Sheng (RAW) Puer - 2022 Lao Ban Zhang Yellow Leaves

The Sheng Puer Brick was made from "yellow leaves" (or "Huang Pian" in Chinese) which were harvested in the first spring 2022.  For producing Puer Tea, normally the new shoot of tea consisting of 1 bud and 2 or 3 leaves are plucked.  After tea leaves being processed and dried, some tea leaves are too mature and large to be rolled are typically removed from the mao cha (mao cha means semi finished product) before pressing.  These matured leaves are called "yellow leaves" or "Huang Pian".  Although "Yellow leaves" are more mature and larger leaves with not so pretty appearance, they can be quite sweet and pleasant to drink, especially those that come from the old tea trees.  

Lao Ban Zhang (老班章) is the village that produces this tea.  Lao Ban Zhang Village is located in Bu Lang Mountain (布朗山) at Meng Hai county, Xishuang Banna, South West Yunnan.  The village is situated about 1700 to 1900 meters above sea level.  The earliest record on the village’s tea production can be traced back to 1476. Usually, the price for the tea (1 bud and 2 leaves without yellow leaves) from Lao Ban Zhang are extreme high. 

These Yellow Leaves bricks are very pleasant to drink, it has almost no bitter and astringency but not weak at all.  Since the tea is 1 year old, it has just started developing honey-like sweetness and lots of fruity notes.  The aroma is more like walking into an autumn forest, smell of leaves and dried bark of trees.  This tea is perfect to drink now but it will also age well developing more sweetness as the years pass.  

Origin: Ban Zhang Village, Bu Lang Mountain, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China

Harvest: April 2022

Tea leaves: only leaves were selected from Camellia Sinensis Assamica. Harvested and compressed in 2022.

How to Brew

Break off a small amount of tea from the cake by using Puer knife or a small knife insert the knife into the side of cake and then lift up. 

Using boiling water.  

For a normal way of brewing: using 2g leaves for 100ml of water, brewing for about 2-3 minutes. 

Gong Fu Tea Brewing: using 5g for 100ml water, brewing for 10 seconds for the first few brews, then increasing the brewing time to your taste. 

Make sure using boiling water to heat the teapot up first to ensure water temperature remaining as hot as possible while brewing, and rinsing the leaves with boiling water for about 10 seconds to allow the tea leaves to loosen up before the 1st brewing.