Puerh (Raw)

Famous mountains

Single-origin sheng puerh from named Yunnan mountains, where terroir determines the starting character before aging transforms it. Yiwu is soft, sweet, and florally delicate. Bulang is bitter, forceful, and aggressive in youth. Jingmai is fragrant and honey-orchid in its floral register. Lao Ban Zhang (within the Bulang area) is the most expensive and most counterfeited name in puerh. Bingdao commands comparable prices. Nannuo is more moderate and often a collector entry point. Price and name recognition here are not the same as quality or authenticity; the mountain label is the most commonly abused claim in the category.

teabert, the tealytics teapot, keeper of the kettle

This is the single-origin side of sheng, where each Yunnan mountain writes its own opening line: gentle sweet Yiwu, fierce young Bulang, honeyed Jingmai. The catch is that the most famous names are also the most faked, so I trust the cup in front of me long before I trust the label.

Styles in this family

Yiwu

Yiwu, in the eastern hills of Xishuangbanna, is the archetype of the soft-sweet sheng style: mild bitterness, noticeable floral sweetness, and a returning…

Jingmai

Jingmai Mountain in Lancang County, Yunnan, is defined by its forest-garden system: ancient tea trees cultivated within a multi-canopy forest rather than…

Bulang Mountain

Bulang Mountain in Menghai County is the backbone of the bitter school of sheng puerh: strong bitterness that converts into one of the more powerful hui gan in…

Lao Ban Zhang

The authenticity crisis is the Laobanzhang story. The village in Menghai County produces a genuinely exceptional sheng puerh, one of the most powerful hui gan…

Bingdao

Bingdao, meaning roughly ice island, sits in Mengku Town in Shuangjiang County, Lincang Prefecture at altitude, and produces a sheng puerh defined by…

Nannuo Mountain

Nannuo Mountain near Menghai in Xishuangbanna offers one of the more honest entry points into mountain sheng puerh: a balanced profile combining floral and…