Lao Banzhang ’03

Name: Lao Banzhang
Year: 2003
Weight: chunks (from a 1 kg cake/bing)

Details:
Deep dark oldish scent of the warm leaves in the teapot, the first brew is round and soft with bitter edge and after while a distict aftertaste returns, the aroma of the second brew hits my nostrils, this is something unique, the wet leaves are like an old cupboard opened after a decade, a natural, wooden scent of old and used furniture, the third brew gets thick and dark, it is so rich and energizing that head is like getting decentered, the uniuqe earthy, irony flavour stays on the tongue, the Cha Qi is strong and flows through the veins, not only the strong taste but this ‘waking up’ all the cells is quite extraordinary, this tea starts with 2 almost 3 undifferent brews and then starts to go up the ladder, be carefull as it goes very high

The oldest of 3 Lao Banzhang 1 kg series, (there are 2003, 2005 and 2006). It is already more than 20 years ago which is a pretty rare gushu from that era that just started with single origin (terroir) old tea trees bings pressings.

This tea comes from 1 kg cake made by Liming tea factory, subbranch called Ba Jiao Ting, it is the logo with the eight square pagoda like tower. In the moment only a loose ‘dismantled’ chunks are available. The cake is pretty expensive still can be order on request. The cakes contains also pang xie (螃蟹) so called crabs feet which is a perennial herb. They say it helps ‘to clean the blood and to get meridians opened’.