Xinbanzhang

Sheng Puer Cake 200g 2019

The impressively large and old tea trees of Xinbanzhang Village produce a sheng puer tea with a pronounced lasting sweetness and a fragrance reminiscent of their mountain forest home. Grown only a single mountain away from the famed Laobanzhang in Xishuangbanna.

Available at a discount when you buy a full stack of 5 cakes (details below).

$129.00

1 in stock


Tea Origin
Xinbanzhang Village, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna area, Yunnan Province, China

Tea Bush
Yunnan Dayezhong (Yunnan Large Leaf Heirloom Tea Tree)

Tea Maker
Gong Liping and Ran Yijun

Harvest Time
Early April

Plucking Standard
One bud, two leaves

The sister village of Laobanzhang

A person perched in a Xinbanzhang tea tree harvesting tea leaves near the trunk of a massive old tree as big around as they are.
A tea picker climbing a massive old Xinbanzhang tea tree to harvest young leaves in the spring.

Xinbanzhang was settled about 7 kilometers away by people who moved from the original Laobanzhang Village. Most of the residents belong to the Hani ethnic minority. Their old tree tea boasts many of the same excellent qualities. Many tea lovers find that Xinbanzhang’s slightly younger forest trees produce a tea with more sweetness and aromatics. Due to the extreme prestige attached to Laobanzhang tea, Xinbanzhang puer is remarkably more affordable, and remains an excellent high-quality puer tea in its own right.

An ideal tea growing environment

The huge trunks of old Xinbanzhang mature tea trees in a forest tea grove.
The huge trunks of Xinbanzhang old-growth forest tea trees.

The 1380 acres of old-growth forest tea gardens surrounding Xinbanzhang Village rest high in the mountains at around 1600 meters above sea level. The undisturbed forest provides an excellent growing environment for tea. In such a diverse environment with a variety of other plants and wildflowers, the tea absorbs the smells of the forest around it and develops a highly complicated floral aroma.

No chemical fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide was used in the production of this tea. Click here to read more about our promise to fair trade and the environment.

Total cake weight may vary due to the gradual moisture loss with aging.

Full Stack Discount

This puer cake traditionally comes in a stacked tong of 5 cakes tightly wrapped in bamboo for transport and storage. If you’re looking to buy in bulk, tongs of Xinbanzhang are available to you at a 5% discount in their original bamboo packaging. To get this full tong discount, add the five (5) Xinbanzhang cakes to your cart, then click the 5% discount coupon that appears on the bottom of the cart page (or the top of the checkout page).

The bamboo wrapping of the tong protects the tea cakes from breakage and insulates them from external odors and excess moisture while remaining breathable. To open a tong, untuck the ends of each individual bamboo tie from the loop below it, then untwist the two ends from each other. The single knot in the tie can then be undone. Then it will easily loosen and come unwound from the tong. Your individually paper-wrapped puer cakes will be inside.

Xinbanzhang 2019 brewing guidelines

Break off a small piece from cake (learn how)

5 grams tea

12 oz 100°C (212ºF) water

3 min. first infusion

At least 5 infusions: 3, 3, 5, 8, 10 minutes