Menghai Tea Factory( sourced by mandala tea)

This is not the first time I’ve drank this, or even the 2nd, but apparently it is the first time I’m logging it here. It is very nice, with flavors of semolina & perhaps a dark dried fruit, like raisins or prunes. It’s very smooth, a nice depth to it, & doesn’t have any of the compost pile flavors that some Puers feature. It’s a little late at night for me to be drinking tea, but I’ve had a busy couple of days & I feel that I deserve some Shu, plus it doesn’t ever seem to keep me up, so I’m enjoying my last cup (steep # 8, I think).

I made seven steeps of this tea tonight! I pried off about a teaspoon of leaf and put it in my eight ounce porcelain pot. This was infused three times and poured into a larger pot. The fourth steep was poured directly into our cups and was the first steep we actually drank. Hubby remarked right away at the strength of the tea. Amazing for a fourth to taste like it could be a first steep.

We drank the whole pot of tea after that, and I really wanted more. I went back to the kitchen and made steeps five, six, and seven, once again combining them into a larger pot. (We were watching Lord of the Rings.)

The seven steep at last shows some lessening of color so I stopped there, and we have finished off the last three steeps now. These leaves have had a good run.

Tonight was writers’s group at my house but we had fewer people than usual thanks to colds and work related issues. This meant more time for tea! My partner in culinary crime loves to experiment so I asked her if we had ever tried puerh together and she said no. I gave her a brief history of the drink, let her sniff this cake, and since she didn’t run in fear I started steeping.

Five steeps later, we have a convert. She really liked it. I steeped it for over a minute each time…one steep was quite a bit longer and every steep was good. I used about a teaspoon of leaf pried off the cake into my eight ounce pot and we used a fair cup. Very good, with a nice cedar oil mouthfeel this time!

My first puerh cake! I have been really excited about getting these for Christmas. I knew in advance because hubby had me pick the tea I wanted and he did offer to let me try it early, but I waited!

I wasn’t sure how good this first try would be because I took the wrapper and shook off the loose leaf. Then I struggled to pry off a bit of leaf but was really bad at it! I did manage to get about a teaspoon loose and started steeping in my smallest pot.

I was going to rinse but I tasted the rinse and it was good, so I drank it! I did thirty second steeps at first and then increased by just a little for number four. The first steeps are fresh, clean, bright, and horsey, just how I like it. Steep four had chocolate notes! Steep five…oops. I was cooking and doing other things and there is no telling how long it steeped. Several minutes at the very least. But it is still drinkable, and not just drinkable but good!

I am really looking forward to drinking all these puerhs with friends and family for a long time.

a really great 100gram dayi. rich in flavor great for multiple infusions(already at 5) keeps giving and giving! a really great cake!