See A felicific life for more details on our visit here.
Exceptionally clean processing and fresh, pure taste with a healthy bitterness (ku wei) that transforms quickly into a long huigan. This area is right beside Lao Banzhang (a few km (<4km)) and often illicitly sold in Lao Banzhang village, so for those of you familiar with this area, you can expect something similar.
The cake is composed of 100% old tree material from trees around 3-400 years old & entirely hand processed. The leaves are slightly smaller this year due to the dry weather conditions, but display very good flavour.
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2010 Banpen Review by Sebastien
This light compressed cake really shows a feeling of quality : quality of making, of the source material... This may be due to the half-size portion, but this mini cake seems friendly. Its smell is pleasant, and there is a big proportion of buds. The surface of the cake doesn't seem to be uniform.
Rinsed and brewed, the tea gives a beautiful golden liquor : complex and persistent aromas, accompanied by a strong but pleasant bitterness, long tasting. In short, all the qualities that we expect in a puerh (very) young are combined in this cake.
The flavors in the mouth are delivered in the early first sips and the liquor has a strong presence on the tongue and palate. The only critic maybe : a tiny "aggressive" side (not in bitterness, but in how it is issued). Anyway, a very good puerh for my taste. (Posted on 26/11/2011) -
A nice suprise Review by Norbert
Despite the fact that there are reviews putting this puerh to the "overpriced" category I think it worth the money and I was nicely surprised after my first session. The tea is full and active with enough not disturbing kuwei. The qi is uplifting. I noticed cooling sensation and some minty aftertaste. This tea showed me how important is to taste a tea on my own, and not let the others to do my opinion :). I am curious how this tea will change in the future. (Posted on 10/11/2011)
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good Review by DBJ
I thought this cake had some things going on for it but nothing really made it stand out to me to make it value wise worth the price increase. I understand that its probably because of its proximity to LBZ that bumps up the maocha price. There is plenty of kuwei and qi which may make this cake a good bet for aging. 9 (Posted on 13/10/2011)
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Interesting Review by RC
This tea is rather sweet at first and really coats the mouth. It is this sensation of coating the mouth and being able to taste it for a long time after drinking it that reminds me somewhat of a Lao Ban Zhang tea. This is the hui gan or aftertaste that is sought after by puerh drinkers. There is also a bitterness that makes one's mouth water - particularly at the back of the tongue.
This tea is rather durable and gives a pleasant qi. I think this tea is pretty good value for the price since a true LBZ would cost 4 or 5 times as much! (Posted on 13/09/2011) -
Excellent Subtle Complex Cake Review by M
I wish I had a tong of this cake - I have been devouring this one.
Lovely thick straw-coloured soup. Good complexity with mineral mouthfeel and long lasting in the throat.
Cha Qi - as with all EofT cakes.. subtle, calming, penetrating.
"Our time in the world is so short,
better to avoid regret:
Miss no opportunity to savor the ineffable."
Loy Ching-Yuen
(Posted on 02/09/2011) -
good but slightly overpriced Review by edp
I've bought a tong +1 of this tea for later consumption.
I was interesting in having Banpen tea since I've tried some in 2009 in China and this gives a tea closed to Banzhang without having a huge price.
The tea is good also for its price, have a good and plenty qi and long aftertaste, but I've tried some at lower price with better qualities. Perhaps in the future it will reveals more qualities, but now I am not fully satisfied.
Mark: 2/5
(Posted on 24/08/2011)