One of the most interesting parts of this hobby is being able to witness the changing of tea over time. Most factory Raw Pu Erh tea will start off life very powerful and to most quite unpalatable. These initial notes start to give way to more pleasing attributes. The 2011 Menghai Tea Factory 7542 we are drinking today was resting in a Guangdong climate controlled wear house until late 2017 when we had them delivered over to us in Blighty where they have been sitting in one of our pumidors ever since.
What strikes me from the first sip is that this tea is noticeably smoother than in previous years, quite impressive on this front really! The texture has come a long way indeed and is this one of the tea’s finest asset right now. The brutal nature has wained considerably. Gone is the signature factory smokiness (thank goodness!), astringency & bitterness are tamed to a fraction of it’s former self. The powerhouse of sharp, tongue curling and antisocial flavours might be fading but wait…
There is a shallow but shouty chi building within, kind of like an elephant deep down in a well. It’s miles down there far away, You can hear it bellowing, it’s not very loud but you know it’s BIG! Give this tea a few more years and the elephant Chi will be making a racket I’m sure 🐘. Aftertaste is present but not remarkable. The sweetness that shines through in later steeps is a really good sign! Tasty bitter sweet, this will be so good in another 5 years. More chi, more smooth more and more of the bitterness will fold over into sweetness.
Dayi (Menghai Tea Factory) teas will spike in price in the lead up to and at the ten year mark…and beyond. If you can be patient grab one of these at 5-6 years in and watch it grow! For those that want to understand what a Dayi cake can be right now, we have these in stock!