85

The factory that produced this is Menghai Banzhang Zhengshan Tea Factory. I’m definitely going to be looking for more of their stuff.

This really is a ‘first impression’. I’ll update my note later.

So this tuo is enormous (250g) and it’s not very compressed, so it’s fairly easy to peel off in-tact material from the outside. I’m brewing it in my new Zhuni pot which is 110ml and I decided to use around 5g of leaf with boiling spring water. The material is meant to be Lao Man’E.

This tea took me completely off guard. It’s as if I took a bite out of an after-eight chocolate wafer – and then with the aftertaste lingering, took a drink of a V93 shou. Kinda, sorta. That’s until it takes a hard right turn down a pine forest lane.

The smell off the leaves is impressive. Woody and camphorous. It has that skunky whack on the nose. But the smell coming off the broth is vanilla, cocoa and cream.

EDIT (after steep 3): the smell on the leaves slowly becomes more smooth and creamy once you get past that third steep…

What starts out as an unexpected creamy and almost shou-like beginning turns ‘very sheng’ to pleasantly sour astringency (what a plot-twist). I had a glass of water next to me and each sip I take becomes sweet in the throat.

Mouthfeel is thick, oily and creamy at the start reminiscent of rice milk, but it does thin out after the first few steeps.

Sorry if this text is a bit “all over the gaff”.

What’s so odd about this is that it’s recognisable in various components to lots of tea that I’ve had, but at the same time completely different in this combination. It’s all jumbled up. Very strange, in a good way.

I am just going to have to break this up and drink more of it.

Flavors: Camphor, Creamy, Mint, Pine, Pleasantly Sour, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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Bio

English tea-drinking person. Ex-Londoner based in Montreal.

I’ve always drunk tea, but with migrating to the EU (and later to Canada) I’ve had a hard time finding the ‘good stuff’.

Not a big fan of ‘flavoured’ tea blends (or most stuff with flowers and bits in). I’m a bit of a purist.

I mainly enjoy exploring natural teas. from Puerh to Oolong. I have a soft spot for Darjeeling.

I’ll generally try anything (at least) once.

Location

Montreal, Canada

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