2006 Lao Man Er Banzhang Peacock: Clear LaoManE Qi!

I really gradually warmed up to and ended up really enjoying the unusual complexity of this 2004 NanQiao Bulang King previously offered by TeasWeLike.  It was enough for me to reorder if that says anything?  I believe it was probably the best cheapest cake they have offered so far.  But the storage gives off some pretty unique kind of tastes for sure.  So, naturally, I was quite excited to try this 2006 Green Peacock LaoMan’E for $148.00 for 357 g cake which promises to be a similar but different experience…

Dry leaves smell of faint woody dry leaf subtle pond common puerh factory smell.

The first infusion has a pond, leaf, and almost melon edge.  It is surprisingly not smoky nor is it bitter.  It just has a subtle melon sweet edge over a very clean pond marshland taste.  There is a bit of deeper throat cooling and a soft sandy faint mouthcoating.  The aftertaste is a creamy sweet melon fallen autumn leaf.  It leaves a nice mouthwatering over the tongue.  Nice cozy warming Qi in the body that flushes the face.

The second infusion has a subtle sweet melon taste with a fallen leaf base taste the aftertaste has a maple sugar and demerara sugar finish.  There is a faint bitterness here throughout but enough to make my Stomach rumble.  The profile is really clean and clear with a dry fallen leaf base and a complicated changing sweetness that goes from a fresher melon initial tastes to more of a toasted brown sugar finish.  There is a nice deep coolness and finish, and oily texture over a soft sticky faint sandy tongue.  Lots of saliva gobs in the mouth.  Nice warming Qi in the body.

The third infusion has a fallen leaf sweet melon initial taste with a moderate bitterness and brown sugar subtle sweet finish.  The bitterness is moderate with a bitter-astringency that is not so much tasted as felt in the Stomach and body.  The cooled down cup is refreshing melon very fresh taste nuances.  Nice mouthwatering and cool throat.

The fourth infusion has a fallen leaf with very subtle splash of fresh melon taste.  There is a deep cool throat and a retuning melon aftertaste.  The original freshness of this Lao Man E is definitely still here but so is obvious dry aging notes of dry leaf.  The Qi is warming and comforting in the body and mind.  Nice flat subtle mouthfeeling with returning saliva watering effect.

The fifth infusion is left to cool and is still a bitter fallen leaf with more sweet complexity in the aftertaste along with a stable long coolness in the aftertaste.  There is a melon taste under fallen leaf even some bread notes.  Nice flat mild dry tongue with an oily back of mouth feeling.

The sixth is a mild bitterness over a bready sweet melon and fallen leaf base taste.  The flavours are really clear and pure.  Nice warming energy.  The cooling throat. 

The seventh is bitterer with a more woody fallen leaf, bread with flat tongue coating and returning bread sweetness.  Not as much saliva, or cooling. Nice warming focusing cozy Qi.

The 8^th has a nice woody incense onset that returns as a nice sweet long honeydew melon taste.  There is a very nice long sweet melon fresh taste in here, the bitterness and astringency is pretty much gone.

The 9^th has a nice cool sweet melon with the base leaf taste becoming much less, bitter is very faint, and there is a nice rich bread sweetness as well, some woody, almost incense tastes. Nice focusing and warming Qi.  Some faint bodyfeelngs in the diaphragm.  Nice to drink, feels good.

The 10^th has a nice factory woodiness or “resin” to it that is very familiar to me, a bit of incense, a flat tongue, not much saliva producing or much aftertaste.  A bit of woody cool melon and incense.  Nice warming and comforting Qi.

11^th is a smooth woody incense resin like taste not much else nice clear storage note with a factory resin finish a very mild bitterness and nice flat almost dry tongue and some throat cooling.

12^th I mug steep out the rest…

Overall, the storage is real nice preserving that classic melon or honeydew melon rind Lao Man E taste with still a bit of bitter edge that makes Lao Man E famous.  Its at the right maturation to enjoy a bit of both worlds here.  This one has a bit more astringency to it than I’m used to from Lao Man E also makes it on the edge of being enjoyed now with some sessions being a bit harsh on the Stomach and others perfectly fine.  The nice warm Qi in there make it still enjoyable especially as the astringency seems to recede after the 5^th infusion.  A beautiful compromise in keeping the integrity of Lao Man E.  This cake feels more like a gushu type tea than a factory type tea and some of my modern gushu produced puerh shares some of these nuances minus the astringency. Really it’s kind of between both worlds which makes it a bit interesting to me.

I ended up drinking this cake a few times last summer particularly for its Qi which can be a strong focused Euphoric happy feeling.  This is the Qi of good quality LaoMan Er, in my experience and this puerh has it.  I enjoyed it a lot for summer driving and travel.  I’m unsure if I will go for another cake?

Vs.2004 Nanqiao Bulang King- is more complex and powerful but and not as harsh as the LaomanE but with similar storage nuances and complexity from that type of storage.  The LaoManE still has faint fruitier and fresher nuances with 2 more years of storage the 2004 Bulang king does not.

Vs. 2006 Lao Man Er factory big round cake… this is a pretty interesting comparison as the age and factory and even material will be similar but the processing and storage location and production quality differ.  The Big Round cake is a really loosely compressed cake of gushu-ish material that has a bit of charred or roughly processed material in there and mine is dry Kunming stored.  It has both a crude and harsher feel and taste as well as a more elegant milder presentation.  Not as obviously LaoManE in Qi and bitterness as well.  Much more mutted and muffled.  Doesn’t make me feel great overall but somehow there are glimpses of enjoyment especially the melon fruitiness.  TeasWeLike peacock is a much preferred option.

Macro’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Peace

Introducing Laomane Menghai Banzhang Factory: 2006 Laomane Menghai Banzhang Factory “Banzhang Wang” Banzhang Ancient Arbor and 2006 Laomane Menghai Banzhang Factory “Banzhang Wang” Laomane Ancient Arbour

Is there anyone out there reading this that has ever heard of Laomane Menghai Banzhang Factory? This factory has been around for a little while and is located in the puerh producing village of Laomane (aka Laomaner).  Location, location, location.  This factory has undoubtedly benefited from being located and by primarily pressing cakes from the Banzhang area.  Their selection of puerh includes lots from this trendy area.  It seems to include very factory/ plantation like productions as well as old arbour pressings from this area.  King Tea Mall has a wideselection to look at if anyone is interested.

I acquired these two cakes together in a recent order fromAwazon.  I paid $59.00 for 400g($0.15/gram) for the Banzhang and $21.95 for the 357g ($0.06/gram) Laomane.  A few days after ordering there was a big “Sold Out” marker on these two.

Let’s first try the 2006 LaomanE Menghai Factory “Banzhang Wang” Banzhang Ancient Arbour…

Large dry leaves have an airy soft and creamy floral smell to them with a very slight suggestion of smoke.

First, is a light slightly smokey, slightly creamy taste with nice soft mouthfeel in a sour soup.  The throat is opened but not overly activated by the liquor.  There are faint suggestions of cherry hidden in all of this.  This first infusion is a ghostly one.  The mouthfeel slowly layers itself on with each cup.  Very slight cherry tastes are left in the mouth along with barely floral suggestions.  The cha qi almost immediately sharpens the senses.

The second infusion has more vegetal notes as well as smoke in there.  The mouthfeel really stacks itself to the point where it is nicely thick.  It holds some tastes of barely sweet cherry and even more fleeting floral.  A very mild coolness develops in the throat.  There is a soft astringency and sourness that comes in as well.

The third infusion shows slights of slight, crisp juicy cherry tastes up front the slight smokiness is pushed to the middle and there is a faint fruity floral lingering in the breath.  The smokey taste is the dominant taste in this tea with the fruit and floral at the edges.  This infusion has a stronger perfume and fruity onset.

The cherry fruit and slightly floral taste slowly gains momentum in this tea.  In the fourth infusion it is more obvious still.  The cha qi is quite relaxing and focusing on the mind.  I can feel the energy gingerly sauntering around my body as well.

The fifth and sixth is much the same a nice crisp pop of fruity cherry slight florals then soft smoke then a slight returning fruit flavor.

The seventh infusion the smokiness is gone and the fruit and floral are left behind.  This tea is a nice slow moving tea that feels like it will last many many infusions with quick infusions.  Overall the taste and qi is not standoffish and is very unpretentious.  The leaves have lots of stamina. 

The eighth has some honey and florals in there now with less fruit.  The ninth has lots of honey floral tastes.  To me the long stamina and changing flavor of this tea confirms its arbour/ non plantation status.

Ten, eleven, twelve push out a nice floral taste in a decent soft mouthfeel with still a cooling throat feel.  This tea can be steeped a long time with nice floral taste in a soft and juicy mouthfeel with barely cooling in the throat.

Overall, this tea is believably Banzhang and possibly at least some arbour material.  Overall, I like the tea and it is different than any others I have ever had before.  I guess most people don’t get to test lots of 11 year Banzhang?  LaoBanzhang puerh was a rarity in Korea and most of what I’ve sampled in the past were great examplesof 1-5 years old LaoBanZhang.  I have never purchased any LaoBanzhang bings in the past so overall this is new territory for me.

Ok let’s change gears just a little and try some of the 2006 LaomanE Menghai Banzhang Factory “Banzhang Wang” LaomanE Ancient Arbour…

Dry leaves smell of strong, vibrant, pungent floral and sour fruit.

First infusion presents with a thick floral front with a sweet creamy sweet edge and nice harmonious coolness in the throat.  There are some juicier and watery edges to the taste that appear more as well.  The mouthfeel is slightly sticky and fairly full the sweet creamy florals stay on the breath.  An interaction of fruity notes on the breath minutes later.

In the second the initial floral notes are pronounced and plume and cloud on the breath with an underlying note of creamy fruity sweetness.  There is a barely noticeable bitter vegetal taste underneath.  It finishes with a solid coolness in the throat.

The third is much of the same strong floral display.  The mouthfeel of this tea has a nice chalky consistency.  The qi is somewhat strong in the mind pushing racing thoughts around, simulating, alerting, the body feels it too but is relaxed under the influence of the cha qi.  More of a malty, creamy sweet base starts to present itself now in the layers of chalky mouthfeel.

The fourth and fifth present with many fruit tastes of honeydew melon and honey along with the now secondary floral tastes that expand on the cool aftertaste.  The tea develops some more pronounced slight vegetal notes here that seem to add a further layer nuance to this tea.

The sixth and seventh has slight  flat wood and vegetal base to the mainly dominating floral and sweet honey fruit tastes.  The qi is more relaxing on the mind now- putting it at peace. 

The eighth has floral tastes almost fading away now and some sweetness is left in there too.  Long steeping pushes out mainly drier woody notes with slight bitterness- there doesn’t seem to be much left in the tea after eight infusions.

Overall, these teas could easily be priced 3-4x what I paid for it.  I feel like I got quite a deal from these two and am currently looking at exploring more from Laomane Menghai Banzhang Tea Factory from King Tea Mall in the future.  King Tea Mall lists the 2006 Banzhang at$289.00 per cake which is probably closer to the actual value of a cake of this namesake and age.  If you completely forget the name and just go on the actual taste and feel of this cake is probably closer to double what I paid- still a great deal.

Of the two I really preferred the LaomanE in the initial steepings but the BanZhang had much more stamina and tasted good for many many infusions.  Overall, both of these teas were on the mild end of the spectrum for BanZhang and LaoManE teas.  I think that the Laomane might have a harder time as it ages but the Banzhang has enough to last the long. 
It is my understanding that the LaomanE Menghai Banzhang Tea factory tends to produce puerh that tends to be less strong and more mellow than your typical LaoBanZhang and LaomanE.  It was interesting though to see how potentially BanZhang and LaomanE puerh age because there is not really that much out there for comparison.

It still showed that a tong of these two were available days after I placed my order.  I am left wondering who was that lucky puerh drinker that purchased a tong of these two just days after my purchase?  They really walked away with a deal!  For me I am happy I walked away with a cake of each, I'm not sure if I would have purchased a tong of it anyways.

Peace