Essence of Tea’s 2014 Mengsong Red [Episode 98]

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A red (black) tea made out of pu’erh materials and pressed into a cake, Essence of Tea’s 2014 Mengsong Red. Compared to your average dianhong this is a high-end, aromatic affair.

Essence of Tea

Comments

18 responses to “Essence of Tea’s 2014 Mengsong Red [Episode 98]”

March 24, 2015

brian

I’ve actually been sipping on this tea all afternoon. A great red tea. It also comes out really well with just a few leaves in a teabowl

Reply
1. March 24, 2015
  
  brian
  
  I also cringe when I see Denny rinsing red teas, and really nice teas in general, for so long… So much lost…
  
  Reply
  1. March 24, 2015
    
    brian
    
    This tea needs no rinse
    Now I step back and close my mouth =)
    
    Reply
    1. March 25, 2015
      
      paxl13
      
      When you gongfu yunnan black that aren’t puerh I tend
      to love to flash rinse them, it makes the first infusion
      stronger.
      
      I prefer tho brewing my black western style… in a yixing
      pot.. don’t ask 😛
      
      Cheers
      
      Reply
      1. March 25, 2015
        
        James
        
        Hi paxl13,
        
        Thanks for the comment and sharing. I feel like Denny’s method is part gong-fu, part western in some sense.
        
        Cheers,
        -James
2. March 25, 2015
  
  James
  
  Hi brian,
  
  Thanks for chiming in. This is indeed a good tea!
  
  I don’t drink nearly enough red teas to critique Denny, but I have begun to lean heavily towards no rinse/single rinse for higher-end young pu’erh. He’s not as familiar with pu’erh vendors as I am, so I think he may’ve treated it a bit more indiscriminately than I would’ve.
  
  Cheers,
  -James
  
  Reply
March 25, 2015

Simeon

I agree with Brian , I also cringe when I see Denny’s extreme rinsing ! As Brian quite rightly points out ” So much lost ” ! Try this again guys with no rinse and let us know what you think. Personally I only ever rinse raw and ripe puerhs and liu bao – one moderate rinse with boiling water .

Reply
1. March 25, 2015
  
  James
  
  Hi Simeon,
  
  Thanks for the comment. I still have plenty of this tea. Will report back.
  
  Cheers,
  -James
  
  Reply
March 25, 2015

paxl13

My usual black parameter is a 170ml Yixing pot pre-heated with boiling water.
3g, 3m for the first infusion, then 6m for the next one and that it.
I usually don’t rinse black as they are not compressed! Black tends to fit
well into ‘true’ gongfu session but for me black tea is my wake up tea and
I don’t really care too too much about it, which explain my parameters!

Cheers,
paxl13

Reply
1. March 30, 2015
  
  James
  
  Cheap and cheerful brewing! That’s how I like my blacks!
  
  Cheers,
  -James
  
  ps. Been enjoying your 7572 instagram posts :).
  
  Reply
  1. March 30, 2015
    
    paxl13
    
    Nice. what is your instagram handle that I add you 🙂
    
    I am completely junky of the 7572 from W2T plus I just started
    a quest of trying a lot side by side.
    
    Bought the FT 7572 from W2T as well and will try it side by
    side with my current Haiwan 9978 which is the same recipe.
    I’ll have to order one from Menghai at some point!
    
    Reply
    1. March 30, 2015
      
      James
      
      Cool. Sounds like an interesting comparison! Side-by-sides is a great way to learn and it sounds as if you have a really solid reference point.
      
      I also like the larger leaf ripe recipes. We’re at @teadborg . Don’t have much there yet, just started really.
      
      Cheers,
      -James
      
      Reply
      1. March 30, 2015
        
        paxl13
        
        I used to be a real junky of the smaller leaves recipe like gong ting cakes but I find them a bit bland when I started really loving the 7572 recipe. I need to try the 82 and 92 recipe too at some point.
        
        But yeah @white2tea 2002 CNNP Tiepai 7572 is golden!! I love how the humidity interwind with the taste and bring it to a next level 🙂
        
        Thanks for the alias on instagram, just followed you 😀 \o/
      2. March 31, 2015
        
        James
        
        Thanks for following! Yes, it’s a very decent tea. Have you had the 2004 7262? Curious how that tea compares.
March 26, 2015

Andrew

I came here also to comment on the long rinse, but it seems several others beat me to it! I have a cake of this and brew it up real strong. High leaf to water ratio, quick steeps. Reminds me of bourbon. What you guys said about the texture is spot on — it’s ridiculously soft.

Also, glad to see EoT represented here. Their selection really is very good, and this tea’s on the lower end of their price spectrum.

Reply
1. March 30, 2015
  
  James
  
  Hi Andrew,
  
  Thanks for the comment and sharing! I’ve been (slowly) drinking through a box of samples kindly provided by David. Look for more content soon!
  
  Cheers,
  -James
  
  Reply
March 30, 2015

Vicky Hu

Hello Guys!

I was searching for real Tea reviews today on youtube, and I came across your youtube channel!

When I was tching this Black tea review, it made me want to steep a cup of my father’s handmade YunNan Black tea too.

I enjoy watching the way you guys drinking the tea with that “shhh” noise, makes me smile and LOL. so much fun to watch !

I knew you guys must been very busy trying different tea samples. I could like to share some of my father’s black tea with you too! He made his YunNan teas in remote mountain area with farmers. so I call his teas ” direct from the mountain tea ”
please let me know how to get in touch and send teas to you ! Thanks !

Cheerss!
Vicky

Reply
1. March 30, 2015
  
  James
  
  Hi Vicky,
  
  Thanks for the comment and kind words! Yes indeed, we’d be interested in trying those teas. Please shoot us an email to teadborg@gmail.com .
  
  Cheers,
  -James
  
  Reply