2020 Puerist Ban Po Lao Zhai: Sweet and Powerful

I’m a fan of the Ban Po Lao Zhai productions at Puerist.  So I was happy to find this complimentary sample in my last order from Purist.  The one I got was this2020 Puerist Ban Po Lao Zhai goes for approx.$99.00 for 200g cake or $0.50/g…

Dry leaves smell of sweet grapes.  There is almost a fresh sea breeze odour to them that reminds me of being on a beach on the ocean…kind of different for a Ban Po Lao Zhai …smells very fresh.

First infusion has a creamy very sweet creamy, almost ice cream sweetness that has edges of berries and wood very soft thicker silky texture in the mouth.  Nice saliva producing effect.  Long creamery sweet taste throughout the start to the finish.  Nice very thick creamy oily mouthfeeling.  The oily texture is excellent here.  Faint pungent cool taste brings out long sweet finish.  The taste is really satisfying here.

The second infusion has a cherry and grain kind of soapy grapes onset with a long pungent woody cool finish.  The mouthfeel is now a chalky almost sticky lips tightness.  It is felt in the mid-throat kind of stimulating it and drying it.  Nice oily chalky texture.  Lots of saliva producing mouthwatering effect.  So tasty with a very enlivening Qi and uplifting feeling with a gentle bodyfeeling with some face and hand tingling.  Taste, aroma, mouthfeeling, Qi are all quite nice.

Third is a mild quick moving bitter that turns to a woody cherry very creamy sweetness with a bit of astringency here.  The Qi is starting to slow the mind down, kind of floating feeling in the body.  There is still a woody menthol creamy finish on the breath.  Cherries also return with woody and astringency is noted in the finish.  Strong Qi in this one.  Astringency is enough to make my empty stomach cringe.

Fourth has a quick bitter that pops into a creamy sweet cherry berry sweetness.  There is some woody taste and some cooling pungent in the mid-throat.  A bit of saliva retuning.  Very sweet tasting overall with a bitter/astringency that makes it pop.  The mouthfeeling is a bit puckering.  Qi is enlivening in the mind.

5^th has a juicy fruity sweet vibrant pop of thick white grapes and cherries flavor that fades into a cooling pungent woody sweetness.  These infusion have lots of sweet vibrancy.  Very juicy and oily in the mouth.  Thick viscous feeling with a nice returning sweetness. 

6^th has a cherry very sweet pop of taste with a very mild bitter astringency- more astringency than bitter.  The sweet fruity cherry tart taste rides into the aftertaste with a bit of creamy sweetness underneath.  Nice bready creamy woody but mainly just this long vibrant tart sweetness.  Fruity and creamy and full feeling.  The mouthfeeling is puckering with a bit of returning saliva.  Qi is enlivening and uplifting without being strong.

7^th has juicy pop of tart cherries and white grapes flavours.  There is a puckering mouthfeeling with some creamy sweet, bread sweet, dry woody and cooling mid-throat.   A bit of saliva retuning and a good feeling overall.  Nice upbeat Qi.

The 8^th has a nice sunny juicy white grapes taste to it with a faint bitter/astringency that emerges without impeding the flow of sweetness in the mouth and into the saliva.  It kind of finishes chalky in the mouth.  The mouthfeeling is chalkier than puckering now.  The Qi has a mellowing effect on the mind.  I can feel some face tingling.

9^th has a soapy grape almost floral creamy sweet onset with a slight tart astringency.  The bitterness carries a soapy woody mineral finish to it.  The infusions are primarily very sweet with notable astringency which producing a nice saliva effect and there is also faint cooling now in the mid-throat and a soapy chalk aftertaste.

10^th has lots of juicy fruity almost tart but creamy sweet soapy tastes and ends in a woody bland mineral taste with a faint distant floral.  The moutnfeeling is drier pucker and the infusion has lost its oily texture and saliva producing. 

11^th has a quickly fleeting fruit sweetness that is taken by the dirt-wood bitterness that finishes in the aftertaste as coco.  A dry sticky pucker mouthfeeling remains.  The Qi is really mellowing now a bit hypnotic maybe.

12^th infusion is more tart and bitter astringent with a woody mineral bitter dirt taste primarily.  The mouthfeel is a full drying pucker but with no oily texture anymore or returning saliva this is feeling shallow.  Still relaxing mellowing Qi.

Mug steeping… is pretty bitter and astringent with a bit of sweetness wood and vegetal taste.  The bitter astringency dominates these late infusions.

This puerh is powerful enough that you can under leaf it and still get very nice results.  Today I’m drinking the remainder of the sample and it still comes through well.  The first handful of infusions are especially delicious.  There is a bit of power behind this one which will help it age nicely too.  I still prefer the 2013 and 2015 (also Tea Encounter’s 2015) over this one though.  This one tastes awfully young still.

Peace