This Mei Zhan serves up smoldering coffee sweetness with just the right amount of punchy sass to demand your attention to brewing.  The salivating, drippy mouthfeel and the return flavor on the afterbreath is well worth getting to know this one to finesse this tea's goldilocks zone.

梅占 Mei Zhan "Plum Flower" is another classical 闽南 Minnan Southern Fujian cultivar that's found its second home in the canon of Wuyi varietals up north.  Proliferated in the 1960s alongside Shui Xian to many revered pockets and gardens in the core scenic area of Wuyi, Mei Zhan has become a respected name in Rock Oolong connoisseur circles.  With some folks being unable to distinguish the relatively larger leaves of Mei Zhan from that of the famously sizable leaves of Shui Xian, perhaps both teas' qualities of producing a tall, smooth, elegant mouthfeel with an ability to withstand a robust roast has some relation to their big leaves.

The Mei Zhan motherbush in 三洋 Sanyang Village in Anxi County. As one of the 安溪六大名茶 Anxi 6 famous cultivars, Mei Zhan has been propagated in many other provinces outside of Southern Fujian

Not in a tucked away hinterland like many others from this release, Mr. Zhang's gardens are in the more well-known 莲花峰 Lianhua Feng "Lotus Peak" pocket of Wuyi, a classic 半岩 Ban Yan "Half Cliff" locale that some consider now to be 正岩 Zheng Yan "Genuine Cliff" part of the core of the scenic park.  Mr. Zhang is a talented young tea producer whose Meizhan bushes were planted around the turn of the century, grown at an elevation of 400 meters.