2004 Banzhang Raw Puer Tea Tasting (24/07/2020)

Today, I treated myself with some luxury tea that I received a few years ago. It was from my Buddhist teacher who is also passionate about tea and tea culture. The tea is a well-aged raw puer tea from 2004 from Banzhang village in Yunnan Province. Banzhang has been famous for its ancient tea trees deep in their beautiful forests as well as the most exquisite and finest flavours of the tea. So it is always a special treat to open the slowly getting old wrapping paper, break off a little bit of the tea and have an amazing experience. 

The tea cake is not green anymore. The darker brown colour shows its maturity. Today I used 4 grams of the tea to get a decent session. So below are my notes for the session. 

Tea wares

 A blue & white gaiwan, 

 A glass serving jug, 

 Three Jun porcelain teacups

  – a red Jun porcelain teacup, 

  – a vintage Jun porcelain teacup from the ’80s 

  – and a Jun porcelain tight waist teacup. 

 A glass kettle on the stove is to boil water. 

Details of the tea 

 Dry tea leaf: dark, long and brown tea leaves. It doesn’t smell much with a woody note

Dry tea leaf in heated Gaiwan: Woody smell gets stronger with a noticeable honey smell underneath. 

Wet tea leaf after rinsing: woody smell becomes soft and sweet with a date note. The aroma seems to expand. 

Infusions

The 1st one: 

brewing time: 7 seconds

Colour of the tea soup: golden colour.

Taste of the tea: still a bit light, but sweet and smooth

The leaf smells sweet from the Gaiwan

The three cups give similar experience in this infusion at the beginning. But after a short period, the ’80s teacup has more honey sweetness than other ones. The red cup cools down very slowly. I feel nice in my dry throat. After swallowing the tea, there is a lovely gentle floral after taste in my mouth. 

The 2nd infusion:

brewing time: 7 seconds

Colour of the tea soup: golden colour, but a little darker. 

The infusion is stronger than the first one. It is very sweet with a dry wood taste which stays quite long. There is a plum aftertaste. Although the taste is light, it has a very strong Qi from this round which warms me up. The ’80s teacup seems to win this round again with its sweetness and woodiness. The tight waist one is close, followed by the red cup which cools down slowly. 

The 3rd infusion:

brewing time: 7 seconds

Colour of the tea soup: golden colour as the 2nd round. 

For this infusion, I paid more attention to the serving jug. It gives you some interesting changes within a short time, from a strong date sweetness to a gentle honey sweetness then slowly disappears. In the tight waist teacup, it has a woody aroma. The Qi of the tea is still very strong, maybe getting stronger. 

The 4th infusion to 7th infusion

Brewing time

4th infusion: 10 seconds

5th infusion: 10 seconds

6th infusion: 15 seconds

7th infusion: 15 seconds

For these 4 infusions, the tea doesn’t seem to change much. It is still smooth with a soft taste but very strong Chaqi. It’s very moisturizing, sweet and smooth with a plum aftertaste. The leaf smells like dates. 

The 8th to 10 infusion

Brewing time 

8th infusion: 20 seconds

9th infusion: 30 seconds

10th infusion: 30 seconds

The tea seems to stay in the same taste for a long time. It doesn’t change much. So I stopped the session after the 10th infusion. Because of its strong Chaqi, I feel it’s time to take a break. I know the tea can keep going. So I will save it for later. The tea at this point is completely opened and soaked. You can see how strong and fresh the leaves are. Even after 10 infusions, the leaves still smell like the first infusion. 

Conclusion

I always enjoy this Banzhang Raw Puer tea. It reminds me that ageing is beautiful. In general, the tea is very sweet with a woody note. The aroma changes a lot. Although the taste is quite gentle and soft, the Chaqi is very strong. Trying the tea with 3 cups at the same time is an interesting experience. The tight waist gives you the best result for this tea, followed by the ’80s teacup. The red teacup is good for winter because it cools down slowly. 

We have some lovely puer tea in our store. If you would like to try some of them, please visit https://www.augustmoontea.com/shop/tea/puer-tea/.