Mengsong 2014 Sheng — Buryatia Cellared

Měng Sòng 2014 Shēng

勐宋 2014 生

A Mengsong sheng aged a decade in the dry, cold cellar of Buryatia — bright, mineral, and light on the body, with a clarity that speaks of continental patience.

$500USD · 357 g

sourced on request — availability and final price are confirmed by email before any payment

Weight

357 g

Harvest

Spring 2014

Elevation

1800 m

Cultivar

Mengsong broad-leaf

Processing

Traditional sheng: hand-picked, wok-fired, sun-dried, stone-pressed, then stored loose in a dry, cold continental cellar for ten years.

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From Mengsong to the Siberian cellar

In spring 2014, a small family garden on Mengsong mountain — a place of high ridges and ancient tea trees — produced a batch of sheng that stood out. The leaves were picked from broad-leaf trees at around 1800 metres, processed with simple rigour in a village workshop, and pressed into 357g cakes. A dozen cakes were acquired as part of a larger lot bound for a cellar in Buryatia, where the cold dry air of the Russian steppe slows fermentation to a crawl. Over ten years, the tea changed slowly: the young green bite mellowed into a fine mineral edge, and the aromas deepened without ever growing stale. Opened in late 2024, this cake is a tea that speaks of its journey — bright as a Mengsong spring morning, yet thread with the austere clarity of a long northern winter. It is a sheng that rewards quiet attention, and a testament to how much place matters, both where the leaves grow and where they rest.

The leaf, brewed

Bright and mineral, with the quiet energy of a long northern winter.

dry leaf

Tightly compressed cake with intact, slightly glossy leaves; aroma of dried apricot, hay, and a faint hint of cold stone.

wet leaf

After rinse, leaves open to reveal a deep, even green-brown; scent shifts toward warm sandstone and dried meadow flowers.

liquor

Pale golden-amber, clear as a mountain stream, with a subtle oily sheen on the surface.

aroma

Clean and crisp — notes of wet slate, white peach, and a whisper of camphor emerge from the cup.

taste

Light-bodied and precise. A gentle mineral sweetness opens, framed by hints of apricot kernel, fresh hay, and a cooling eucalyptus-like lift on the mid-palate.

finish

A soft, lingering huigan rolls back across the tongue, leaving the mouth cool and clean, with a faint trace of dried pear.

Brewing

A method, not a recipe.

Method

gongfu

Ratio

1:20 (5g per 100ml)

Water temp

First infusion

Subsequent

10–12 infusions; increase time by 5 seconds each steep after the 5th.

Rinse twice if the cake is tightly pressed. The tea rewards a slightly lower temperature (90°C) in later steeps to tease out the stone-fruit sweetness.