Translation: Pu er is a town in Yunnan Province. The word sheng means "raw," and 1974 is the year of production. Menghai is the main factory where Pu er teas are made. The number 74 indicates the year in which the recipe was first used. The number 34 indicates that the mixture is made up of leaves of grades three and four. The number 2 indicates the Menghai factory.
Region: Yunnan Province (Xishuangbanna)
Harvest season: April
Cultivar: Yunnan Da Ye
This ancient Pu er tea deserves to be called vintage, since it has now been aging for more than 30 years. It should be noted that it has not been compressed into cakes, as "the Sheng (raw) Pu e「tradition would demand. However, it is still a "tea to keep" that has been carefully aged in a cellar in Hong Kong. Aging leaves loose triggers a faster post-fermentation process than when leaves are aged while compressed into cakes.The tea is brought to maturity fasten but it may also deteriorate fasten Sheng Pu er teas aged as loose leaves first appeared in 1970. This is one of the first of its kind, processed by the famous Menghai factory.
Tasting notes: The medium-sized leaves, ranging in color from dark to light brown, give off the fragrance of beaten earth in the sun. The deep, very dense liquid has an astonishingly fine texture. The mouthfeel is complex, offering earthy aromas of raw beet and potato. These are mixed with more succulent notes of dark chocolate, salty caramel and ground cherries. The long finish leaves a refined mineral sweetness. This is a generous tea whose primitive beauty has been polished by time.
Recommended infusion method/accessory: The gong fu cha technique and a zhong or Chinese teapot.