A vintage treasure preserved in the clean dry warehouse of Tongxin She in Shenzhen for a full 24 years. We break the original tea cakes and repack them today, sharing the authentic charm of classic aged Menghai ripe pu'er with fellow tea aficionados.
After 24 years of natural maturation in Shenzhen’s local dry warehouse, the original bamboo husks and paper wrappers of the tea cakes bear minor moth holes, surface wear and tear from the passage of time. Such markings are completely normal for well-aged vintage raw and ripe pu'er teas.
These are not defects caused by damp or poorly managed storage; instead, they serve as authentic proof of two-plus decades of genuine natural dry-cellar aging. The wrappers remain untouched—no artificial refurbishment, no replacement of husks or cosmetic retouching—retaining the unaltered original appearance from the factory. To seasoned collectors, these time-worn traces add greater traceability and authentic vintage character.
Menyhai Xinghai Tea Factory was officially registered on March 22, 2002, with full production commencing that June. This first-grade ripe pu'er cake stands as the brand’s landmark inaugural release. Its entire pile fermentation process was supervised by a team of veteran craftsmen formerly employed at the state-run Menghai Tea Factory, faithfully carrying forward the authentic Menghai ripe pu'er brewing techniques standardized during Zou Bingliang’s tenure. It is an iconic piece documenting the transition of state-owned tea-making craftsmanship into private tea enterprises.
Founder Zhang Jianli dedicated decades to mastering tea craft at Menghai Tea Factory. Upon founding Xinghai, he assembled a cohort of retired and reassigned fermentation masters from the state factory, rejecting the crude production practices of small-scale workshops. Every stage—raw material sorting, manual pile turning, ferment curing, air-drying and final storage—adhered rigidly to the stringent quality standards of the state-owned factory.
Only tender premium spring buds harvested from large-leaf tea trees in early Menghai spring were selected as raw materials; coarse stalks and aged rough leaves were sifted out, leaving only plump golden buds for fermentation. Fermentation temperature and duration were precisely calibrated for a gentle fermentation profile, locking in the innate honeyed sweetness of the tea foliage. Output was extremely limited back then, with only a small batch circulated as benchmark factory samples, making surviving stock exceptionally scarce today.
Tongxin She acquired whole factory-original tea cakes in the early years, maturing them consistently for 24 years in a temperature-humidity controlled, well-ventilated clean dry warehouse in Shenzhen. The slow passage of time has fully dissipated the harsh heat and off-notes of fresh fermentation, developing a pure, mellow, bright classic Menghai aged aroma.
The loose tea features tight, glossy dark brown strips densely coated in golden fine hairs. Opening the sealed tin releases a balanced blend of rich jujube sweetness and aged woody fragrance, clean and pure with no stale damp storage odors. When brewed, the liquor glows translucent amber-red with an oily sheen that clings to the cup walls. Silky and velvety on the palate, it delivers rich honeyed sweetness with virtually no astringency, leaving a lasting sweet hui gan lingering in the throat after swallowing. It retains full layered aged fragrance for over ten infusions, and the brewed tea leaves stay evenly toned and supple—solid testament to the master craftsmen’s flawless command over fermentation all those years ago.
Whole vintage tea cakes are bulky and inconvenient for daily brewing, and frequent handling damages the original aged wrappers. Tongxin She has carefully selected well-preserved cakes to break and repack into airtight tins (50 grams loose tea per tin), sealing in the full 24 years of aged aroma to the greatest extent possible.
Compact and portable, these tins suit quiet solo sipping at home, formal tea receptions, or travel carry-on. You no longer need to commit to storing an entire cake to experience the authentic original Menghai flavor of this 2002 inaugural Xinghai ripe pu'er. The small tins also facilitate comparative tasting, letting you directly appreciate the rich depth and historical character of craftsmanship handed down from state-run Menghai masters.
Each tin encapsulates 24 years of dry-cellar aging in Shenzhen; every sip carries the tea-making heritage spanning two generations of Menghai artisans. Tongxin She offers a limited split batch for sharing, bringing this rare, hard-to-source inaugural vintage ripe pu'er to every collector who appreciates and treasures fine aged pu'er tea.