08 June 2008

2001 MengHai Special-order "Yi Wu Zheng Shan"

Phyll recently restarted his Adventures in Tea & Wine after a hibernation lasting nearly one year. To celebrate it I decided to drink today sample sent to me by him.



The story of this tea is quite fierce. It was posted by Guang during Big Pu-erh Price Bubble and after I made a comment about it on LJ Pu-erh Community, it was sold out within 24 hours.

What do I know about this tea? It’s a special-order tea, meaning it’s probably higher quality than standard products. The mao cha it’s made of is probably harvested in 2000 and processed a year later.

The sample smells really good giving out a typical Yi Wu smell, sweet, woody, flowery. The smell reminds me of 2000 Chen-Guang He Tang Yi Wu brick or 2001 Chung-Hwa Yi Wu "Jin Yeh Hao" beeng. Tea feels aged and it’s aged in the right way – no sign of too wet storage, there isn't musty or pondy smell.



This tea is about eight years old and the liquor turns orange, as it should. The smell of the tea is woody, fruity; I definitely like it a lot. Compared to Lao Ban Zhang beeng I wrote about last time is this tea much tastier, even if maybe not quite as powerful. The smell in emptied fairness cup is dominantly spicy, reminds me of 2003 MengHai "BuLang Jing Pin".



The wet leaves are turning from green to brownish; since it is sample I do not judge the wholeness of leaves.
I like this tea a lot. Definite recommendation, if you will be able to get some. Thanks again Phyll for sharing it with me.

2 comments:

~ Phyll said...

Thank you very much, T. I've just recently discovered your blog through Hobbes'. I have a lot of catching up to do after such a long period of absence.

I don't remember exactly the circumstances surrounding this sample getting to you. Were you one of the 10 people that I sent samples to in May last year? Were you able to get at least a beeng (or more) from Houde or any of the other online vendors?

I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I hope we will be able to drink tea together someday. My wife and I had a plan to visit Prague and the neighboring countries in autumn. But something big and sudden of a family concern will occupy our time from October and the rest of the year (or longer), so we have to cancel this plan for the time being.

Best regards,

Phyll

Tuo Cha Tea said...

Hi Phyll,

yes, I was one of those ten. And no, I do not have a whole beeng, but the sample is still enough for three more sessions, so I will enjoy this great tea for some more time, thank you again.

When you will travel to Europe let me know, I will try to arrange some tea meeting. Prague is really nice, you will like it when you get there.

Tomas