I purchased Bana Tea Company’s 2018 Mengsong Spring Sheng Puer a few months ago. This tea is from 100 year old trees in Mengsong. When I see a Vesper Chan production on Bana Tea’s site, I never hesitate to purchase as they are always reliably excellent teas.
Leaf and Steeping Method
2018 Mengsong Spring’s leaf smells lightly floral sweet but also has a savory tang to it. Do we have another sweet and sour sheng?
I did gongfu style tea brewing, using 1 gram of leaf per 14.5ml of vessel size. That extra 0.5 was an extra bit of tea that broke off that I didn’t feel like leaving behind. My water temperature is boiling water. The hot wet leaf smells like sticky steamed rice with a bit of pan char.
Tasting of Bana Tea Company’s 2018 Mengsong Spring Sheng Puer
First and Second Infusion: Mengsong Spring is slick and full bodied. The flavour is soft and trying to bloom little white flowers. It is sweet and cute, but the body is like drinking cotton candy fluff. Some sips are savory like a banana wrapped sticky rice.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: There is now a punchy flavour. Mengsong Spring is sipping in savory-sweet, with flavours of bittermelon, underripe honeydew melon, and juicy spinach stalks. The more I drink the more a floral aftertaste takes over. The aftertaste is sharp and powerful, a potpourri dry floral of misc flowers. When I stopped drinking and was waiting for water to boil, I noticed the aftertaste switches from floral to a refreshing vegetal mint. 2018 Mengsong’s texture is oily and slick, making this tea easy to drink despite the powerful notes.
By the sixth infusion, I am feeling this tea. I can feel it sink my chest to relax me, which lulls me into some creative ideas involving yarn bombing with owls. Undecided if that creative spark means knitting owls to place in city spaces, or constructing owls to shoot balls of yarn.
Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: The Mengsong got stewed, tasting of spinach and lettuce that got boiled to death. However, once that taste clears I get mineral rocks and cinnamon note that has a lot of juicy salivation to it. Then quickly I get a dry mouth as the astringency kicked it. I steeped the last infusion for 8 minutes. It was very bad stewed bitter, but also has a lot of salivation and floral aftertaste.
I finished the session with a lot of spunky energy. I was supposed to go drink more tea to review, but I rather go roll around outside and pluck flowers.
Comments
Bana Tea Company’s 2018 Mengsong Spring Sheng Puer is interestingly complex tea that has mostly floral and vegetal notes. What I like about this tea is the full body and energy. It does have a lot of youth packed in, as I drink this in fall 2018, as it has a stewy vegetal vibe. Bana Tea just recently came out with the 2018 Autumn Mengsong, which would be a fun comparison.
Overall, you’ll like this tea if you want a young puer with a good amount of balance between vegetal and floral. I’d love to try this again next year to see how it settles down. At this time, 2018 Mengsong Spring is priced at $24 for a 100 gram cake.
