Spring 2021 Da Zhong Shan Single Trees

Back in Spring 2025, a tea producer from Mengku visited us in our tea shop in Pu'er. He supplied us with the Mang Nuo single trees, another area which turned out to be one of our favorite from this season. 

We are now happy to feature more of his teas, because they are really delightful, and we love to feature more Mengku teas. It is truly a unique terroir, relatively small and with a strong identity. Bingdao is the most famous village of this area, after the old village come the five satellite villages, this is the North of the Mengku region. 

The bulk of the production in Mengku comes from two mountain ranges that mark the boundaries of this terroir: the western slope and the eastern slope (Xi Ban Shan and Dong Ban Shan). 

On the western slope stands the tallest mountain of the area: Da Xue Shan; and at its foot lies the village of Da Zhong Shan. 

A handful of very big trees grow in that village, they produce exquisite tea that we have the pleasure of offering here. 

This tea was made in Spring 2021 and pressed in 2023, then aged in the mountain at high altitude. It was a dry storage, it lead to some oxidation and a change in fragrance, but I would still consider this one a young tea: it has a vibrant mouthfeel. 

From the first sip, it seduces with its heavy 'candy-like' sweetness, a caracteristic of good tea from Mengku. The fragrance is dispensed through that sweetness, it feels like drinking freshly pressed juice. 

Behind that layer of sugar coating, an aggressive side will be expressed during the session, especially if you push the brewing time. Bitterness can come up but astringency will remain low, usually a sign the material comes from big trees. 

The soup shows a medium thickness. If you put the tea through an oil refinery, it would come out as diesel, the premium kind. 

Overall, this is a well-balanced tea that showcases the Mengku terroir under its best light. It can be interesting to compare with our Dong Guo tea, whose village is very close to Da Zhong Shan. Same spirit, different quality.