Menghai Tea Factory (berylleb on ebay)

Edit Company

Recent Tasting Notes

94

Called ’’Clouds’’ another great Menghai dayi. Very rich notes no taste of bitterness or the strong licorice taste of a young shu. Tried a lesser tea, tossed it and picked this one off the shelf. Much better now I am a happy camper! Hints of oak and chocolate smooth and mellow as a great pu should be. a great way to end the night.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

89

Thank you mrmopar for this sample Pu-erh tea

As a former lover of Louisiana style coffee (roasted chicory coffee, brewed and served with hot milk), Pu-erh has become my new morning favorite cuppa.

Before brewing, I was watching some Olympic distance swimming on TV and remembering how I first learned to swim in a water tank on Mine Hill overlooking Silicon Valley (San Jose).
My grandfather was foreman of a mountain that is known as New Almaden Quicksilver Mines (now a State Park) and next to the road to his house (which was the Parson’s home during the early days of California history) was a spring-fed water tank. Grandpa drained and painted the wooden water tank light blue, put 2×4 boards at spots around the top as hand-holds and then let the tank fill back up. This was our swimming hole. ICE COLD SPRING WATER!
(My family lived down a dirt path from Grandpa in what was an old Miner’s house for a little over a year. My brother and I traveled to grade school by jeep, traveling up and down the mountain. http://flic.kr/p/cNHKSo We played in the old ghost town buildings and caves.)
There was nothing better back then… than drinking red kool-aide and swimmin with the toxic mercury fumes from active retorts not far away.

Review:
This sample was a lovely dark brown bark nugget of ripe Pu-erh with a mild and sweet dry smell.

Rinsed once, and a 30 second steep each round.

The wet leaves began as a strong, nutty wheat bread aroma then changed on the second steep to bready leather like bread and boots toasting on the hearth togeather. On the third steep the leaves were sweet smelling, lightly leathery and bready.

The color of the liquor was clear, reddish brown, then very dark coffee and finally dark red brown.

1. When I took a gulp of the red-brown Pu-erh, I already was happy with the wheat bread scent from the wet leaves and the taste didn’t disappoint me. It was very savory, like an unsalted broth that seems salty and led to juiciness. The flavor was nutty sweet toasted pecan, full of energy on my tongue.

2. Wow, did the liquor get dark! There was a definate cedar and wheat taste which stopped just shy of bitter. The mouthfeel was juicy and very smooth. I could feel the energy in the tea like the power in the earth waking up in a soulful amen.

3. I held the tea in my mouth a moment and then drank it down, letting the flavor hit all my tastebuds like a wave. There was a huge flavor of wheatberries, nutty, rich and chewy. My daughter Annalisa grinds wheat for bread in a huge loud machine in her kitchen and is always baking with the granddaughters and taking bread to people. I love the smell of her bread and the wheat. The scent gets into your eyeballs!
I added a little sugar which created a wonderful liquor reminding me of those old fashioned candies you get at historic places made from Horehound and Sassifras. It’s why I make extra and drink Pu-erh cool or cold sometimes later in the day.

So far the Pu-erh’s from mrmopar are so good that I’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite. What a problem to have!
This is very drinkable for the smoothness. (I did like the first and third steep onward the best.)

30-40 seconds was way long enough for steeping and I used about
1.5 grams in 4oz boiling water.

Azzrian

Wow this sounds Devine!

Bonnie

I love the bready Shu’s…nummmm!

Azzrian

I really like this part: “here was a huge flavor of wheatberries, nutty, rich and chewy.”

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

91

Thank you mrmopar for this Puerh sample

When I open a box of samples and inside there is all Puerh’s…it’s Christmas in July in Colorado! Wha a treat!
This has never happened before! I am so thankful to mrmopar who must have read enough of my reviews to know that I would be appreciative (which of course I am!).

I’ve been talking to myself about Pu-erh’s lately.
“Self, I said, What do I need to know about Pu-erh and what is just going to make me crazy.”
Here’s what’s important and what’s not for me as a Puerh lover.
1. I am not a collector or a tea professional.
2. Tea companies receive lots of tea samples and only release a small amount for sale. They should have sorted out what’s best for the consumer. (Companies with a direct relationship with their source are my favorites)
3. I buy tea, I drink tea, I write and look for the good in tea.

My job is to find companies that I can trust to bring me the best quality tea experience for the money that I have to spend.
Long lecture I know…but for a reason this time.
I will be reviewing 9 puerh’s from mrmopar over the next week and I have no idea what the year of release and numbers mean. I will drink and write about the tea. It’s all I know how to do.

I was instructed to Rinse this Ripe Shu 20 seconds and Steep 30 seconds.
(Measured 1.5g dark brown bark in a 4oz gaiwan)

Wet Scent:
This was one of the most interesting wet Puerh’s I’ve SNIFFED. (Now that’s the non-snobby way to put it)
1. I do not lie when I say that on the first rinse the wet bark smelled like mulch and chocolate chip cookies. Oh yes!
2. Second steep the scent went to espresso, sage and mild leather.
3. Herbacious
4. Puerh bakery bread, comfy light and warm.

1. Steeped 30 seconds as instructed:
Lovely light amber liquor with a light Puerh earthy sweet scent.

The taste was dry and tarte but not sour. I noticed a cooling late in the sip like camphor. As the cup cooled the classic earthy Puerh richness, sweet and cloaklike bubbled up in a juicy finish. All was light and teasing.

2. Steeped at 30 seconds and the liquor became a quite dark amber.

As soon as the Puerh touched my tongue I could feel the tingle of spice and the furry thickness that I sometimes feel with Puerhs. Something like the bark of a Redwood tree which is pourous and fuzzy. There was a flavor that filled my mouth all tangy like quince paste (membrillo) and lingered on with a tingling sensation and peppery heat.

I put my head back for a moment and thought about the Mission District in San Francisco where I would go to buy long rectangular blocks of Membrillo in regular quince or orange flavor (orange was my favorite). I would serve this almost jell like fruit paste (sounds wierder than it is) cut into 3in x 1/2in rod shapes and stack them with mild white cheese (also cut into rods) in a cross hatch pattern and serve them as dessert at the end of a meal with espresso and chocolates (I was a coffee drinker back then). (Very Latin American treat for the end of a meal). I digress again… (Oh, my kids used to love seeing the pig tails, snouts and heads in the butcher shops in the Mission. Sheeps heads too. Cool kid gross stuff. And the stuff in Chinatown…hanging ducks and black eggs…more cool stuff for kids!)

3. I went off instructions to Steep 1 minute!
This was a pretty dark honey amber coffee brown liquor.
The shot of liquid in my mouth was pure energy first and then a taste just shy of bitter, like the bitterness in coffee beans. An awakening for the taste buds.
The next flavor was cedar, then dryness and after that something astonishing happened.
What should not happen, did happen.
The Puerh became silky smooth and like a wave that hit a wall..reversed coming back forward… spreading the silkiness to the front of my mouth all the way to my lips. I swear it did this! I don’t know what to say?

4. Steeped on a going for broke 3 minute ride!
Nice dark amber colored liquor, earthy scent, sweet and mild.

This should be a Dead Mans Brew. I was thinking that going for broke would be daring and bold.
When I took a big drink, the energy was in the liquor but the tea was surprisingly smooth, sweet and juicy.
This was an elegant sophisticated Puerh that completely caught me off guard. It bore little resemblance to what I was drinking earlier.
The journey through the previous steepings to this one had been like being on a train and stopping at various platforms until arriving at the final destination. A new Country opened up with a vision of it’s own.
Everything about this place took me to my memories of walks at Point Lobos in the Springtime along the Monterey Coast just South of Carmel. Sea Otters playing in the small bay, Cypress Trees all twisty trunked with horizontal branches pointing every which way. The smell of the meadow with new flowers and wild sage. Sea salt, Ponderosa Pine, Redwood and Sand.
Why would a Puerh take me to this place that should be better suited for a Sheng or Dragonwell? Good question!
The sense of a certain place in the memories of a scent, sound or colors….a particular feeling of peace… not just the taste of a particular tea can evoke the connection which is what happened here with me. http://youtu.be/mLtPHZOLKBc

This is a young Puerh from what I gather and is supposed to get better with aging. Oh My!
I think it’s pretty outstanding right now! I understand how aging works and I never could let a good bottle of wine last for more than a year.

Thank you for this lovely Puerh mrmopar!

Bonnie

Yikes! I got carried away! Sorry!

Indigobloom

no sorry necessary Bonnie, love your reviews!! :)

Michelle

Your reviews are captivating!

Charles Thomas Draper

It is a great tea which leads to the great writing

Bonnie

It was a fun time. I do wish that I had more chances to drink tea with others since tea should really be shared. I try my best here.

mrmopar

yay!! i am glad you liked it and your review is much better than mine would be. i five years after it ages some more we will have to break this tea out again!

Roughage

Awesome review, Bonnie. You have me counting my pennies to see if I can get some of this, now that you have sold me on it! :)

Kashyap

indeed nice way to unwrap the tea’s flavor

Terri HarpLady

Note to self: When you go to Ft Collins, be sure to have dinner at Bonnie’s house!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79

another tea in line with the smaller 150 gram Menghai Dayi Wu Zi Deng Ke cake. very similar just a larger version. floral fruity and dark tea good for multiple steeps.earthy aroma. wash tea the first steep discard and drink the second one.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 45 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

65

Above average for a ripened puerh, this has a pleasing blend of earthy flavor and a tart, rounded personality. This is considered to be one of the better ripened puerh teas, but it’s more notable for its rich, assertive character than its uniqueness. This tea will give you multiple steepings with consistently good color and flavor.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.