Banzhang

This 2012 Banzhang raw Pu-erh tea cake offers a powerful and robust profile characteristic of its terroir. Expect a pronounced initial bitterness that quickly transforms into a rich, lingering sweetne. It leans bold, bitter-sweet and enduring.

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 from the Old Arbor cultivar. This batch is from the 2012 harvest.

Starts at $9.99 from King Tea Mall, or about $1.12/g. A 7g package gets you around 1 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $6.72 per session. Explore more dark teas on Teadar.