2006 Menghai "Mount Elephant"

I have been working this one for three days now. It is a truly amazing tea. The strength of this one is amazing. It comes across with a mineral, citrus and honey notes. At times it has hits of camphor and “saltiness” that stays on the tip of the tongue. You can feel this one way down after drinking. I wish I had made some notes of the earlier steeping s. I plan to brew this one till it has nothing left as I think it will continue to yield more. This is probably the oldest sheng I have had and I can understand why people talk about aged sheng. Pure unadulterated Menghai at its best before the commercialization of it the following year. I think a whole beeng of this is on the shopping list.

This robust tea is to be savored and contemplated. Smooth with slight astringency in early steeps. This raw puerh cake has a pleasing mineral flavor and is very easy to drink.
I began with what has become my routine process with puerh cakes (both sheng and shou): boiling water; two 5s rinses; then let it sit for 15m to loosen the chunks and open up the leaf. Dark golden tea soup with the tiniest bit of cloudiness. First sip hits the tongue and mouth with lots of mineral flavor; easy to swallow; just a hint of light astringency; drying in the mouth and tongue. Softens and mellows with successive infusions moving towards vegetal flavor rather than honey sweetness – I’ve been through seven so far and this tea has more to give so I’ll likely continue tomorrow.

This one brewed smells kind of like pond water. I don’t mean fishy. I mean the scent of green wet leaves. This is definitely sheng. The taste is mineral and a bit bright. It does not have an astringent bite but is slightly drying. There is a slight sweetness and a hint of fruity or floral late in the sip but not strong enough to identify.

Now the real enjoyment for me with this one comes after sipping. There is a deep inside cooling sensation without any menthol scent that makes my lungs feel fresh, free, and alive. This lingers on and on long after swallowing. There is also the tummy rumble that I love. I find sheng is more likely to have this affect on me than any other type tea. I can literally feel it working its healthy benefits on me. Excellent good tea energy here!