Meng Ding Gan Lu

Yesterday, two of my students brought this tea in for me. They went to Ya'an for the National Day Holiday and I had asked them to pick up some Mengdingshan Gan Lu for me. I had failed to do enough research into the best tea to buy from that region. Thought it was Mao Feng but it was, instead, Gan Lu or Sweet Dew. In fact, it was supposed to have been this Gan Lu that first became famous from this area. The first trees cultivated in China were on Mengding Mountain and the best tea from these plants was reportedly Gan Lu.

So here is my new addition to our tea cache. It was not cheap but currently is the best tea we now have. Certified to be (by some accounts) in the top ten traditional teas of China.



The sack says where it comes from. The students bought it from a tea store in the ancient town of Shangli



Beautifully boxed as all expensive and famous teas seem to be in China. I guess this is called Presentation Tea or Gift Tea.

Meng Ding Mao Feng

In Shangli, the ancient city in the Mengding Mountains, we bought about a kilo of Mao Feng from the tea lady on one of the streets. Here are my assessments of it.


The Mengding Mao Feng makes a beautiful cup of tea and it did not take long for it to get this beautiful. The taste is strong and hardy, smooth with a slight lingering bitterish (is this a word?) aftertaste. This tends to be our daily tea as we drink several cups of it a day. In fact, I bought the glass cup and saucer to show just how nice the tea looked. As we processed more and more tea, I realized that I was having to work too hard to get the tea to look like it really did in this glass cup. Too much background tended to screw up the picture. I traded the glass for a more traditional china one we also bought specifically for taking pictures. This shows off the teas much better than the glass. The glass cup was very cute.


Here you have a good look at Mengding Mao Feng tea in its dried state. It is a dark tea with only a few tea with some lighter parts. The tea overall is solid with a distinct and enjoyable flavor.


Here is the cup of Mengding Mao Feng tea along with the dried tea. The dried tea is a very dark green, heavy and compact.