Man Le Sheng Pu'er ( 曼勒生普洱, Màn Lē Shēng Pǔ'ěr, "Man Le Raw Pu'er") - This is a fresh Sheng Pu'er 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 and White tea.
Man Le was a growing region of the Menghai Tea Factory in the mid 20th century. It was abandoned in the 1970's 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.
Man Le Sheng Pu'er is processed in the traditional style, involving a lower temperature Sha Qing and a Rou Nian (massaging) step, producing a tea with slightly higher oxidation than a standard green tea. The result is a tea that is darker in color, with less bright floral fragrance but more depth and greater potential to improve with age.
What's really remarkable is how different these Man Le teas taste from their Nannuo counterparts. Despite being processed in the same way by the same person, within eyeshot of Nannuo mountain, this tea has the unusual tasting notes of fresh-opened canned lychee, freshly-laundered linens, and passion fruit seed. It has a gentle bitterness with a strong, lingering hui gan (returning sweetness) and uplifting qi.
1 Review
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Man Le Sheng
Upon opening the bag, I was greeted with the smell of dried apricots. This became a rather strong scent once the tea was washed. The first couple of steepings are dominated by the distinct dried fruit taste, with a drying sensation on the swallow. The exhale, aka, hui gan, is where this tea shines, there's a strong orange rind impression that never goes away. On the draw-down with later steepings, the distinctive dried-apricot note fades away, and a vegetal sweetness remains. I was being very cautious on the first couple of rounds, pouring very lightly with cooled water. As with most green/shengs, I intensified both my pouring and temperature to squeeze out more flavor, without worrying about bitterness. I've had superior (for my own tastes) sheng puers, but this one holds up very well in comparison, especially at the price point. That's why I'm only giving this four stars as a measure of taste, but I highly recommend this as an every day drinker considering the lesser expense.
