introduction to Bulang mountain

if you like Bulang mountain pu-erh tea you should start with Hekai that is on the way to Bangpen and Lao Banzhang, actually it was the first village that my friend Liu took me to, back in 2013…

a just right load of bitterness with hints  of vegetable oil, ohh, never had this on my mind, this bitterness found in some good olive and sunflower oil, of course cold pressed one, light sweetness returning with the aftertaste, pure natural taste with this fruit kernel hints, this special bitter note, freshness of new maocha is gone and fermentation is in process now

in case you drink pu-erh ristretto aka lazy drops (after a (should be at least the 3rd) brew, about 5-6 minutes later there are drops slowly sliding down the leaves in the teapot, gathering on the bottom of the teapot) drinking them you will understand the essence of old tea trees 

the tea garden is my friend Liu is renting, seen in this video (from 00:58 – 01:09 and 01:46 – 01:48) that was shot during 2018 pu-erh.sk friends group visit of Xishuangbanna

back to the point from the first opening paragraph of this blog, the bitternes and the overall character of Hekai tea is a great introduction to the Bulang mountain teas, this ‘side’ mountain called Hekai like LB has a great amount of very old tea trees, let’s say 400 years and more and this is clearly felt in the tea taste

the ’22 Hekai is more stronger that the ’21 (still this can change with ageing), I suppose due to the higher amount of rain fallen in the spring, the taste is now richer and more pronounced