1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


Dec 8th, '11, 16:56
Posts: 95
Joined: Jun 17th, '11, 13:58

1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by G-off-re » Dec 8th, '11, 16:56

It seems nobody has reviewed it yet. Anyone try this tea yet?

User avatar
Dec 8th, '11, 18:23
Posts: 2044
Joined: Jan 11th, '07, 20:47
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by wyardley » Dec 8th, '11, 18:23

I have tried it, and brewed it, a couple of times; I find it very nice for that price, and plan to buy some at some point. It's not infinitely complex, but it's very rich, smooth, and medicinal; for me, it compares favorably to some more expensive teas. Fairly large leaf, and as the site makes clear, "traditionally" stored. Also, since samples are available for a reasonable price, it's easy enough to get a little to try yourself without spending a ton of money. I don't feel confident enough in my palate to speculate on its exact place or time period of origin, but it tastes "old" (in a good way).

I believe one or two forum members have also purchased this tea recently, so perhaps they will weigh in.

Disclaimer: I drink tea with the proprietor of Bana occasionally, and tried the tea in this context.

User avatar
Dec 8th, '11, 20:05
Posts: 452
Joined: Jun 15th, '06, 13:04
Location: Lawrenceville, GA

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by bearsbearsbears » Dec 8th, '11, 20:05

+1 What Wyardley said!

User avatar
Dec 9th, '11, 01:17
Posts: 5896
Joined: Jan 10th, '10, 16:04
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Contact: debunix

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by debunix » Dec 9th, '11, 01:17

this was one of the teas that made me curious enough to try to find Bana a few months back, one weekend when I had a little extra time while out and about, only to discover a distinct lack of brick & mortar store.....so haven't tried anything from Bana yet.

User avatar
Dec 9th, '11, 11:47
Posts: 2794
Joined: Oct 16th, '08, 21:01
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Arlington, VA
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact: Drax

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by Drax » Dec 9th, '11, 11:47

I was intrigued by the description and so I ordered a sample... I hadn't really looked much at this website before, so I also ordered some other stuff that looked interesting.

I am looking forward to trying it out; I have not had the chance to taste many teas from this era.

User avatar
Dec 13th, '11, 06:43
Posts: 2794
Joined: Oct 16th, '08, 21:01
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Arlington, VA
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact: Drax

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by Drax » Dec 13th, '11, 06:43

And... my order came last night, hooray! I quickly dove into the sample of the Jiang Chen. I've been trying out various young pu'erhs before this one, so leaping back into the aged-end was a really nice.

I agree with everything that wyardley said about the tea. This tea has the woody and medicinal qualities of aged pu'erh, but it really is quite smooth -- nothing acrid about it. It took a little bit longer to "get going" than I expected (or maybe I was paranoid about losing initial wonderfulness :D ). All in all, quite enjoyable, and a great deal for the price.

I'm looking forward to continuing with this tea tonight, and, of course, trying the other stuff that I ordered...! :D

Dec 13th, '11, 21:43
Posts: 15
Joined: Dec 13th, '11, 21:40

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by dragoran » Dec 13th, '11, 21:43

Out of curiosity, when you've been brewing this, have you generally stuck to the recommended quantities? 3 grams per 4 oz seems a little low (though it's yielded good results so far, admittedly), and I'm curious if I'd benefit from using more leaf; that said, being a poor graduate student with little experience with aged sheng, I'm a little reluctant to do too much experimentation with my sample.

User avatar
Dec 14th, '11, 03:30
Posts: 2044
Joined: Jan 11th, '07, 20:47
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by wyardley » Dec 14th, '11, 03:30

dragoran wrote:Out of curiosity, when you've been brewing this, have you generally stuck to the recommended quantities?
I would use a fair amount of leaf. With old teas like this that are very mellow and smooth, often, more is more. I would guess that I use 10-12g or more when I've brewed it in a vessel of 200 ml or a bit less; for 4 oz, you could try 5-8g and see how it goes. If you're eyeballing it, use more than you'd think -- it's fairly large leaf and not too tightly compressed.

If you can, I'd also recommend leaving the tea that you're going to brew out in the air (away from light, the kitchen, etc.) in a small dish or ramekin for a few days or a week before.

User avatar
Dec 14th, '11, 07:14
Posts: 2794
Joined: Oct 16th, '08, 21:01
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Arlington, VA
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact: Drax

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by Drax » Dec 14th, '11, 07:14

I went with 6.5g in a 4oz (120mL) gaiwan. After a 20 second rinse, my initial steeps were on the order of 10 seconds... the first 2 or 3 were a bit light, but 3 through 10 were quite solid (and with increasing time of steeps along that curve). I'm now in the long-steep phase and will probably enjoy a steep or two each night this week.

In general, as you go lighter on the amount of leaf in the same amount of water, you'll need to increase steep times in order to get the same 'output' of tea (and you'll generally get fewer steeps).

I had to dive into the sample right away because of the anticipation, but I will definitely do the 'air out' method next time I enjoy this tea.

User avatar
Dec 14th, '11, 08:18
Posts: 682
Joined: Mar 10th, '11, 08:17
Location: on top of a mountain.

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by gasninja » Dec 14th, '11, 08:18

I found this tea to preforms better with much higher ratio's of water to leaf 10 grams for 115 ml. But it is well worth it as I have gotten 40 infusions over several days.

Dec 15th, '11, 00:27
Posts: 15
Joined: Dec 13th, '11, 21:40

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by dragoran » Dec 15th, '11, 00:27

Thanks for the advice; I'll definitely try brewing it more aggressively. As it is, I've enjoyed it with small amounts of leaves, so I'm really interested in seeing what it will be like stronger.

Dec 15th, '11, 00:41
Posts: 95
Joined: Jun 17th, '11, 13:58

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by G-off-re » Dec 15th, '11, 00:41

I finally tried a sample of this brick and so far i have not been impressed. I get the distinct feeling that this tea has been through far too much wet storage to the point of turning the leaves crispy and black. I also detected a bit of harshness in the throat that lingered for too long. Seeing as i've only tried this tea once i'm not gonna write it off just yet. The wet leaves give me little hope. Looks similar to the 80's loose ripe from jas-etea. Both have giving me a similar scratchy and unpleasant feeling in my throat after a few brews.

7gm/100ml

User avatar
Dec 15th, '11, 06:52
Posts: 2794
Joined: Oct 16th, '08, 21:01
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Arlington, VA
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact: Drax

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by Drax » Dec 15th, '11, 06:52

Huh, that's interesting, because I thought it was remarkably non-harsh. Of course, I had been drinking a lot of very young sheng in the weeks before trying this one, so maybe my idea of 'harsh' has been re-calibrated. :lol: I was still able to get a nice mouthfeel and buzz from the tea...

All that aside, it certainly does look well-composted... :D

User avatar
Dec 16th, '11, 01:12
Posts: 452
Joined: Jun 15th, '06, 13:04
Location: Lawrenceville, GA

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by bearsbearsbears » Dec 16th, '11, 01:12

Drax wrote:...I thought it was remarkably non-harsh...
+1
"Harsh" is not a word I would use to describe this tea's feeling or flavors. Maybe you used too much leaf?

Dec 16th, '11, 01:34
Posts: 95
Joined: Jun 17th, '11, 13:58

Re: 1970 Jiang Chen brick from Bana Tea co.

by G-off-re » Dec 16th, '11, 01:34

The harshness i'm referring to is more of a unpleasant scratchy feeling in the throat. Its quite possible i used too much leaf I'm going to try this again with 5g/100ml and see if it improves before i write this tea off.

+ Post Reply