My next stage of exploring raw Pu’er will take a more systematic approach.
Before diving deeply into famous mountains and villages, I want to first establish a reference point: the classic factory recipes of Menghai Tea Factory / Dayi (大益).
In front of me are six raw Pu’er recipes that I will be sampling individually:
7532 · 7542 · 8542 · 8582 · 7582 · 0622
These teas were created around the idea of blending. Different leaf grades and materials are assembled according to established recipes to produce a particular character and, in some cases, a style that has been reproduced across decades.
Among them, 7542 is perhaps the most important reference point. It has become one of the defining recipes of traditional Menghai raw Pu’er and will serve as the centre of this exploration.
But I don’t simply want to find out which recipe tastes best.
I want to understand what changes when I move from one recipe to another: bitterness and astringency, sweetness and huigan, body and texture, aroma, ageing character, strength, and how the tea develops through successive infusions.
From Recipe to Terroir
Once I have worked through these recipe benchmarks, the next chapter will move in a very different direction:
Terroir.
Instead of asking “Which recipe is this?”, the question becomes:
“Where does this tea come from?”
I will begin exploring raw Pu’er through its mountains, villages and growing environments — teas from places such as Yiwu (易武), Jingmai (景迈), Bingdao (冰岛), Lao Banzhang (老班章) and beyond.
The intention is not to assume that every tea from a famous place must display a predetermined flavour. Rather, I want to build my own sensory references through repeated tasting and see what patterns I can actually recognise.
Recipe gives me a benchmark.
Terroir gives me a landscape.
This journal will document that journey, one tea at a time.
Next: the Dayi raw Pu’er recipe benchmarks.
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