200g cake of Spring 2015 raw/sheng ancient tea tree puer tea from a tea garden above Ban Po Lao Zhai on Nan Nuo Shan.

I recently realised I still have a few tongs of this tea in storage. The tea comes from a tea garden on a ridge above Ban Po Lao Zhai on Nan Nuo Shan.

The tea has been remarkably consistent over the last 10 years. Each year as a new tea it's quite bullish with some distinct bitterness and astringency, but still well balanced with some nice floral fragrance and decent sweetness.

Tasting in early 2026:

At ten years the tea now has a leather-woody fragrance with some floral notes. The tang gan is smooth and oily but with some granular texture. It still has some obvious astringency and bitterness, but it's still a balanced tea. It has some sheng jin and some nice hou yun with some floral-fruity fragrance and a little cooling.

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

Please be aware that because raw Puer tea is a 'post-fermented' tea it is in a process of continual change: as it ages, but also from season to season and even day to day, so the description here is a snapshot of the tea's quality and character, which should not differ significantly, but which none-the-less can change.