Man Le Sun-Dried Red Mini Bing (曼勒紅小餅, Màn Lē Hóng Xiǎo Bǐng, "Man Le Red Small Bing") - This is a 2022 pressing of fresh red tea from Man Le, Li Shulin's new home. He relocated there after his home on Nannuo Mountain was destroyed by a fire in 2021. While he still maintains his plots on Nannuo Mountain and is still making tea from them, he has also begun using the local Man Le plants to make Sheng and Shu Pu'er, as well as Red Tea.
Man Le was a growing region of the Menghai Tea Factory in the mid 20th century. It was abandoned in the 1970s and the plants that currently grow there are the seed-propagated plants (and descendants thereof) that have been growing there since that time. Many of these plants are feral and grow in the midst of the local pine trees.
This tea has ended up being one of our favorites among the new Man Le teas from Li Shulin. It's balanced, sweet, malty, and has a distinctive fruity character and silky mouthfeel.
This mini bing includes 100g of pressed tea. The base color of the wrapper is red, indicating that it is a Red Tea. The ring and bat are white, indicating that this tea is made from standard leaves.
3 Reviews
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Finally
I've been looking for a good pressed red tea and this checks all the boxes for me. I enjoy it.
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Great daily drinker
Deeply comforting! Reminds me of jugo de mora (mulberry juice?) I grew up drinking in Ecuador. There's some blueberry and blackberry compote, and a light "aged white tea" little something about it while retaining a nice acidity to it. The flavour is delicate (not "restrained" like it needs you to tinker with it), just elegant. Mouthfeel is fantastic and soothing. Makes for a great companion for transitioning into Spring ^_^
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Very nice red
The taste and experience of the tea is comforting, and a great tea for daily drinking. The aroma was... have you ever had a molten lava cake from chili's? The aroma was so rich and velvety, I smelled chocolate syrup, fudge, hints of ice cream and lots of caramel. So much caramel. The taste was malty and rich with dominating citrus notes of sun-dried mandarin, very reminiscent of a ganpu. I recommend this one and am glad to own this.
