Meng Ding Gan Lu

In the Meishan district of Ya'an city in Sechuan Province, many kinds of famous teas are made. This Meng Ding Gan Lu is the Meng Shan Mountain's renown green tea. It is harvested from February, a month earlier than Zhejiang or Anhui teas, because Meng Shan's tea fields are laying in lower altitude, where the weather is warmer.

Historically Meng Ding Gan Lu was used as ceremonial offering by the emperor. When picking the tea, only the new tea buds and the leaf next to the bud are picked. The leaves all have to be delicate and furry.

Meng Ding Gan Lu would have a strong, grassy aroma, so to tone this down, it is processed with the so-called Tan Fang method. First the leaves are left to rest in a cool, shaded place, and then pan-fried in a caldron. After the frying, it is rolled three times. During the final rolling as the small furs on the leaves rub against each other, they become more visible - this is when the final drying takes place. This process smoothes down most of the sharp, grassy tones, so the final result is an intriguing, sweet and edgy tea.

TASTE NOTES
The steamed leaves release an indulgently sweet scent with the main note of cacao and nuts. The liquor is also sweet with the grip of sour, baked nuts, like pine or sunflower nuts. The aftertaste is creamy-silky, with the lingering tone of milk coffee. It definitely has a subtle bitter upbeat, but it's not a pinching, overwhelming kind of bitterness, more like a stimulating, refreshing kind.

If you make the tea with more water, you get a subtle, nutty liquor, but if you steep it with less water, the verdant, grassy notes come forward more dominantly.

Origin: Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, China
Cultivar: Lao Chuan Cha
Picking date: March 05, 2022

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