Banzhang

This 2013 Banzhang Raw Pu-erh offers a formidable, bold character typical of its origin. Expect a powerful initial bitterness that swiftly transforms into a lingering, profound sweetness, accompanied . It leans strong, bitter and sweet.

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 2013 harvest.

Starts at $279.00 from King Tea Mall, or about $0.78/g. A 357g package gets you around 60 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $4.68 per session. Explore more dark teas on Teadar.