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This is without a doubt the best ripe Menghai Tea Factory tea I have ever drank with the possible exception of the 2008 Song of Chi Tse. It is slightly earthy in the early infusions with notes of chocolate mixed in. It has a slightly bitter character and just slightly sour character in the early infusions too. By about the fifth steeping it loses all of its earthiness and you have the pure flavor of the tea underneath. All the bitterness, however slight, and that subtle sour taste disappears by the fifth infusion too. At this point I started to notice a distinct taste that could be described as either plum or dates notes. Its hard to put an exact description on it.

I used 8g of leaf in a 200ml Yixing teapot with boiling water. I first steeped it for 15 sec. This was a slight oversteep so I then gave it 10 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, and 15 sec. This tea did not need long steepings throughout the eight times I steeped it. The aroma of the spent leaves was intense and had an almost chocolate like character, but not exactly.

I bought this tea from Yunnan Sourcing. The last time I looked they had two or three left. I bought three and wish I could have afforded a tong.