Mengku Rongshi 2016 "Ben Wei Da Cheng" (Original Taste) Raw Puerh

This tea is certified organic.

This blend (roughly meaning "The Great Original Taste") is simply a renaming of Mengku Rongshi's reference-level blend, Cha Hun (Spirit of Tea), which was created in 2009 and positioned as the brand's most premium regular production tea. It is designed to be the ultimate expression of Mengku's Lincang-focused taste profile, sitting above the "Mu Shu Cha" and "Wild Arbor King" series, which themselves are fairly premium.

At this price level, one is hard-pressed to find a more balanced and delicious tea; moving up to the costly boutique single origin productions gets you more complexity and nuance, but for a luxurious regular drinking mainstay, we cannot recommend this tea highly enough. A fantastic blend.

TASTE PROFILE

Those familiar with Mengku Rongshi's newer blends will recognize the characteristic deep apricot sweetness and soft rich mouthfeel. Aroma does not have that spiced-fruit sharpness found in "Mu Shu Cha", rather it is more rounded and floral. Woodiness is subtly present but very smooth and quickly giving way to a honeyed amber note. The "yun" or mouthfeel lingers gently, there is little to no astringency even when pushed (which is rare for Lincang teas). Absolutely delicious tea of course when hot, but even when cooled it develops zero astringency, a feat for Lincang teas.