2008 Haiwan Lao Ban Zhang

Received a sample of this from a tea friend. Initial steeps were a bit funky and sour, but once that faded it gave way to a very pleasant brew. Tastes a bit of camphor and leather, but also lemon and dried herbs. Nice light honeyed sweetness. Also a bit of Belgian ale funky yeasty-ness. Very little bitterness, just a hint of astringency. This is a tasty tea, and the storage is excellent.

Oh hey, just realized I’ve passed 300 tasting notes!

After four different sessions over the months with this tea, I think I have it down…

Coming from Adventure in Every Cup at a great value this tea offers: a workout for your mouth, appreciation for cinnamon’s cousin, and a dark raw puerh to make you contemplate what teas could also turn out like this.

With no regards to power, qi, energy, or whatever else we want to call it, this tea is one that is a bit more harsh to drink as it has that spice/wood note to it that demands that you follow every 5-6 brews with some water so it isn’t like liquid sandpaper. The taste is very lingering, but only in such of the notes that it has; just like a good cigar will leave the specific notes that it has in your mouth for some time.

(that’s a word now, but with less Ss)

If this was available to buy I would say put it in your arsenal so when you need something different or you want to show off how raw puerh can vary a lot in texture, taste, aroma, stuff, other words, and some more jargon, this would be one to share.

Very Good Taste..

This is a nice semi aged tea. Thank you to the good tea friend who so generously gave me this sample. I was not in time to Wilson’s site to buy this. This is a nice smooth semi aged tea. There were little in the way of storage flavors in general. There were hints of leather and tobacco but not much. In it’s own way this developed a form of a sweet note. Not the sweet note of a young sheng, but the smoothness that comes when a tea is well aged. I am not sure what to call the predominant note of this tea. As to if this is real LBZ I don’t know. I do wish it was still for sale because if it was I would buy one. As to the theory that this tastes like old books, I don’t know. What do old books taste like. I don’t really know if I would use that phrase. I do know I got no wet storage flavors out of this despite that I think it was stored in Malaysia. There were little at all in the way of storage flavors interfering with the taste of this one.

I steeped this sixteen times in a 50ml gaiwan with 4.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, 2 min, 2.5 min, 3 min, 3.5 min, and 4 min. I stopped at sixteen because I figured it was enough caffeine for one day. I am also beginning to discover that I like young sheng better than semi aged sheng. This was one of the best semi aged sheng I have drank but I still prefer the 2014 tea I had yesterday if truth be told. I guess I just like young sheng better than semi aged sheng. I am not sure I have ever tasted a truly aged sheng, something more than 30 years old. The oldest I can recall was a 1999 from Yangqinghao. That was an excellent tea but even that probably doesn’t truly qualify as aged sheng. I would say to qualify as aged sheng in my book the tea needs to be at least 30 years old. Anything less is semi aged. Still this was one of the best semi aged sheng I have drank and I wish he had more for sale.

Ordered this tea from blogger Wilson’s new store adventureineverycup.com. He is selling off some of his rather sizable collection. He likes to travel from Singapore where he lives to China and other destinations to buy tea.

This tea arrived with a nice smell of light traditional storage on the wrapper, a sign of a more humid climate like Singapore. The cake is nicely browned. I broke off a generous amount of leaf, maybe 7g and brewed in a Novak mineral clay teapot. I cold rinsed the leaves and then two hot rinses which I probably didn’t need to do.

The initial nose is a whiff of Chinese medicine that goes away quickly and changes to that fabulous old book storage flavor which I love and am always looking for. Tippy buds. Thick, motor oil tea leaves a bit of char in the strainer. The brew is very brownish red which makes the tea look like it has aged already.

But make no mistake, this tea is nowhere near aged. This tea is tongue curdling, ass puckering bitter. My eyes are watering and my hemorrhoids went up into my throat. Lively in the mouth is an understatement. The returning sweetness is almost because the tongue runs and hides and has nowhere left to go. I’m sweating like a pig in a mire on a hot summer’s day, and my scalp is coming off the top of my head. Straight up Menghai profile, cool in the throat with camphor and my mouth swallowed an unripe lemon. Omg wow…

This tea is one powerful son of a gun, and if you bought this, contact me and I’ll buy it right off you. Wish I’d bought more. I don’t care if it real LBZ or not. This tea is kicking me up left and sideways, and tongue rape in the afternoon tea saloon is just fine by me. Hell yeah. This is why I drink sheng. Still flash steeps at eight.

Points are 70+15 for Wilson’s fine storage and another 10 on the tea for what it is, whatever it is. Plus one for kicking Cwyn’s arse.