Saturday, September 30, 2017

Tuo Cha Tea Order and Reacquainting With Menghai Dayi Tea Factory


The last of my large sample semi-aged orders came a few months ago from a classic Western tea vendor that has been quietly selling puerh since I started drinking puerh- Tuo Cha Tea.

Tuo Cha Tea is the place where you chance to purchase some lowly factory everyday drinker teas, least in a game of chance so as not to get burned with a puerh that is totally undrinkable.  However, the prices are so low, China low, that the gamble is one that is hard to resist.  Many a puerh drinker has found a great deal and many have been burned in this quest.

For me it’s all about the Menghai Factory raw 2007-2008 productions.  I ordered them all up in an attempt to 1- do what all puerh drinkers are destined to do, that is, own a Menghai factory cake 2- get a better understanding of the different and newer Menghai recipes 3- compare how these 10 years aged Menghai productions faired with the 10 years aged 90s Menghai factory stuff that I frequently drank in the early/mid- 2000s in Korean tea shops, 4- sample the cakes for potential re-orders in the goal of restocking some everyday drinkers.

Actually, I was kind of second guessing myself on this order which I have never ever done on a puerh purchase before… Do I really need more factory puerh?... Did I really just order THAT much Menghai Factory tea?... Why didn’t you just take the money that you spent on this order and put it towards one or two more quality puerh that I ‘m more used to drinking?... If you wouldn’t buy this tea 10 years ago why are you bothering to purchase it now?

But as soon as I opened the package, I was smiling ear to ear in a happy nostalgic mood about this order.  These were the teas in all the puerh tea shops in Korea when I first learned of puerh tea.  These were assuredly familiar to me.

Please join me on this journey through some semi-aged Menghai factory productions…

Peace

2 comments:

Peter said...

Heello,

I purchased some Menghai TF cakes from tuochatea and found them very dry, the 8582 & 7582 are late batches and I dont' think are worth it.

Matt said...

Peter Robertson,

Thanks for your comment about this vendor. I have an upcoming post on these two teas and, in that post, generally agree with your assessment.

Tuo Cha Tea is a very dry Kunming storage. I feel that a lot of the traditional recipes (especially the larger leaf recipes) were designed for more humid storage which was more typical of the markets these teas were destined for.

Please feel free to comment if you have anything else to add in the upcoming post.

Peace