Tasting maocha

After the tea leaves undergo a transformation roughly similar to that of green tea, a loose leaf tea is formed that is used to make post-fermented tea (黑茶). This material is called maocha (毛茶). This organic material has not undergone aging and has not yet been compressed into cakes or bricks (or other shapes), as is often the case for Pu er tea (普洱 市) facilitating conservation and storage.

It is possible to taste the raw tea at the Camellia Sinensis Tea House. We returned from China in 2009 with the Pu Er 2009 Mengsong Maocha. This tea is 100% hand-picked leaves from tea bushes more than one hundred years old. These leaves are exclusively from Mengsong (勐 宋 山) (one of the famous mountains of Xisuangbanna (西双版纳), one of the most highly reputed regions of Yunnan (云南) for Pu er tea (普洱茶)) and has been purchased in the village itself by our team of taster-importers. For hundreds of years this has been the traditional brew of the villagers, simply by adding hot water to a handful of leaves in a metal cup.

Maocha is very different from a mature, aged tea. Offering a golden yellow liquor, softer and more delicate, young and green. Sweet, very fruity and with a refreshing menthol aroma, it is soft and rustic at the same time. Flavors of fresh almonds and sweet flowers, complex and tangy, apricot and citrus notes are contrasted by leather and camphor ... A tea reminiscent of Oolong (乌龙茶) Chinese style Dan Cong (单 丛) and 1st flush Indian Darjeeling.

We have also had made compressed cakes of 250 grams of maocha bought in Mengsong, and already it is substantially different from the loose leaf variety.
I invite you to compare the difference ...

Enjoy!