Pendulum Meddler

A limited edition Sheng (raw) PuErh combining aged and young material specially chosen and blended by Mei Leaf.

This tea is an ultra special blend because of the rarity of the materials used and the oddity of blending such vastly different ages of Gushu tea leaves. There are blends of PuErh out there which combine different harvest years, but they are always within a 3-5 year window. The material used in this cake are 15 years apart in age which means that the blend is a truly dynamic mix of old and young.

The leaves will continue to age concurrently. This means that the two teas will forever be shifting in parallel and eventually will become an aged Nannuo mixed with a super-aged Bulang tea. We cannot predict the resulting taste of this dynamic gap ageing but we are excited to find out and we are offering Tongs of 5 cakes for those who are interested in collecting this tea for more long-term storage.

This idea began with a discussion that we were having late one night about PuErh. While we love the youth and raw taste of a fresh Sheng PuErh, we, of course, adore the smooth and honeyed notes of an aged tea. So, we imagined what it would be like to have the best of both world’s and blend the two ages together.

We set about trying to find some loose and aged Gushu material (NOT easy!) and eventually, we found a 2002 Bulang Gushu (estimated 400-year-old tea trees). It had been stored loose in Menghai and had definitely reached a pronounced, honeyed, aged taste. We tried combining with a variety of fresh PuErh material until we could find a blend that would marry harmoniously. The aged Bulang would ‘bully’ a lot of Spring teas and overtake the taste, but eventually, after many blend experiments, we found a Nannuo Autumn picked Gushu (estimated 500-year-old tea trees). This Autumn tea had such a rich, fruity and herbaceous aroma that it paired perfectly with the Bulang tea so we decided to make a small-batch blend for all of you PuErh lovers.

The tea was blended in a 50-50 mix and pressed into 200g cakes in January 2018. We decided to store the tea for 6 months in Menghai (Yunnan) to allow the two teas to settle with each other in a relatively humid environment, before shipping to London.

We really love this blend, with its rich combination of contrasting yet complementing flavours which swings like a pendulum in the mouth from warm and sweet to zesty and herbaceous. I am so intrigued about how these teas will age together!

SMALL BATCH OF 280 CAKES.