"Alex Chaihorsky" writes:

Mini Menghai Beencha 1999 - all that I expected and a promise of
more. I do not have yet the point of reference - too many too
complex things that have not yet sort themselves out. I feel like
I opened a math text on a subject I have no special knowledge
of.. Like topology, for example. But it is interesting and
intriguing and demands attention and work of mind.

Well said, to be sure. I love it. It's complexity enthrawled me. I'm
ordering some today. Wonder if it would be a good saver tea. That's the
impresion it gives me.

If I am right, the word "menghai" is a geographical location.

Yes. It's the location of a Puerh factory. I think this factory has
produced much (most?) of the Puerh grown in Xishuangbanna (the
canonical area for growing the leaf) west of the Mekong. Mike Petro
will probably correct me if I'm wrong.

The "Gold bud" tea also has "Minghai" on its wrapper and I start to
wonder if all these westernized tea names are just "marketing
names. That would be a warning for us not to buy a tea without
seeing the pic of its wrapper.

You have a point there, but isn't the wrapper yet another marketing
tool, just with a different intended audience?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html