200g cake of Spring 2021 raw/sheng ancient tea tree puer from the same tea garden and processed in the same way as previous years.

As with earlier years 2021 Ban Po felt a little aggressive just after it had been made but after keeping the 'mao cha' for at least six months, it mellowed and rounded out. It was pressed in the autumn of '22. It now (in autumn 2022) has some decent thickness and nice aromas. The wet leaves have a buttery herbal-resinous aroma and the 'gong dao bei' gives off some fairly dense butterscotch-toffee-like aromas as it cools down. The broth has some distinct savoury-tobacco notes. It has a distinct bitterness and some astringency, but neither lasts long. The 'sheng jin' is good and the tea has a decent 'hui gan'. There are also some retro-olfactory flower notes underpinned with a faint lingering bitter-sweet.

The tea gardens are on a ridge between Duo Yi Zhai, Ban Po Lao Zhai and Shi Tou Zhai at an elevation of a little over 1800 meters.

Unless stated otherwise, all my Puer teas are hand picked, fired and rolled. They are then sun dried. Cakes are stone pressed.

Please be aware that raw Puer tea is a 'post fermented' tea, in a continual process of change - over time, with the seasons, and the weather, as it oxidised and ferments - so descriptions of teas (and the accompanying photos) are a snapshot of a certain moment in time. I try to make sure descriptions are simple yet accurate and give a feel for how the tea was experienced at the time of tasting.