Posted by: David

As many of you will know, our 2003 Wild Yi Wu Raw Puerh has been a real office favourite over the last couple of months.  So it was with great excitement that last week, while on holiday in China, I paid a visit to a lovely Beijing teahouse specialising in fine puerh.

On my second day in Beijing, still jet-lagged and in need of a good, relaxing morning of drinking great tea, I set out from my hostel looking forward to the morning ahead.

Hidden away off a busy, restaurant packed street, the teahouse was a welcome respite from the sometimes overwhelming heat and pace of a Beijing summer. I was welcomed into the teahouse and taken up to a gallery level past many cases of puerh cakes from some of the most famous factories in China.

中国茶叶公司云南省公司- Zhong Guo Cha Ye Gong Si Yun Nan Sheng Gong Si 1950s Zhongcha Red Seal - Grade A Cake 中茶牌圆茶 - Zhong Cha Pai Yuan Cha

There’s something about rare and old puerh cakes that brings about a great sense of anticipation in me. It’s not that I get to drink them often by any means, it’s just that the way they are wrapped and how visibly old they are adds to the sense of a special occasion.

The above cake was the oldest on display, a 1950s Red Seal cake from Menghai Factory. Walking past these cakes, upto a table surrounded by large comfortable chairs definitely put me in the right mood to enjoy the tea I was about to drink.

云南七子饼茶 – Yun Nan Qi Zi Bing Cha 7582 – Menghai 1970s Cake (Green Seal) 七十年代厚纸绿印 – Qi Shi Nian Dai Hou Zhi Lu Ying

The cakes shown in these photos are rarely brought out to drink but I was lucky enough to be able to try a 1980s Menghai Cake which had a beautifully deeply coloured infusion and a very active mouthfeel. The flavour was long and smooth with some delicate sweetness and rich, almost leathery notes.

1980s Menghai Infusion

It also had a lovely calming effect which allowed to overcome my initial awe and to begin chatting in Mandarin with the owner of the teahouse and other customers around the table. For most of the morning, we enjoyed the multiple infusions that a tea like this can handle, taking breaks to try other cakes from the 1990s from both Xiaguan and Menghai factories.

I was also able to enjoy a nice long lunch in the teahouse during which, as the only foreigner, I was jostled into drinking numerous shots of 15 year old Mao Tai and 10 year old baijiu, a strong Chinese spirit distilled from sorghum. My plate was also stacked with ribs and wild mushrooms and was refilled frequently.

After some more tea to restore myself before venturing back into the busy Beijing streets, I took a closer look at some of the display cabinets and found some teaware gems – 1950s teacups and Yixing teapots, some of which are shown above.

云南七子饼茶 – Yun Nan Qi Zi Bing Cha 勐海九三年- Meng Hai Jiu San Nian 水蓝印-Shui Lan Yin Menghai 1993 Blue Seal Cake

I’ve loved puerh for as long as I have loved great tea and had been drinking a lot of it in the office before I left for China, but this teahouse experience gave me even more enthusiasm for puerh history and the tastes and feelings brought about by well aged teas. I left the teahouse feeling invigorated, ready to take on the 12 hour overnight train to Xi’an which I had booked for later that day.