What a day it was! After a quick breakfast, we headed to the tea house to meet Master for a day of tea tasting. The promise of an aged tea tasting was made and we knew that we were going to be in for a real treat, as always! When arriving, we quickly noticed an old wooden box on the tea table. We knew right away it was Master's. The simple ribbon tying this precious box was a testament to Master's simplicity. We were wondering what was inside this box, some aged green teas, some aged oolong. How happy we were once the box was opened! Four incredible aged puerh teas covering close to a century of tea from the famous factory Meng Hai Tea Factory.
Meng Hai Tea Factory 1985 #8582
The youngest of the bunch. #8582 isn't quite a star like the famous #7542 but the very first production of this raw puerh beeng cha is well known by the puerh tea collectors.
Clean smell, no sign of humidity whatsoever. The nose opens on precious wood and mushroom. In mouth, the tea soup is clean, quite rounded but still with a slight little edge to it. The aromas spectrum is woody with a hint of eucalyptus, lovely fresh feeling in the mouth, good length.
Meng Hai Tea Factory - 1970's Yellow Label
Next in line was the 70's Yellow label. We have been drinking this tea once every year and it has always been a favorite. Coming from the storage of Master Chen, the tea shows signs of perfect storage. Clean shape, no sign of humid storage. In mouth the tea shows a beautiful camphor flavor and a touch of eucalypsus which give an incredible freshness to the tea. The length is outstanding and the tea definitively has some more years to go.
Meng Hai Tea Factory - 1960's Green Label
The tea looks great, no white shades, no off-smell. Another tea that underwent decades of perfect storage. Amazingly, this 50 years plus tea shows a lot of life, the woody nose is really fresh and in mouth the full-bodied tea soup delivers a clean camphor aromas which coat the mouth and turn into an amazing freshness.
On the picture below, we can clearly see the marks left by the old school wood printing on the red characters.
Meng Hai Tea Factory - 1950's Red Label
The myth, the legend. It is always quite an event when Master bring this tea to the tea house. We have been tasting this rare gem every year since 2006 and what a treat it is. The tea is very clean and shows signs of clean storage. The wet leaves give an incredibly powerful fragrance of camphor. In mouth, the tea soup is thick, rounded, and give a strong taste with a deep camphor aromas. Outstanding length! What strikes the most about this tea is what is called, Qi, or "energy". After a few cups, the shoulder blades started to feel warm and one can feel the tea in their whole body. A simply beautiful experience.
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