The “New” Menghai Factory 2007 Recipes Meant for Dry Storage -2007 Menghai 0712, 0752, 0772 Recipes

In 2007 Menghai released a bunch of new recipes and used the Old School numerical system to appropriately number them.  I believe 2007 was the only year these “07” recipes were released.  I remember seeing them in the shops in Korea in 2007/2008 but I don’t think I ever tried them.  Currently, Tuo Cha Tea sells three of these which are still currently available (0712 $36.00 for 357g cake or $0.10/g, 0752$35.00 for 400g cake or $0.09/g , and 0772 for $32.00 for 400g cake or  $0.08/g). Yunnan Sourcing also carries the 0772 for $40.00.

Are you ready to try some Menghai Factory recipes that seem to be totally overlooked?

“0712”

Dry leaves smell of faint distant fruits and deep fresh vegetal notes.

First infusion sends flat, watery, slightly bitter, slightly sour, but nice and creamy fruit notes and dry wood notes into the mouth.  A mild caramel sweetness appears as well.  There is a simple, sharp vegetal feel to the tea- the taste is not long or strong.  A mild cooling appears in the breath with a slightly longan fruit taste.  Overall the taste is nice especially fruit taste which is dominant here and develops nicely over the mouthfeel which makes the tongue tingle.  The qi is strongly alerting.

The second infusion consists of a slightly tart, creamy sweet initial taste, a mild sour middle taste, and a sweet fruit finish.  There are edges of dry wood and sweet fruit in the profile throughout.  The tongue tingles and has a slightly dry and full mouthfeeling and even mild upper throat feeling.  The qi is still too strong on the stomach to drink this tea on a regular basis, it needs a few more years of storage.  This tea has very contained flavours which are not expansive nor complimentary but they are nice and clear and crisp.

The third infusion delivers smoother, less harsh fruit taste.  The initial taste becomes more fruity, if not mildly bitter, and the aftertaste becomes more dry wood now.  There is a nice bright cherry fruit edge to this tea as well as a stronger slight bitter astringency.  The fruit taste becomes long in this infusion with a slight minty coolness.

The fourth offers more in the way of fruitier tastes the bitter and wood tastes now fade a touch allowing for the cherry fruit to be the dominant flavor if steeped lightly.  If steeped more aggressively you will still get a measure of astringent bitter that seems to like to uproot cherry tastes in the profile, either way.  The tastes are simple, singular, and tight.

The fifth has the same but a longer cooler aftertaste now over a mouthfeel of soft and just slightly astringent coating.  The cooling lasts a while on the breath as does a nice cherry powdery taste.  The cherry taste is quite nice here.

The sixth has deeper, almost smokey, woody tastes up front which stretch through the profile of this steeping.  The strong cherry tastes of last infusion more linger in the background now.  The slightly astringent mouthfeel and throatfeel are not too much but root singular flavours firmly in their place.  A returning sweetness is slightly cooling, slighty sweet with a touch of powdery cherry taste.

The seveth becomes more harmonious mx of flavours with dry wood and soft cherry and a general slight woody forest feel now seen for the first time here. 

The eighth and ninth is much the same with a slight coco almost milky slight foresty bitterness that reminds me of Bulang.  The taste profile is very simple.  A cooling sensation is mild on the breath.

The next few infusions don’t hold much more than dry, flat, woody tastes with a barely noticeable cooling aftertaste. 

This tea overall has a standard taste and feel of decent young Menghai Factory puerh.  It still has a great deal of strength in this recipe and needs to age more to be drinkable.  I image this turning out to be a nice standard factory tippy blended tea with another 5 years of dry storage.

"0752"

Dry leaves smell of pungent, deep forest with a slight plum edge.

First infusion is of simple sweet melon tastes, crisp wood that evolves into a deeper cane sugar sweetness and metallic taste.  There is a subtle sour taste throughtout in this first infusion.  There is also a very faint smoke which adds a nice element to the taste.  The aftertaste is slightly cooling, and again clear and almost metallic and apple sweetness.  This first infusion is quite flavourful and has a nuanced layering of different flavours. 

The second infusion is a clear almost absent initial taste that has that same simple sweet onset.  There is flat metallic, dry wood, taste that evolves into a sweet green bean taste in the aftertaste along with a very mild coolness.  There are mild flashes of different faint fruit tastes as well.  Overall, the taste is very clear, pure, but a little lacking.  Some sessions I’ve had turn into a dirty turbid taste here where others do not.  The mouthfeel is quite weak and this is probably why.

The third has a flat single barely wood note than immediately interfaces to a sweet metallic cherry note which fades fast in the mouth.  The mouthfeel becomes just slightly sticky here.  The aftertaste is short and tastes of cherry fruit.  The qi is a very standard alertness.  There is definitely some qi that lingers in the chest opening it slightly.

The fourth has a medicinal onset turning into slight dry wood and then into a barely sweet aftertaste.  There are notes of beans and very mild cherry- more of a choke cherry finish.  The mouthfeel is weak but getting stronger, and is mainly dry and mostly covering the front of the tongue.  There is a very faint, lingering bubble gum and rubbery sweetness that lingers minutes later.

The fifth infusion has a medicinal wood start but the sweet rubbery bubble gum sweetness now lingers throughout the profile.  This note is really not very sweet but noticeable.  The taste profile of this tea is narrow but clear.  The body and mind feel slightly spacy on this tea but the feeling is good… a good spacy qi feeling.

The sixth infusion delivers a metallic sweet profile throughout over a barely medicinal and crisp newly chopped wood taste.  The sweetness swells slightly into a cherry taste in the aftertaste.

The seventh has a tight metallic, sweet, dry woody and slight medicinal taste.  There is still a slight cooling in the breath and slight edge of bubble gum sweetness.

The eighth loses a bit of the sweet flavors, metallic flavours, and medicinal flavours and is more of a thin woody taste with a slight cherry and cooling aftertaste.

The ninth becomes smoother and more round with slightly creamier malty fruit cherry tastes over a thin wood and bean base.  The initial taste is more full in the mouth here and the tastes mingle together much better now.

The tenth starts with sweet clean clear cherry note which lingers throughout the profile.  The taste is light, clear, crisp, and slightly sweet.  This tea is enjoyable and takes a while to get going.  The mouthfeel is now much fuller and leaves a slightly dry and slightly sticky coating on the tongue and even upper throat.  A gummy, rubbery cherry sweetness is left on the breath minutes later.

The eleventh is much the same, quite enjoyable here still a slight coolness in throat.  The sweet taste is now like an icing sugar sweetness with a nice bean and wood barely noticeable base taste.

The twelfth is much the same still quite vibrant, tasty and sweet.  The mouthfeel and throatfeel is a really slow buildup for this tea but now feels nice as flavours layer over top.

The thirteenth still has a long icing sugar and cherry sweetness over wood and slight metallic and flat wood tastes.

The tea is consumed like this for a few more sessions retaining a mild sweet cherry taste.

This tea’s taste is good but overall to muted and weak with still a predominant bitterness apparent.  My wife happen to try some of this tea and exclaims, “This tea is NOT good.”  When this tea is brewed in our large Yixing pot it pours too slowly and pulls too much bitter and dry wood out of the leaves.  Flash infusions from a small teapot deliver more enjoyable tastes. 

It seems like it should be good but its profile is really just too thin to do anything super interesting.  What is best about this tea is the later steeps.

"0772"

The dry leaves smell of distant forest- slight sweet and dry grassy crispness.

The first infusion delivers brisk clean fresh pine/ wood notes along with a slight edge of plums.  The taste is really clean and simple fresh wood and plums in a thin but lightly and airy mouthfeel.  The clean fruit taste strings out faintly on the breath.

The second is much the same with clean tight notes of slight wood to start then it now evolves in to a much longer and defined cherry/ plum taste with just an edge of cool sweetness.  I am already surprised by this puerh- its good.  Its sweetness is fairly strong here and feels like it sticks to the teeth and sides of the mouth.  The qi is clean and offers a clean head feeling, alerting but not overly so.

The third infusion is much the same very clean, crisp, clear, long, simple profile.  There is a certain completeness about this tea that I really like.  It starts with slight wood then is whisked away by long slightly cooling cherry fruits.  The mouthfeel feel is full, thin but has a light airy, satisfying stimulation.  It seems to softly open the upper and even mid throat.  A sweet almost tart cherry is left in the mouth minutes later.

The fourth infusion has a more of a creamier taste trying to attach itself to the long sweet profile of this tea.  The aftertaste becomes a bit rubbery even metallic tasting.  This infusion is a long line of clean cherry tastes.

In the fifth infusion the light, fresh, newly chopped wood taste shares equal space with the sweetness which becomes less vibrant here but just as long.  The rubbery and metallic taste remains in the mouth.  The tea’s qi brings a nice clean clarity to the mind, it seems to effect the body much less.

The sixth infusion is a nice, simple slight woody and watery slight fruit taste.  Traces of cherry fruit linger on the breath.

The seventh gets a bit woodier with a crisp clean cherry finish.  What this tea lacks in depth it makes up for in its simple and clean taste.  The fruity finish starts to kick up tropical fruit tastes on the breath here adding a bit more complexity to the finish.

The eighth gets more woody and flat in the initial taste where the aftertaste continues to offer nice clean sweet taste and slightly cooling aftertaste.

The ninth and tenth and eleventh have a nice long sweet and now even flowery sweet taste.  It taste like green grapes, a nice flavor nuance.  The wood taste is almost non-existent here so long sweet tastes rule. 

The 07 series recipes seem to be designed especially for dry storage and seem to thrive in those conditions.  They all have a clean newly chopped woody feel and crisp cherry fruit taste profile to them.  They all have a similar mouthfeel, taste profile and even Qi feeling.  These tastes remind me of the dry stored mainly 7542 recipes of the 90s that I tried 10-15 years later if you were to completely drop off the deeper base flavor, thin out the mouthfeel, and string out the high fruit note...  Hahahaha… maybe that’s too much of a stretch.  Although these recipes are way simpler in taste, they all have that resemblance.

Out of the three 07 recipes I seem to be drinking the 0712 the most but don’t intend to re-order any of these.

Peace