Spring Bulang

This aged raw Pu-erh offers a strong sweet aroma and a remarkably thick tea soup. It carries a subtle hint of smoke, balanced by an initial bitterness that quickly transforms into a refreshing, linger. It leans sweet, earthy and smoky.

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 Assamica cultivar. This batch is from the Spring 2000 harvest.

Starts at $9.25 from Yunnan Sourcing, or about $0.60/g. A 10g package gets you around 2 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $3.60 per session. Compare dark prices across vendors on Teadar.