One of our personal favourites year after year, this Mengsong raw puer is a balanced-but-never-boring tea that punches well above its weight. Exhibiting a deep fragrance and floral flavour up front, this is counterbalanced by a rougher edge and pleasant bitterness, which transforms into a sweetness that lingers in the throat. While faint notes of plum might be detectable early on, the stone fruit character becomes much more obvious as it is stored. This tea is excellent for drinking now, but also very rewarding for those looking to store it for 5 years or more. The material for this tea comes from ~45 year old “fangyang” (放养/left to grow) trees that are not treated with pesticides, fertilizer or any other intervention outside of picking. This is hands down our preferred type of material as it often lends a richer flavour and texture, but at a more affordable level than gushu, old or sometimes dubiously labelled “wild” trees. Picking period: Pre-April 3 $0.23/gram
