Tea is life — in every steep, a lesson; in every cup, a practice.
In decades in this trade I have seen many teas named “king,” but the title of “Banzhang King” is not one every cake can carry. As we opened the vault on this Anle Hao Banzhang King 2008, my first thought was of Banzhang’s character: commanding tea qi (cha qi), bitterness that dissolves the moment it touches the throat, a returning sweetness strong and lasting — what the trade calls the taste of a king. To hand such a fierce mountain to the two-century family craft of Yiwu’s Anle Hao, strength meeting softness — that alone is a spectacle worth watching.
To speak of Anle Hao, speak of its roots. In the Jiaqing years of the Qing, Li Hongzong of the Li family arrived in Yiwu as a merchant; in the fourth year of Daoguang the family settled at Yibi. His son Li Kaiji earned the gongshi rank, was appointed “contributing scholar by precedent” by the court, and served as the official tea superintendent overseeing tribute procurement; in the Guangxu years he founded the Anle Hao tea house, which at its height tended over three hundred mu of gardens, producing and selling three to four hundred dan a year. When a family of scholar-officials makes tea, its insistence on leaf and craft needs no explaining. The year 2008 fell in the most earnest phase of the old houses’ revival — selection, pressing, storage, all done by the old rules.
I brewed this Banzhang King: the first infusions gave a settled aroma, the liquor golden with an oily sheen. Bitterness flashed and vanished on entry, then the whole mouth filled with sweet moisture, a coolness rising slowly at the throat that held past a dozen infusions. Eighteen years of ageing have turned Banzhang’s fierceness from a young man’s charge into a mellow power held in reserve — like a general in retirement who need not speak to command the room.
From a wellness angle, eighteen-year raw Pu-erh is mild in character, and a foundation like Banzhang King is rarer still: it lifts the spirit without harming the stomach, warms without heat. My experience: a cup in the afternoon refreshes; half a cup at night does not disturb sleep. Old friends often say “to drink Anle Hao is to drink a family’s learning” — this Banzhang King is a fitting footnote: the taste of a king lies not in domination, but in measure.
Tea has grades, but no one is barred from the table.
Banzhang’s fortunes over the decades deserve a word. In the early 2000s it was still a “fierce general of the deep mountains” known only inside the trade; then its quality was recognised, its standing climbed step by step, and it became the benchmark mountain of Yunnan. But the trade knows: Banzhang leaf is coveted every year, the “Banzhang” name is everywhere in the market, and true material grows ever harder to find. The Anle Hao 2008 owes its quality to timing — mountain leaf was still honest then, and the revived old house was willing to spend — and only both together produce the composure in today’s cup. I often say that to cellar tea is to cellar “the earnestness of that year.” This cake is a fine example.
Last month an old friend visited the manor and we opened a Banzhang King, drinking around the table all afternoon. As he left he said the cup had carried him back to his Shenzhen days in the eighties — hard years, but everyone had fire in them. I thought: tea is a marvel. It says nothing, yet its fierceness and its returning sweetness draw your past out, layer by layer. My friend was a stubborn worker in his youth; seeing him moist-eyed over the Banzhang King, I understood completely — the king in the cup is, in truth, a mirror.
To cellar tea is to read people: at first meeting, look to the edge; in deep friendship, look to the depth. With this Banzhang King I advise a slow hand: after opening, do not rush to brew hard — wake the leaf a few days, keep the first infusion light, let it wake in its own time. Eighteen years of settling deserve a little of your patience. You will find the king is in no hurry to prove himself; he is simply there, waiting for you to understand.
Friends through tea — please, join the cup.
Author: LamSam (老茶頭·林燊)
ZENTEA MANOR 禪茶莊園
天盈供應鏈公司
www.zentea-shop.com
