Mengku "Yunnan Black Tea" Roasted in Aromatic Bamboo

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea
Flavors
Bamboo, Caramel, Drying, Floral, Malt, Roasted, Smoke
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 5 oz / 150 ml

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  • “As soon as I saw this I knew I had to pick it up. Sounds cool as hell. 1st Steep: No strong flavors in the first steep besides some bamboo and floral hints. The wet leaves smell like an odd combo...” Read full tasting note
    81

From Yunnan Sourcing

This is a Spring 2017 Mengku Black Tea (勐库红茶) that has been roasted in bamboo and then cut into small sections and individually wrapped. The tea was harvested in the Da Hu Sai area of Mengku County in Lincang.

Bamboo is cut fresh and then loaded with tea and put in an electric oven. As the bamboo heats up the aromatic water vapor in the bamboo sections is released and the steam permeates the tea inside. The tea leaves are gradually loaded into the hot steaming section of bamboo, and tamped down as the tea becomes softened by the steam. Once the bamboo sections are filled with tea the sections are allow to roast in the oven for several hours and then allowed to dry further. After drying is complete the bamboo (with the tea inside) is cut into small sections and then individually wrapped.

You can brew these in a gaiwan or just drink them “grandpa style” in a cha hai or mug. We recommend you brew the bamboo piece and the tea together, but you can remove the bamboo entirely if you prefer. We find that the bamboo itself also imparts some unique flavors to the overall experience.

Each piece can be a different weight and that’s why we are selling these by weight, not per piece. Each piece can weigh between 5 and 12 grams, and the percentage of actual tea by overall weight is about 33-40%. In other words, if you order 100 grams, you’ll probably get about 33-40 grams, of tea (the rest of the weight being bamboo and the wrapper).

About Yunnan Sourcing View company

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1 Tasting Note

81
48 tasting notes

As soon as I saw this I knew I had to pick it up. Sounds cool as hell.

1st Steep: No strong flavors in the first steep besides some bamboo and floral hints. The wet leaves smell like an odd combo of smokey and sweet. Makes me think of bbq.

2nd Steep: The black tea wakes up and breaks away powering up the flavor. I find tastes of caramel and malt. There is a drying feeling in the mouth afterwards.

3rd Steep: The brew darkens up a lot to a deep umber red. The malt flavor gets taken over by the bamboo some and tastes very floral. Hints of roasting start to appear. My mouth is even more dry then before.

4th Steep: The roasted flavor brightens up and the drying goes down a bit.

5th and Beyond: Things turn back to the floral side slowly and weaken. Longer steeps do well. You can get a ton of steeps out of this. On my 15th now.

Not the greatest flavors ever but defiantly interesting. I highly recommend it.

Flavors: Bamboo, Caramel, Drying, Floral, Malt, Roasted, Smoke

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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