Banzhang

This venerable 2007 raw Pu-erh from Ban Zhang presents an initial commanding bitterness and astringency, characteristic of its robust origins. With each sip, this intensity gracefully evolves into a s. It leans bold, smooth and vigorous.

Water around 95–100 °C (203–212 °F). In a mug, steep 3–5 min. For gongfu, use 5–7 g per 100 ml, 10–20 s steeps (10–20+ rounds). You'll get to see how the flavor changes across multiple rounds. Rinse the leaves once with boiling water before your first real steep. It cleans off storage dust and gets the flavor going.

Grown in Yunnan, China. This batch is from the 2007 harvest.

Starts at $2.99 from King Tea Mall, or about $0.11/g. A 7g package gets you around 1 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $0.66 per session. Explore more dark teas on Teadar.