Bulang

This raw Pu-erh offers a potent and robust character, presenting with a pronounced bitterness that gives way to a lingering, sweet aftertaste. Its thick, lip-smacking body provides a substantial mouth. It leans robust, 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 2005 harvest.

Starts at $11.00 from Yunnan Sourcing, or about $0.29/g. A 25g package gets you around 4 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $1.74 per session. Compare dark prices across vendors on Teadar.