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Mengku

2006 Fall Lao Ban Zhang

Promotional text from Yunnan Sourcing:

"Members of the Mengku Tea Factory made an expedition to remote area near Banzhang mountain to obtain the leaves for these cakes. The leavesare from trees 400 to 500 years old that were heavily cut during the Cultural Revolution. The trunk is still intact and in the 35 yearssince the trees have continued to grow and produce excellent qualityPu-erh with that special Banzhang taste and penetrating perfume-like aroma. When brewed is golden yellow and takes 15 or more infusions,each infusion with it's own taste and gradually less bitter and ineffably sweet.

The cakes are made from the highest grade Ban Zhang raw material andare entirely Fall 2006 production. The price of premium Ban Zhang raw material has surpassed other tea mountains, because it is the mostsought after. Many producers use just 10% to 20% Ban Zhang material to give their blended cakes enough "oomph" to make them taste good.A little more background.  I have known these sellers since 2005.  They were one of the earliest distributors of Shuangjiang Mengku tea in Kunming and were my suppliers for Mengkuproducts in 2005 and 2006.  The Lao Ban Zhang teas were something thatthey did themselves as a side-project.  Since they did not identify their teas, I just started calling the teas "Mengku Lao Ban Zhang". They started sourcing teas from this area of Ban Zhang in 2003, againin 2005.  In 2007, they produced a Lao Ban Zhang tea of spring material and used the "Chun Jian" style wrapper of Shuangjiang Mengku but instead of"chun jian" written on the wrapper, it was written "Lao Ban Zhang". This wrapper was produced in very limited quantities and was sold entirely to "Bank of China - Yunnan Branch" for gifting purposes.

This years harvest has a sweet rounded taste but there is a heavy stimulating feeling after drinking it!  You might want to have a sitdown after drinking a round of this "cha qi" rich tea!"