2005 Six Famous Tea Mountain "Mengsong" Raw

Pretty, long leaves form the cake which has an inviting fruity scent. Limited number of stems and pieces. Two 5 second rinses and left the wet leaves to rest before steeping the first cup. Orange color in the tea soup. The sip yields an appealing fruity sweet flavor and suggests a thick and substantial body. In later cups there is a tiny bit of bitterness and both tobacco and woody flavors hit to offer a little balance and complexity. Good throat-feel where the sweetness continues to build. This is a straightforward tea made from decent leaves from one clearly identified growing area and I must say that I quite enjoyed my sessions yesterday and today. When I last checked, you could still find it at Angelina’s Teas for $45.

Ooh, I’m first to write a note, but it’s a bit of a Goldilocks tale: the first cup was too weak, the second cup was too strong, but the third cup was just right.

I like Yunnansourcing’s sample packs. They are large enough to give you a chance to experiment a little. There is enough in the sample pack for another two pots this time around. In this case, I have not really needed to experiment that much, because the tea endures enough for me to eventually get it right. The dry leaf smells of tobacco and hay. It seems quite tightly compressed with chopped leaf and the overall look of the chunks is a brownish green with lighter leaves interspersed between the darker ones.

So, on with the tale. I rinsed the tea once and then steeped the first cup for 15 seconds. It was ok but a bit too weak. The liquor was well pale, and the taste was lightly smoky with a hint of tobacco and something floral. The second cup was going to be steeped for 15 seconds but then I got distracted by the kittens, and now have no idea how long it was really steeped for. The liquor was dark amber and had a seriously heavy bite to it. The third cup was again 15 seconds and was the colour of champagne. The tobacco and smoke notes dominated with a pleasing kuwei and a slight mouth-puckering astringency that shaded into sweetness in the aftertaste. The floral notes were still there but muted. As I have gone on with the tea, the floral notes have moved more to the fore and the smokiness has receded. This tea has a lot of energy and has perked me up more than relaxed me. It is robust and lively with little subtlety to it (unless the subtlety is too subtle for my palate!) but there are days when that is what you want. It’s a shame I cannot find it in the Yunnansourcing store now, because I would happily have a beeng to keep and sample every so often. Right, better run now. There’s some bears at the door complaining that someone has drunk their tea …