew surprisingly tasted sour, like lemons with a smokey undertone. I brewed an obscene number of infusions over the hours & got myself really wired up and jittery which lasted the rest of the day. The aftertaste wasn't great, but the feel on the middle and tip of my tongue was good without any bitterness at all. The cold brew tastes sour, like lemon without much smokiness, no bitterness & no funky aftertaste. Taking the cold brew on the road with me did brew the tea further in the 80+ degree heat which turned the brew into an unwanted sour mash. I added more water to the sour mash, left it in the fridge for another 20 hrs, & the sweet lemon flavor returned!"

— Ronnie E. (2/5)

sublimely smooth, but smokey

"Dry leaves have a wonderful tangy herbaceous smell. Wonderfully mellow, smooth aged Sheng. Satisfying and impressive with regards to the overall smoothness of the brew. No musty wet storage funk. It's sweet, woody, and herbaceous, but unfortunately for me, the smoky aspect predominates. Did not get the methol/camphor that I love and that Thomas G mentioned. Perhaps a bit of cooling sensations on the breath. Giving it 5 stars because its good for what it is, though its not one I would reorder due to the smoke. I prefer to keep searching for something with more prominent fruit/herbal/camphor qualities. This review is based on one 5g session with the broken up loose pieces in the sample. Might get better results with a piece of the intact chunk."

— asaf (5/5)

Above average

"I found this tea to be quite easy to drink with no noticeable off notes. It ranks above average as far as the semi-aged sheng I’ve tried thus far goes. The taste is very smooth and somewhat herbaceous (pine) and fruity, with a strong menthol/camphor note and a sour finish. Aftertaste is cooling with a lasting sweetness and notes of wood and papaya. I found body decently thick and the texture quite bubbly, especially in the first few steeps. One downside of this tea is that it doesn’t really last beyond 9 or 10 infusions, but frankly for a 14 year old tea at this price, one probably shouldn’t expect much more."

— Tomáš G. (5/5)

Q&A

How long has this tea been at Kunming now?
This batch about 3 years as of January 2021.
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