Plum Beauty 2026 Spring Mengsong Organic Raw Puer
Price range: $7.00 through $185.00
- Description
- Additional information
- Reviews (8)
Description
Ten years in, this tea keeps showing up. Our 2026 Plum Beauty is a well-rounded Mengsong raw with a deep floral fragrance up front, a kuwei (pleasant bitterness) that grounds things without overpowering, and a sweetness that transfers into a powerful huigan. It does what this tea has always done, and does it well.
This year’s pressing leans noticeably into the floral side, which suits the material. The balance between fragrance, bitterness, and sweetness in the throat is as good as any year we’ve pressed it.
The material comes from the same ~50 year old certified organic fangyang garden in Mengsong as previous years. That means no pesticides, no pruning, and minimal human intervention. This style of management has long been our preference, as it imparts a richer flavour and texture, but without the price tag of gushu or dubiously labelled “wild” teas.
The stone fruit character of its namesake tends to become increasingly noticeable after several years of storage. This is also a tea that has never let us down in 10+ years of brewing it, making this as strong a candidate for ageing as it is for drinking now.
$0.18-0.28/gram
Picking Period: March 28-April 4
Region: Mengsong, Yunnan
Additional information
| Weight | N/A |
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8 reviews for Plum Beauty 2026 Spring Mengsong Organic Raw Puer
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prestonang2701 (verified owner) –
good value for the price! drinking in may 2026, dry leaf smell does have a prominent stone fruit aroma, but this is unfortunately lost in the brew. tea is brothy, with a pronounced bitterness that covers the palate after swallowing. bitterness leaves minerality after it dissipates. excited to see how it ages!
joedhull –
Unexpected and complex
Caramel, Tomato Water, Salted Plum
//Aroma// – River stone, barely ripe plum, tomato broth
//Texture// – Thick and rich. Broad too. I can really feel it hitting all the zones of my tastebuds but it has this increasing huigan right down the middle that emerges.
//Flavor// – Salinity. Lots of salinity. The first two steeps are incredibly brothy but with this beautiful central thread of sweet plum. Fresh cherry tomatoes, Mugwort, Rhubarb. A decent bit of bitterness and astringency on the finish, like getting a bit whiff of incense and it staying in your sinuses just a bit.
//Body Sensation// – Calm and invigorating. Clarity with curiosity.
This may not be to everyone’s taste but I find it so complex and enigmatic. I’m excited for my fourth and fifth steeps to see where this goes. For the value it’s such a beautiful tea. I think it has great aging potential.
Alen D –
Exceptionally fruity sheng, I’m not sure if I picked plum but I sure got something along the lines of tropicals: mango, papaya and orange. It also has that floral/fruity smell that I’m starting to more and more associate with Bitterleaf shengs in general. While the tea is hot it’s layered in notes of what I can describe as roasted grains and pumpkin seed porridge, a nice savory contrast to the fruity profile. The sweetness is there, but the bitterness is low and kind of drowned in that porridge impression.
As the tea cools down a bit it picks up some bitterness and even more huigan with a slight rocky, mineral finish. I got to savor it in a mug as well as I got two balls to sample and it offered more thickness, but also slightly less fruity notes versus porridge ones.
If In Bloom is my go to floral young sheng then Plum Beauty would be my go to fruity one.
kris –
Id give 4.75
It is a bitnlike blackberry that hasnt ripen fully. Quite refreshing.
Bit of nice bitterness.
Bit like star burning hot and bright but going out of fuel fast.
DKB (verified owner) –
A nice sheng, and one I’ll be curious to revisit a little later. The mouthfeel is very creamy and rich, and the bitter edge is pleasant, but for now it feels like the tea hasn’t quite found itself yet.
Alexandra Verville-Paris –
You’d think the liquor is opaque, it’s so cloudy. The creamy effect is sooo pleasing.
// Smell: Creamy dessert, floral, sweet, clean home, wet rock in sand, humid hay at the farm, clean clothes drying on the line.
// Texture: Heavy liquor, tingling on the lips and back teeth, thick texture.
// Taste: Rice vermicelli with spicy sauce, herbaceous notes, honey in hot water, astringency, spicy hay, wet rock, a sharpness of pineapple.
// Body sensation: Heavy body, building heat, faster heart rate.
Grim_Steeper (verified owner) –
The session opens with a sweet, fruity aroma rising from the lid, inviting me into the first few steeps. The tea has a surprisingly full-bodied presence, yet it never feels heavy or overly thick. Instead, the liquor feels rich and expansive, spreading broadly across the palate and giving the flavours plenty of room to unfold.
As the session progresses, a more pronounced mineral character begins to emerge, adding another layer to the experience. It’s a gradual development rather than a dramatic transformation, but one that gives the tea a little more depth as the leaves open up.
The physical sensation is interesting, too. My mouth gradually takes on a dry feeling, while the overall effect remains calm and grounding. There’s something understated about this tea: it doesn’t need to overwhelm to leave an impression.
Rating: 3.5–4/5
Sid-Hamed CHIBANI –
One of the best raw pu erh i have ever tasted .
Indeed, i found a deep floral fragrance , a pleasant bitterness and a sweetness that transfers into a powerful huigan.
I really enjoyed the white grape aftertaste.