2017 Mangjing Ripe

My friend Aigong, who lives in Mangjing, has been making tea since 2010. Living in the nearby village, we like to meet a couple of times a year to share a cup of tea.

During my last visit, I told him I was looking for good ripe and had been quite disappointed in my latest visit to Menghai. That's when he grabbed a cake on a shelf.

Since he has opened his factory, he has mainly focused on making small batches of handmade gushu tea. He has access to good gardens on the top of Aileng mountain, just above his village.

He has saved a couple of boxes each year, and by 2017, he had amassed 350kg of ancient garden material. He blended them together and took the batch to Menghai to be fermented.

The fermentation is on the lower side, which allows the material quality to shine through. It's rare to find a ripe pu-erh with such an active mouthfeel, and even some Huigan.

The tea was pressed in 2019. It was stored in a wet environment, there can be a white shade and tiny spots of white mold on the surface of the cakes, the taste is fine.