TeaChat

The price for '08 Spring Lao Banzhang maocha is 600RMB/kg, at least it was a couple of months ago.

nada wrote:The price for '08 Spring Lao Banzhang maocha is 600RMB/kg, at least it was a couple of months ago.

Very appropriate Sal! here is the popcorn, cheers mate!

Nada, thanks for the price, that translates to about $90 per kg. so those cakes are a pretty darn good price!

Puerh only seems expensive because you're compelled to buy so damned many of them. Individually, they're a bargain.

Fifty a pound doesn't go so far in terms of obtaining good green or oolong tea. Even a beeng pushing $100 isn't as dear as the asking price of some the the top oolongs and greens. And you don't have to drink it all up this month, to boot.

tony shlongini wrote: Puerh only seems expensive ...

Yeh, I don't bat an eye about paying more for a little bag of sencha than for most whole bings of sheng. And then you've got that damn green tea staring at you saying, "Hurry up, you fool, I'm getting old." Commitment! Sheng, on the other hand, is just easy; it says, "love me or leave me, whatever you want today ... I'll still be here waiting for you tomorrow." What a set up!

So are these LAO BAN ZHANG CAKES really such a big deal? I feel like I need to become very selective about what I buy cause I have so much already. Blame the free love attitude of these sweet cakes.

shogun89 wrote:

nada wrote:The price for '08 Spring Lao Banzhang maocha is 600RMB/kg, at least it was a couple of months ago.

Very appropriate Sal! here is the popcorn, cheers mate!

Nada, thanks for the price, that translates to about $90 per kg. so those cakes are a pretty darn good price!

Actually Shogun, it is not good for the beeng. If one considers the mark-up from the factory to the vendor who then marks up the product to sell we may be talking about a "cut" beeng instead of a beeng of just pu-erh being pu-erh LB. The economics are just not there for it being a pure LB. That is what folks have to consider.

hop_goblin wrote:Actually Shogun, it is not good for the beeng. If one considers the mark-up from the factory to the vendor who then marks up the product to sell we may be talking about a "cut" beeng instead of a beeng of just pu-erh being pu-erh LB. The economics are just not there for it being a pure LB. That is what folks have to consider.

So you're saying you think it's likely not pure lao ban zhang because the price is too low?

Smells_Familiar wrote:

hop_goblin wrote:Actually Shogun, it is not good for the beeng. If one considers the mark-up from the factory to the vendor who then marks up the product to sell we may be talking about a "cut" beeng instead of a beeng of just pu-erh being pu-erh LB. The economics are just not there for it being a pure LB. That is what folks have to consider.

So you're saying you think it's likely not pure lao ban zhang because the price is too low?

Well, what I am saying is that Nada was just in Lao BanZhang and personally witnessed the price of the Mao Cha. These farmers are in just like the factories and vendors to make money. All I know is that traditionally, Lao Banzhang Spring Maocha is super nutz in terms of price. It just doesn't make good logic or business sense to be selling a processed (speaking of the kilo basket) item from a vendor that is at the current price for spring Maocha directly from the farmer . This is what leaves me puzzled.

hop_goblin wrote:Well, what I am saying is that Nada was just in Lao BanZhang and personally witnessed the price of the Mao Cha. These farmers are in just like the factories and vendors to make money. All I know is that traditionally, Lao Banzhang Spring Maocha is super nutz in terms of price. It just doesn't make good logic or business sense to be selling a processed (speaking of the kilo basket) item from a vendor that is at the price of the current price for spring Maocha directly from the farmer . This is what leaves me puzzled.

I understand. I guess the only way to empirically see is by comapring this cake to a puerh that you're sure is pure Lao banzhang. I can't do this, but I'd love to read the results from someone who can.

Smells_Familiar wrote:

hop_goblin wrote:Well, what I am saying is that Nada was just in Lao BanZhang and personally witnessed the price of the Mao Cha. These farmers are in just like the factories and vendors to make money. All I know is that traditionally, Lao Banzhang Spring Maocha is super nutz in terms of price. It just doesn't make good logic or business sense to be selling a processed (speaking of the kilo basket) item from a vendor that is at the price of the current price for spring Maocha directly from the farmer . This is what leaves me puzzled.

I understand. I guess the only way to empirically see is by comapring this cake to a puerh that you're sure is pure Lao banzhang. I can't do this, but I'd love to read the results from someone who can.

Well, the truth of the matter is that even if the beeng is made of mostly Lao BanZhang, it will be difficult to 100% authenticate the beeng as LB since even a cut of 60% will give it enough characteristic to make appear like LB IMHO of course.

Just to clarify, Scott did not claim those cakes are Lao BanZhang. He just names his product that way because the leaves are from a remote area near BanZhang. I tried the small brick and it's got good umph. The tea trees survived the cultural revolution, so it's gotta be 'tough'.

I noticed the nei fei is written in 'Traditional Chinese' characters, which may suggest that the producer is from Taiwan or Hong Kong...perhaps someone who focuses on quality and traditional methods? Who knows. I'm definitely adding one to my collection though.

Thanks, TeaKid, for the eyewitness report. I take it you are able to resist the beautiful woven basket of four cakes together? That is so tempting ... but I would never get four of them otherwise. The Chinese marketing genius at work!

teakid wrote:Just to clarify, Scott did not claim those cakes are Lao BanZhang. He just names his product that way because the leaves are from a remote area near BanZhang. I tried the small brick and it's got good umph. The tea trees survived the cultural revolution, so it's gotta be 'tough'.

I noticed the nei fei is written in 'Traditional Chinese' characters, which may suggest that the producer is from Taiwan or Hong Kong...perhaps someone who focuses on quality and traditional methods? Who knows. I'm definitely adding one to my collection though.

I have to disagree. The advert states that it is comprised of 100% Ban Zhan, Wild Ancient Arbor material". If it was meant to be a product made of "near Lao BanZhang" mao cha then wouldn't it just be Bulang Shan since LB is located adjacent to Bulang Shan? Although he does alternate the discription with "lao" and just "BanZhang" which are not the same IMHO. Perhaps it is just clever advertisment.

Intersting take on the Nei Fei.

heavydoom wrote:

Proinsias wrote:

heavydoom wrote:a night out with your mates is more than that and then you p*ss it down the drain!

Where do you piss your pu?

on your couch.

better than on my pu. Between the cats and the child the couch is no stranger to that sort of action.

Proinsias wrote:

heavydoom wrote:

Proinsias wrote:

heavydoom wrote:a night out with your mates is more than that and then you p*ss it down the drain!

Where do you piss your pu?

on your couch.

better than on my pu. Between the cats and the child the couch is no stranger to that sort of action.

Touché!

So here are a couple dumb question for everyone.

What makes these cakes special? Is it worth actually buying one?