Menghai Aged Loose Leaf Pu-Erh Tea Stuffed Green Mandarins

Green mandarin are produced in August 2023.

The tangerines are made from the Tianma production area of ​​Xinhui, Guangdong, China, which have a richer flavor and a more layered feel.

This 2013 loose-leaf shou pu-erh is another treasure find when I reorganized my warehouse recently.

With the low humidity in my warehouse the leaves remained crisp and dark, giving out a pleasant woody scent.  While shou pu-erhs have undergone the piling process to facilitate fermentation, they continue to evolve over the years, so it’s always interesting to re-taste every few years to see how the flavours change over time. 

As the tea has been in storage over 10+ years, the taste from the piling has dissipated and only slightly noticeable in the first couple of brews.  Deep, reddish brown in colour, the tea is a solid representation of traditional shou puerh from the 90s with its woody and earthy taste, with notes of camphor that has developed with age.  Still with a lot of robustness, this tea will be a great option to keep for enjoying over the next 20+ years.

Paired with small green tangerines, the overall performance is excellent, the soup is clear, the taste is fresh and mellow, and the mint coolness is very obvious. After drinking, the mouth feels continuously cool and the throat is very comfortable.

As for the craftsmanship, we still insist on using the whole raw sun-drying process. The whole raw sun-drying can protect the oil sac from being damaged, the flavor can be preserved to the greatest extent, the white frost condenses slowly, and the sun-drying for more than 20 days does not damage the tea substances, so that the tea and tangerines remain fresh. This process can keep it for a long time, and the longer it ages, the more fragrant it becomes.