Sifu Lao Cha was passing through Mengku and stopped at a teahouse:
– Which side of the river is better? – he asked the old woman pouring his tea.
– Depends on what you like,– she said. – The eastern slope is bright and floral. The western slope is deep and mellow. Try and decide for yourself.
The Nanmeng River (南勐河) cuts through the middle of Mengku and splits the tea mountains into two: Dong Ban Shan (东半山 – "Eastern Half Mountain") and Xi Ban Shan (西半山 – "Western Half Mountain"). The two sides sit not that far apart, but yield different tastes. The eastern slopes catch the morning sun and tend to produce brighter, more floral tea. The western slopes face the afternoon light and are known for deeper, fuller-bodied tea with more structure and better aging potential.
This tea cake is from the western side. The leaf comes from ancient tea gardens on Xi Ban Shan, sitting at roughly 1,800 meters, harvested from trees that are over a hundred years old.
The aroma is strong and comes through right away: dried apricots with orchid sitting behind them. The taste follows the same fruit-forward direction but goes somewhere different. There is apple pie in the opening, sweet and baked, then ripe dark plums in the mid-palate that give the cup weight and a slight tartness. The finish is mineral and long, the kind that keeps going well after you've swallowed. The mouthfeel is thick and mellow. – It feels just like August.
This is a Sheng that is drinking well right now, but the mineral finish and the body both suggest there is more to come in a few years of storage. At 100g, it's an easy format to buy two of, drink one and set the other aside.
Brewing guidelines:
-
212℉ / 100℃ -
1g per 70-100ml
3-5min -
1g per 20ml 10sec + 5sec for each subsequent infusion
