2016 Menghai "Yue Chen Yue Xiang" Ripe Puerh Tea Cake

This tea is a very nice ripe of the sort you expect from the Menghai Tea Factory. There was very little bitterness and a fair amount of fermentation initially along with a sweet note. You could say it was dark and rich in the early infusions. The fermentation taste was a factor until about the sixth steep. I really wasn’t paying attention to the specifics so I will just say this was an excellent puerh for a reasonable price. Yunnan Sourcing only gets $17 for this and it is definitely worth the price and more. It does need more time to clear a bit but I think in another year or two this will be really good. Of course by then Yunnan Sourcing will have raised the price.

I steeped this tea 12 times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. Could have gotten a couple more steeps out of the leaf but twelve was enough.