TSNG073 - Laobanpen Shengcha 2023

Product detailed description

Delicious sheng puer from Laobanpen (老班盆) at Bulang Tea Mountain (布朗山). Tea was harvested in Spring 2023 and compressed in Winter 2023. Laobanpen village is located approximately 3 km from Laobanzhang village (老班章) in Menghai County (勐海县) and it is the home ff mountainous tribe of Lahu (拉祜族). The tea leaves come from mix of ancient and mature tea trees (huncai 混采), which were collected across Laobanpen tea gardens at the elevation between 1600-1750 m.a.s.l. The cover has minimalistic design with Chinese characters (Laobanpen 老班盆) and short description regarding of the history, geography and taste profile of this tea.

The tea was generously provided by Huang Zhiwei, tea farmer and producer born in Laobanzhang village (family No. 007), one of the most famous and wealthiest tea villages in Xishuangbanna. Huang comes from Hani tribe (哈尼族) and his family owns several tea gardens across Banzhang micro-region. During our work trip to Xishuangbanna at the beginning of 2025,  we spend a lot of time by exploring his tea gardens nearby Laobanzhang village, tasting his teas from recent harvests and discussing the ongoing development of Laobanzhang village in the last 20 years.

Aroma:

• Wet + dry leaf (Shicha 湿茶 + Gancha 干茶) - sweet honey scent with flower tones
• Cup aroma imprint (Guabeixiang 挂杯香) - woody and musky undertones

Color:

• Initial phase (< 5 infusions) - transparent yellow-ember shades
• Development phase (> 5 infusions) - brighter golden-honey shades
  

Taste:

• Initial phase (< 5 infusions) - raw fruit (pomegranate, peaches, quince and pears) and flower nectar (sugar cane, orchids and kapok - so-called Mumianhua 木棉花) with tones of rare wood and sweet musk
• Advanced phase (> 5 infusions) - sweet tobacco leaves with tones of forest honey
  

Body: 

• Thickness (Naipao 耐泡) - solid vitality, which will allow you to make more infusions
• Texture (Chunhounongyu 醇厚浓郁) - rought, but very delicate layers
• Astringency (Se 涩) - little astringent typical for recent harvests (2025-2020), yet, pleasant and necessary for long-term storage
• Character (Kutianjiaozhi 苦甜交织) - similarly like other teas from Banzhang, this tea has dinstinctive bitter-sweet taste (typical for Bulang Tea Mountain), which level up the sweeteness and highlight differences between layers of taste, particularly those regarding the flower nectar and sweet musk typical for this micro-region
• Balance (Zonghe pinghengdu 综合平衡度) - differences between particular layers of flavours are gradual and symmetrical (i.e. no suprise changes in between the infusions)

Aftertaste:

• Sweetness (Huigan 回甘) - strong and intense sweeteness within hours
• Mouthful feeling (Shengjin 生津) - intense mouth-water-feeling within hours
• Energy feeling (Nenglianggan 能量感) - noticable refreshing, cooling and boosting effect within hours