A tale of two ban zhangs

I'm having fun pulling teas from the cabinet that I haven't tasted in a long time, checking on them to see how they're changing and evolving. It just so happened I randomly pulled a couple of similarly aged ban zhang teas to try this morning. One of these days I'll have to pull out all the ban zhang cakes for a full-on "Battle of the Ban Zhangs", but this morning it's just these two fellas. 

2010 Douji Ban Zhang “Pure Series”

In 2013 this Douji Ban Zhang was still plenty green in aroma. Most of my notes talk about the thickness of the soup, good energy in the mouth and some very mild huigan. By 2016 the aroma was developing more savory characteristics. One note says “earthy, not sweet, not woody”. I was still finding the soup to be of good thickness, coating the mouth well. I noted a mild bitterness, “mildly active in the mouth and throat, mild warming in the chest but not much else going on.”

This morning I revisited this one again. The aromas have definitely settled into the savory realm. My first reaction was salty butterscotch but without any sweetness to it. At times it would come across as a buttery scent, moving eventually to roasted mushrooms. The soup is still nicely thick. All throughout the session there was a persistent bitterness to the taste, but it was a mild, enjoyable bitterness and not off-putting. Nothing like the rough bitterness you sometimes get with young puerh. The tea is still mainly active in the mouth although it concentrates mostly at the center of the tongue. As the session wore on the energy of this tea spread a bit to the upper chest, but was mostly concentrated in the mouth. I kept hoping for some huigan with all that mild bitterness going on but really didn’t get much. Maybe just a smidgen, again concentrated mostly on the center of the tongue. I felt little-to-no qi with this tea. 

2011 Hai Lang Hao Lao Ban Zhang Gu Shu

In 2013 I found this tea to have good strength of aroma although still very green, and a very strong qi. I didn’t elaborate much more in my notes. 

This morning the aroma still has good strength to it. Like the Douji above, it’s a savory and not a sweet aroma. I often struggle to describe savory scents, often using language like “salty caramel but not sweet” or “butterscotch without the sweetness”. The tea soup is thick to the point of syrupy. I’m even surprised to see how it pours out over my tea tray, flowing in a syrupy way. It coats the mouth and throat so nicely. I get no bitterness in the taste, not even when I purposely push the steep. Still, this tea is very active and energetic not just in the mouth but spreading through the whole body. As the session continues its pulling both salivation in the mouth and perspiration throughout the body, with a menthol-like airiness in the throat and mouth. The qi is strong but diffuse and not concentrated or focused. There’s a little huigan going on but not a lot.