Lao Ban Zhang - Real or Fake?

[Ricsie]

Hello,
Lao Ban Zhang is probably the King of Puerhs, and also the most falsified tea

There are so many fakes that its almost impossible to find real one unless you pay thousands for it. The you might be sure

i want to ask if anybody knows, how to determine if its a Lao Ban Zhang. I know in Europe and America 99%of Lao ban Zhang teas arent Lao Ban Zhang but just some Menghai ones. You cnat get 50g of Lao Ban Zhang for 12$

So i'm looking to buy one directly in China, but when i looked TaoBao all over there were 2013 Lao Ban Zhangs (Sheng, Raw) from 40$ a 400g cake till 80 000$

Im checking something in between 100 - 200$
Like:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 4430336493
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 6469760552
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 6364937106

Are these real Lao ban Zhangs, or just another overpriced fakes? To taste a real Lao BZ i need to go for the most expensive which ar emore expensive than a house:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 6332537439

Which to buy is safe that it wont be fake?

Thanks for all sugestions

[Exempt]

Which to buy is safe that it wont be fake?

None. Personally, I just assume that any LBZ I buy online is fake, low quality, or cut with other teas even if it is direct from China. The demand is so high and quantity is so low that unless I had a direct connection with a farmer or someone close to LBZ, I would not consider anything to be real high quality LBZ

[SilentChaos]

unless I had a direct connection with a farmer or someone close to LBZ, I would not consider anything to be real high quality LBZ

Good luck getting lbz out of a farmer in lbz.

[honza]

Hunting for something like LBZ in taobao these days is wasting time and money

[SilentChaos]

Hunting for something like LBZ in taobao these days is wasting time and money

That too.

[shah82]

First link is fake LBZ.

The second doesn't seem to sell expensive tea, so...probably fake even if the price seems to be right.

The third place sells impossible bargains, as well as the LBZ being too cheap. Fake.

The latter two has four diamond rep, too.

The most expensive you linked to is someone trying to rip you off. ChenShenHao should be about $700-$1000 even in these fevered times. And ChenShen Hao is considerably adulterated LBZ.

As a rule, I don't think you can find a good example of LBZ and just buy a cake anymore. The TeaUrchin LBZ is nice, for example, but it doesn't have the true potency in qi or aftertaste that it should have. That one is more than $300, though.

[Teaism]

Yeah! listen to all the wise Teachatters's advice above, don't waste your time and money.
Cheers!

[Exempt]

unless I had a direct connection with a farmer or someone close to LBZ, I would not consider anything to be real high quality LBZ

Good luck getting lbz out of a farmer in lbz.

…that's exactly my point. It's basically impossible to buy real high quality LBZ, especially from the US

[Ricsie]

Oh, im pretty shocked that there are so many fakes, better said that almost everything is a fake

I bought this few months ago:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=3516 ... 317209.0.0

And its like best tea i have ever tasted, and i have some Aged PuErhs at home, but this tea had a special taste a bit bitter on beginning but for very slow time and then very creamy.

So theres no real one on TaoBao? And where to try to look for a real ones? I want to taste LBZ at least once in my life Are there some good puerh chinese pages which sells LBZ or ChenShenHao has a webpage?

Btw are there any real LBZ which arent ChenShenHao?

PS: What about this, could be real deal?
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 1839927878

Thank you guys for advice and helping out

[chrl42]

If I were you, I'd pick 2nd one..although that one too shouldn't be pure LBZ or none-LBZ. At least it's closer to well-known LBZ characteritics...hairy..big leaf etc

btw, you shouldn't care about the diamonds or the crowns, or even feedbacks..(those you can 'buy')...their customers buy those cakes knowing they shouldn't be LBZ

[miig]

If I really wanted a LBZ, I'd go to a reputable vendor.
For example, him:

http://teaurchin.com/shop-for-tea/puer/ ... pring.html

[AllanK]

If I really wanted a LBZ, I'd go to a reputable vendor.
For example, him:

http://teaurchin.com/shop-for-tea/puer/ ... pring.html

There is at least one seller on Ebay selling real LBZ tea, I forget the name. He sells Chen Sheng Hao if I have the name right. I have been thinking of buying a couple of less expensive Chen Sheng Hao from him. His teas claiming to be real LBZ go for as much as $1600 or so.

Many vendors just seem to attach the name Banzhang to cheap teas and hope it increases sales. I doesn't automatically mean they are terrible, just fake. Also, I believe there are other villages with the word Banzhang in them. Any teas from these villages could rightly be called Banzhang, but not LBZ. I don't know if any of these other Banzhangs are any good comparativly.

[MarshalN]

Chen Sheng Hao is not 100% LBZ. It's mixed.

[AllanK]

Chen Sheng Hao is not 100% LBZ. It's mixed.

I thought that their $1400 cake was not mixed and their cheaper ones were mixed?

[Teaism]

You can tell by tasting it. I tried their LBZ in 2009. A vendor brought them in exclusively at the price of US$ 200 per bing of 357gm. There are whole stack of brochures that comes along with it. Pretty impressive. At that time, I felt it was too expensive for that quality of tea and didn't buy a single piece.

The LBZ era is long gone, even since then, so don't waste time on it.

Anyway, Puer market will collapse very soon in about 2 years' time and by that time, look out for high quality tea offered by desperate producer. That is what happen in 2007 when true LBZ was offered to the market.

Cheers!