Mangsheqing 2025 autumn gaogan

Year: 2025, autumn, gaogan
Weight: 10 grams sample and 250 grams bing*
Country of origin: China, Yunnan province

* This autumnal collection is wrapped in the same wrapper design, distinguished only by a stamp with Chinese characters indicating the name of the tea. A few bings’ wrappers also have hand-written names in Latin letters on them, written by Milos Karasek himself—a well-known Slovak artist who designed the wrappers for these cakes.

Details:

— the story of Mangsheqing

Mangsheqing is located northwest of Miaojiu Village in Yao District, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Although it is not administratively part of Yiwu Township, it is close to Yiwu, with a straight-line distance of about 30 kilometers. Yao District is a mountainous township of Mengla County. In earlier times, overshadowed by the fame of Yiwu Town, its presence was relatively unnoticed.

When single-mountain teas became popular, over 90% of the Pu’er tea produced in Yao District was classified and sold as Yiwu mountain tea, hence the name “Yiwu Mangsheqing. Mangsheqing is an ancient tea garden within state-owned forest, hidden in a remote mountain corner untouched by human disturbance, with pristine ecology, dense vegetation, and fertile soil. The ancient tea garden belongs to state forest land, sits at around 1,400 meters elevation, and maintains an average annual temperature of about 19°C. Surrounded by steep mountains with high forest coverage, and nurtured by a tropical rainforest climate, the area is shrouded in mist year-round—ideal for tea tree growth. The tea garden merges seamlessly with the original forest ecosystem. Thanks to fertile soil and symbiotic growth with other trees, Mangsheqing tea retains the floral fragrance and soft texture typical of Yiwu tea, while possessing an even stronger wild mountain character.Because access is extremely difficult and the ancient trees are tall and hard to harvest, the area remained wild and neglected for a long time, allowing it to escape past dwarfing modifications. The ancient trees grow tall and straight, with thick, long leaves and long stems.

According to local tea farmers, the name “Mangsheqing” has two origins:

First, it is said that these were originally cultivated tea trees planted by ancient people (commonly called “domestic tea”), later abandoned deep in the mountains due to plagues, wars, and other disasters. Because large pythons were often seen along the path leading to the area, it came to be known as Mangsheqing (“Python Gully”).

Second, it is linked to Zhuge Liang, the legendary “Tea Ancestor.” It is said that when Kongming led his troops southward through this area, some soldiers fell ill from miasma poisoning in the mountains and had to stop to rest and recover. They tied their horses to trees and went to search for water. Unbeknownst to them, the gully was full of pythons. When they returned, they discovered the horses had been swallowed by giant snakes, and the tea seeds carried on the saddles were scattered across the ground. These seeds later grew into trees, and animals spread them around the Mangshe River area, forming today’s Mangshe River ancient tree tea. Thus the place was named “Mangsheqing,” and the tea is also known as “Kongming Tea.

The dry tea leaves are thick, well-defined, and covered in fine hairs, with a pronounced honey aroma. Mangsheqing offers an outstanding, nature-infused mouthfeel: lasting sweetness in the throat, a cooling mint sensation on the tongue and palate, a soft yet rich liquor, strong tea energy, and an intense wild mountain spirit. Rich wildflower and wild honey aromas intertwine, lingering in the cup.

The tea is fragrant yet gentle, soft with underlying strength, fast-returning sweetness, and a clean, sweet finish—each sip a feast for both palate and spirit. The liquor is smooth and winding, slightly astringent at first but quickly dissolving, followed by fierce returning sweetness and salivation, with a deep, cool, and refreshing throat resonance.

— tasting notes

the first brew is a sweet water, a morning dew, a mountain stream flowing down the hill, subtle still with a great depth, promising a great tea to come, unripe fruity notes blending with herbal finish, all round and smooth, a very gentle feel, soft on a palate, concerning the energy that fills up the chest area and runs to arms and legs, builds up from brew to brew, a breeze of a remote forest, far away from people, a rain forest aromatics flowing out of the teapot, herbal mint notes finishing each sip, a very special noble minerality feel, rare and hard to come by, a purity of this tea is amazing, the body and mind feel relaxed, the aftertaste mirrors the flavour profile and stays on the palate for a long time,

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