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What can we say about this tea that we haven’t said before? Only that we love it more than ever. One of our most popular teas for 3 years and running, this Mengsong raw puer has an exceptional fragrance and bold flavour. This is accompanied by a pleasant bitterness that stops just short of being brash, turning to a gentle sweetness that takes over the mouth and throat. The name makes more sense with time, as plum and stonefruit notes come out with several years of storage. These notes might be detectable to a degree early on, but our experience has been that this is a tea that rewards those with patience. 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. While we hope to bring this tea back in future seasons, this could be the last time it’s offered. Due to the quality of environment and how the trees are tended to, this tea performs better than expected for trees this age. This has caused the price to steadily (and justifiably) increase since we first visited 4 years ago. We’ve tried to absorb most of the increases, but by this time next year it might be we may have to let go. Either way, we’ve got our tongs stashed away. Picking period: Pre-March 28th $0.21/gram