Spring 2026 Lao Banzhang Single Trees

It's been ten years since we started Farmerleaf. 

There is a common saying in Yunnan:

-"Why is this tea so expensive?"

-"Because it tastes good!"

-"Why does it taste good?"

-"Because it's expensive!"

After ten years, we could put that saying to the test. 

Da Fa, our long time friend from Nannuo Shan, goes to Lao Ban Zhang every year to make tea for his customers. He brings his own team of pickers and selects each trees that will be harvested, according to his experience of the taste. 

There is a lot of tea in Lao Banzhang, and few people to trust, the leaves are just too valuable for that. A lot of eager tea buyers end up disappointed with what they get. When you pry open a cake labelled "Lao Banzhang", you'll likely be disappointed. And yet, the best Puerh teas I've had in my life cake from that mighty village. 

Good Lao Banzhang tea just has everything: complex floral fragrance, mouth coating viscosity, very active on the gums, moderate vanishing bitterness, very deep Huigan and powerful Cha Qi. 

Unlike all the other extremely expensive luxury teas, Lao Banzhang has a lot of tea gardens, and a lot of good competition around. It is the central village of that wonderful Southern Menghai area where all great tea grows. There is a reason why this tea is more expensive than the villages around, and it is not hype, because Lao Banzhang was identified early on as an excellent terroir. 

The only drawback to trying this tea is once've had it, it will take some time to get your tastebuds back to a pedestrian level of appreciation; others teas will pale in comparison, at least in the Menghai area.