2014 Yunnan Sourcing Mang Fei Mountain Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

Have sampled this tea twice now. The most enduring quality of this tea is certainly the pleasant, dampening buzz, it must have a high amount of theanine. The aromas and flavors are a little more confused and muddled, but overall it’s a thick-bodied tea with lots of strength. Rinsed leaves smell potent and the first few steeps give graininess, phytochemicals, and minerals. Moderate astringency and bitterness. I see this tea having good aging potential. I’d give it a higher score if the soup was a bit sweeter and if the flavor profile was more distinct.

This is a strong and bittersweet sheng. It had a strong bitter note for the first six steeps with a sweet note behind it. It developed into a nice sweet sheng although I don’t know if I would use the word apricots. It was very good overall.

I steeped this ten times in a 75ml teapot with 5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

What a gu shu this is! Thiiiiick body, active/pleasurable mouthfeel, powerful aftertaste, and impressive qi that had me tea drunk after the 3rd steep and does not give way until the 10th or so steep. The kuwei is excellent—turning into a complex bitter/floral huigan that expands to all corners of the mouth and throat, and remains long after the tea is drunk.

Unlike the 2013 version, there is virtually no smoke, so Mang Fei Shan tea’s characteristics are well showcased. Initial 2 steeps are surprisingly sweet with notes of raw honey and sugar cane, but are then followed by those infamous whisky-like astringent notes, sandalwood, and tobacco. This is a nice contrast to the more gentle shengs I’ve recently acquired. Should be fun to see how this evolves.

I’ve been drinking through a bunch of old YS samples this weekend and this was the next tea up. The sample bag has been open (tied with rubber band) in my pumidor for seven months.

My first impression on sniffing the cup is that it smells a bit like cinnamon rolls. The taste is spicy, rich, and sweet, with lots of spice in the finish. Hints of raisins. Thick; feels almost chewy in the mouth. Feeling some cha qi. 2nd steep: the nose is still spicy. The cha qi from the first cup is really hitting me. Taste is similar to 1st cup but not exciting me as much, perhaps because I’m so anxious to taste it that I’m drinking it too hot. 3rd steep is much more integrated than the earlier steeps. Hard to describe the flavor, but it evokes baked goods, though with an apricot fruit hiding underneath. Very good texture and big finish. Lots of cha qi. Shows a slightly bitter astringency at the finish. 4th (30s): Now that I’m looking for it, I detect a hint of apricot in the nose. Taste is smoother and sweeter and the finish isn’t as astringent. The cha qi is powerful: I’m taking 20 minute breaks every two steeps to let it die down.

This is the type of tea that I prefer: slightly fruity, not bitter, with complex flavors. All three components (smell, taste, finish) work very well together and the texture is excellent.

After I posted this review I discovered a prior review from 7 months ago. I suspect the differences between the two reviews is at least partly due to the pumidor storage, which makes me feel good.

Dry – Sweet, Bitter floral, Fruits, some vegetal/faintly tobacco, fresh.
Wet – Very sweet scent, fruity, creamy and somewhat buttery in scent, vegetal, bitter-floral with some tobacco notes.
Liquor – Yellow, very faint green hue.

Initial steeps are very aromatic with matching taste. The liquor is immediately sweet with balancing ‘tart’ fruity notes and a very pleasant creamy/buttery character up front. The initial thickness/buttery body becomes smoothness as it goes down and develops bittersweet-floral notes and minor astringency. Some tobacco notes are present but only faintly, though it becomes slightly more apparent as you continue to steep.

Following steeps (4+) the body still has a good thickness, but feels rather smoother than thick (changed from creamy to buttery if that helps). The initial notes are very similar, with some savory notes appearing in the middle like steamed vegetables and tobacco/medicinal notes, but never overtaking the initial nots. The astringency is still present at the end, but still remains pleasant.

Later steeps tend to be a bit lighter, but not departed from the initial notes with only shifting of the notes, appearing floral-bitter, fruity with thickness upfront and becoming more mellow and sweet and smooth as it goes down. The astringency is more apparent, it doesn’t bother me yet, but it might be a bit too dry for some people past the 8-9? steep. Still very pleasant mouthfeel.

Final Notes
I really liked this Puerh, it offers a filling and satisfying thickness.The notes were always mellow and gentle, even though it is a young Sheng. I usually lean towards Aged Sheng and ripe during Winter season, but it delivered what I go for this time of the year. The Huigan is pleasant, sweet-fruity with floral notes and the thickness sensation seems to linger as well.

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