Menghai Old Tea Tree Shou (fermented) Pu-erh Beeng Cha
Menghai Old Tea Tree Shou (fermented) Pu-erh Beeng Cha - Image 2

Menghai Old Tea Tree Shou (fermented) Pu-erh Beeng Cha

Shou (fermented) Pu-erh

Origin:  Yong Pin Hao Tea Factory, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China

Appearance: slender, evenly-sized, fine-cut, dark brown leaf accentuated with long, slender copper-colored buds
Flavor: full, earthy, suggestion of mushroom and cooked grains with a bit of sweetness
Aroma: bright, clean, light, sweet, fermented aromatics
Liquor: clear dark brown/burgundy colored liquor with copper highlights

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This well-made cake from the Yong Pin Hao Tea Factory is made from a blend of premium leaf materials gathered from the Menghai and Yi Wu tea harvesting areas. This Pu-erh cake is very clean and tight, and is made from Yong Pin Hao’s recipe #131 (which is stamped on the front of the paper label but is not showing in photograph).

This beeng cha features fresh leaf materials from 2012 that were processed and pressed in 2013. The leaf was given a medium fermentation, which gives the tea a deep, brothy, juicy, earthy flavor that has a suggestion of mushroom and cooked grains. The medium fermentation also emphasizes the cha-qi in the tea.

This tasty beeng cha is well-made and reasonably-priced for a quality shou Pu-erh that is drinking well now or that will age nicely in storage.

Note:
Shou Pu-erh is also known as ‘cooked’ or ‘ripe’ Pu-erh, a reference to the wo dui fermentation process that the leaf undergoes in the tea factory.

 

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Harvesting Season:

Pressed in 2012 from 2013 Spring pluck leaf materials

Steeping Instructions:

Note on Steeping Pu-erh:

Pu-erh is traditionally ‘rinsed’ before being steeped.
This is done with a quick application of hot water that is poured over the tea in the gaiwan or teapot and then immediately discarded. The rinse water is not drunk – its purpose is to help the leaves begin to open during steeping.
Use additional appropriately-heated water for the 1st steeping and subsequent re-steepings.

 

Western-style steeping in a medium – large sized teapot 20 to 32 ounces:

 

Carefully scrape the tea cake to loosen the leaves.
Use 2 teaspoons (3 grams) of tea per 6oz water
Use water that is 200°F-210°F
Rinse the tea in your teapot with a quick application of hot water
Immediately discard this liquid
Add additional hot water to start the 1st steeping
Steep for 3-4 minutes
Re-steep this leaf 1-2 additional times

 

Asian-style steeping in a small teapot under 10oz or in a gaiwan:

 

Use 4 teaspoons (6 grams) of tea per 6 oz water
Use water that is 200°F-210°F
Rinse the tea in your teapot with a quick application of hot water
Immediately discard this liquid
Add additional hot water to start the 1st steeping
Steep for 25 seconds
Increase the steeping time an additional 5-to-10 seconds with each re-steep
Re-steep this leaf 4-6 times (or more!)

Map:

About Pu-erh:

Unlike most other tea, Pu-erh is made from mao cha and not directly from fresh leaf.

 

So what is mao cha? Mao cha is a simple ‘rough’ manufacture of leaf materials that consists of:

 

plucking
withering (indoors and or outdoors)
firing
rolling & shaping
sun-drying

 

Mao cha is considered both finished tea and half-made tea. It is essentially young sheng Pu-erh and is drunk by villagers in Yunnan as well as being the leaf that all forms of Pu-erh are made from. Mao cha is simple to manufacture but is complex in its diversity. Mao cha can be made from the fresh leaf of one tea garden or be a blend of leaf from an entire tea village or from several tea producing villages within one county.

 

Mao cha can be stored and aged after it is made, or it can be a new blend that is comprised of aged mao cha from different years. It is found in a variety of leaf sizes, too, depending on the location of the tea trees and on the type of local cultivars (size of the leaf)  the mao cha was made from. Mao cha is a great example of the effects of terroir.

 

As you can see, the possibilities and resulting flavors of mao cha are almost endless. All of these variables  result in a staggering choice of mao cha for Pu-erh producers to work with.