Mengku Wild Arbor Assamica Black Tea
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Commercial Description
...The taste is so thick and sweet. There is honey, malt and milk chocolate here, but there is a unique green-ness to it that adds character without any bitterness or astringency. The leaves are generous and give many satisfying full-bodied steeps. A good candidate for aging, this tea will give you much pleasure!
Ratings & Reviews
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94 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5Alex Zorach (1448 reviews) on May. 21st, 2021
I found this to be a subdued, but intriguing tea that seemed to have a lot of depth and complexity. Although it doesn't jump out at me, I found that it seemed a little different each time I drank it.
It's also another tea that in many respects resembles some of the large-leaf Assam teas (not just Assamica cultivar, but actually from Assam, India) that I tried from TeaOrb a while back.
The leaf is large, dark, and wiry, but not quite as intact as some of the teas from Yunnan Sourcing, as there are quite a few broken pieces in the mix. It has a pleasant aroma that is similar to large-leaf Assam teas: there is some maltiness but also a lot of vegetal and herbaceous notes, and a sort of decaying leaf smell (that makes it sound unpleasant but it is actually a very pleasing smell). There are a few notes of cinnamon in there too.
The aroma strengthens as soon as water hits the leaves, and some honey-like floral notes come out almost immediately. This tea smells somewhat fermented, suggestive of overripe fruit or perhaps even beer. I get the cinnamon notes too. On top of this though is a potent, fresh, bright smell, with strong wintergreen notes. I absolutely love the wintergreen quality in teas, especially when it is strong. The flavor is quite bitter, but with a sharp, clean bitterness. Astringency is low, just enough to impart some body and a pleasant briskness. The finish is sweet. There is less sour or savory flavor than in most Yunnan teas.
It resteeps well, and the resteep is similarly multifaceted, but also a bit different. I found that I enjoyed this tea equally well whether I made the first steep the stronger or the later steeps stronger. This tea is somewhat sensitive to brewing though, not in that it is picky, but just that it tastes markedly different if you use more or less leaf and if you use longer or shorter steeps.
I liked this tea the first time I drank it but the more I drink it, the more it grows on me. I like how I feel after drinking this. I find it soothing and it puts me in a good mood. It doesn't seem to have much caffeine, and I felt more relaxed than energized after drinking it.
As always the price is great. This is slightly more expensive than some of Yunnan sourcing's teas that I like slightly more, but I also think it is worth paying a bit more for the complexity that this tea has to offer. It's pleasant enough to drink daily, but also good if you want to order a small amount of something a bit unusual for a change of pace.
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