Home/All Teas/Meng Ding Gan Lu - Rare Loose Leaf Tea

A macro pile of Meng Ding Gan Lu Loose Leaf Tea

Meng Ding Gan Lu Loose Leaf Tea arranged in a circle

Meng Ding Gan Lu Loose Leaf Tea infusion in a glass cup

No. 77

Meng Ding Gan Lu - Rare Loose Leaf Tea

Chinese White Tea

Meng Ding Gan Lu has been rated as one of the finest teas in China and it is mostly a delicate floral light green tea with rich sharpness and depth.

From: Meng Ding Shan, Sichuan Province, China

LOOSE LEAF TEA

size

25g Pack

50g Caddy

250g Pack

1kg Pack

Select variant

Delivery Info

*We aim to dispatch all orders within 1-2 days of receiving your request. However, this can vary during peak times and other conditions outside of our control. Therefore, the below estimates of shipping times have been provided by our couriers.

UK Deliveries

Method	Cost	Carrier	Transit time
Standard	£2.50, Free - over £25	Royal Mail	2-5 days, up to 14*, Not Tracked
Tracked	£5.95	DPD	1-2 days, up to 5*, Tracked
Next-Working-Day	£9.95	DPD	Orders placed before 2pm, 1-2** days, Tracked
Saturday	£13.95	DPD	Orders placed before 2pm, Saturday delivery, Tracked

*Most deliveries will be made within the usual time frame, but some areas and services may experience delays.

European Deliveries

Currently, there are some delays with sending parcels to EU countries from the UK. This is due to the UK leaving the European Union. We will keep you updated with any notifications as they happen.

Please note that a tracking number is not provided for EU Standard deliveries.

CUSTOMS CHARGES: All commercial goods arriving from the UK are subject to VAT, Import Duty and a handling fee in the country receiving the goods.

Method	Cost	Carrier	Transit time
Standard	From £5.50	Royal Mail	3-7 days, up to 21*, Not Tracked (Offered for orders less than £50 only)
Economy	From £5.50	Royal Mail	3-7 days, up to 21*, Not Tracked (Offered for orders less than £50 only)
Tracked	From £15.95	Fedex	3-5 days, up to 8*, Tracked

*Most deliveries will be made within the usual time-frame, but some areas and services may experience delays.

Rest of the World

Method	Cost	Carrier	Transit time
Standard	From £4.00	Royal Mail	8-15 days, up to 30*, Not Tracked (Offered for orders less than £50 only)
USA tracked	From £15.00	Fedex	2-3 days, up to 7*, Tracked
ROW Tracked	From £18.95	Fedex	1-5 days, up to 5*, Tracked

*Most deliveries will be made within the usual time frame, but some areas and services may experience delays.

International Buyers (Including EU) – Please Note:

Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be before buying.

The origins of our Meng Ding Gan Lu Tea

Although not as widely known as some other white teas, this Chinese loose-leaf is rated as one of the finest teas of China with a smooth mouthfeel, delicate floral tones and complex fruity finish.

Our single-origin No. 77 Meng Ding comes from Tea Master Chen's ancient tea garden, situated amid the steep and rocky peaks of the misty Meng mountain in Meng Ding Shan, Sichuan Province, Central China. The elevation of the garden is between 800 - 1000m above sea level and, with a lesser amount of sun that is gently diffused through the mist, cooler weather and a high altitude allow the buds to grow steadily with little stress.

For Tea Master Chen, the art of tea making has been handed down through generations, and she has a wealth of knowledge that she shares amongst her family, who all work on the well-established tea bushes within the plantation.

For Master Chen's Gan Lu, the leaves are skillfully plucked by hand from the tea bushes only during the morning of early Spring (March). The result is a collection of the first young tender tea buds of the year, which have a beautiful green-yellow appearance, coated by white down.

Following the harvest, the Chen family gently hand-rolls each leaf before scenting the tea leaves with fragrant Orchid flowers and finally leaving the tea naturally dry.

Learn about this history of this special tea

The history of this special tea

Originating from the mountainous region of Meng Mountain, or Meng Ding, in Sichuan Province, China, this loose leaf tea has a history that dates as far back as 2000 years. Legend has it that Master Wu Lizhe planted and nurtured seven Traditional Sichuan cultivar tea bushes following his Tao beliefs instead of picking the leaves from the exceptionally rare wild tea bushes.

Following Master Wu Lizhe's death, Gan Lu tea became commonly known as Tea of The Immortals. Subsequently, during the Tang dynasty and Qing dynasty, Buddist monks took cuttings from the highly prized ceremonial tea to establish plants at each of the monasteries situated on the five peaks of the Meng mountain and gift to the emperor (Emperor Xiaozong) its tea leaves.

Ingredients

Pure Chinese white tea

Tasting notes

This tea offers an intensely spring flower aroma and light golden infusion. A delicate cup with complex depth of flavours such a ripe peach and papaya and orchid notes with lingering nectar sweet mouthfeel.

Region

Sichuan is a landlocked province located in Southwest China. It has two main areas known as Western Sichuan and Eastern Sichuan. In the West, which neighbours Tibet, the region is very mountainous and has an elevation between 3000 and 4000m above sea level.

Learn more about the Sichuan region of China

Eastern Sichuan is a lowland basin at a height between 240m and 600m above sea level, with mountains on all sides and four rivers carrying runoff from the peaks. The famous tea growing area, on Meng Ding mountain, is at the Easternmost part of Western Sichuan where the elevation is gradually increasing, with peaks at up to 1,500 meters.

The climate in Eastern Sichuan is temperate Humid Subtropical (CFA) and is consistently cloudy with a gentle breeze throughout the year. Seasons are, however, clearly defined, with very hot summers (14° C - 30°C) partnered with significant amounts of rainfall and high humidity (67%). This gradually tapers off into the winter months, which see little precipitation, much drier air, and much lower temperatures ranging from -2°C to 12°C. Finally, as spring arrives, it slowly becomes hotter, more wet and humid.

The Western part of the province, with its higher altitudes, experiences cold winters and mild summers, with the highest mountains classified as subarctic (DWC). Known as the Province of Abundance, Sichuan is a major provider of agricultural products. It is also home to China’s largest population of giant pandas, particularly in the Northern part of the Province, where bamboo grows in abundance.