A novice asked Sifu Lao Cha: – Sifu, what is that "aggressiveness" that people always mention when they speak of pu-erh from Lao Ban Zhang?
Lao Cha nodded: – What you call "aggressiveness" is 霸气 – Ba Qi. Some teas are polite. They arrive quietly, speak softly, and leave without a fuss. A tea with Ba Qi does the opposite. It comes in with weight. First bitterness, clean and direct. Then, before you have time to complain, sweetness rises back from the throat. Your mouth salivates. The liquor feels thick. The taste lingers for a long time after the tea is finished.
This sheng pu-erh tea comes from the core area of Ban Zhang – Lao Ban Zhang – one of the most famous tea villages in China, and one whose sheng puerh achieved legendary status. Real Lao Ban Zhang is not an everyday tea. It comes from a small, highly regarded area, and authentic material from there has become both scarce, expensive, and heavily imitated.
Lao Ban Zhang is one of the benchmark villages of sheng pu-erh and is the most famous name in the Ban Zhang area. What made it legendary is its Ba Qi (霸气) – thick mouthfeel, strong bitterness (苦 – Ku), rapid returning sweetness (回甘 – Hui Gan) that comes with salivation, and long-lasting finish.
The bitterness does not sit on the tongue and grind. It rises, resolves quickly, and turns into sweetness and salivation. That is very different from coarse bitterness that simply stays bitter. The fast bitter-to-sweet transition, combined with its thick texture and strong Cha Qi, defines LBZ. Good Lao Ban Zhang is known for leaving a strong, lasting impression rather than a delicate one.
The leaf for this tea is 100% from the core Lao Ban Zhang tea garden (that we have personally visited), picked in April 2024, using a traditional standard of one bud with two leaves and one bud with three leaves. The cultivar is the local Menghai Lao Ban Zhang large-leaf tea variety (勐海老班章大叶种茶).
Another aspect that makes tea special is the way it is processed and stored. Instead of being pressed into cakes, the steamed tea leaves are packed into sections of bamboo. The process is not so simple: the bamboo is cut, divided, roasted, filled with steamed tea, compacted, and then roasted again to remove moisture from inside the bamboo. This is a traditional method used by local ethnic communities in Yunnan. It’s practical, and it changes the tea in a very specific way. The compression helps hold aroma, while the bamboo itself lends a certain sweetness to the tea. Over time, the fragrance of the leaf and the fragrance of the bamboo settle into each other.
This tea comes to us from the Wang family, who are of Hani descent. Before the Hani people settled in Ban Zhang a few hundred years ago, the area had been home to Pu – the ancestors of the Bulang people. The ancient tea forest was already there. When the Pu tribes left, they left behind that old tea forest, and the Hani people took over — caring for the trees, picking the leaves, and making tea, generation after generation.
• Place of Origin: Lao Ban Zhang Village, Bulangshan, Menghai County, Yunnan, China
• Altitude: 1700-1800m
• Harvest Time: April 2024
• Picking Standard: one bud with two to three leaves
• Aroma: Toasted rye bread, Nutella
• Taste: Bright, fruity, notes of quince, apricots, and cocoa
• Tea Tree: Menghai Lao Ban Zhang large-leaf tea variety (勐海老班章大叶种茶)
Brewing guidelines:
-
212℉ / 100℃
-
1g per 70-100ml
3-5min -
1g per 20ml10sec + 5sec for each subsequent infusion