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A Day Near Lao Banzhang

A first day in Menghai among Lao Banzhang tea trees, fresh leaf and the ordinary work hidden behind Pu-erh’s most expensive village name.

arriving
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Cut-paper diorama of pickers gathering fresh shoots beneath an old tea tree on a steep Lao Banzhang slope

On 1 April, we drove through Menghai, stopped for lunch and tea, then visited gardens east of Lao Banzhang before reaching the village. The name was familiar from expensive cakes and spring price lists. The dry, steep ground was new to me.

Picking on a slope

A many-trunked tea tree growing on a steep dry hillside near Lao Banzhang
Near Lao Banzhang, 1 April 2026. Embedded GPS places this garden cluster in Bulang Mountain township, east of the village.

The ground fell away beneath the tea tree. Dry leaves slid downhill, and there were few places to set a picking cloth. Workers carried large sacks between unevenly spaced trees.

The phone placed these garden photographs at roughly 1,740 to 1,820 metres in Bulang Mountain township. Some trees branched heavily near the ground; others rose through surrounding vegetation. Their shapes were easy to photograph. Their ages weren’t something I could verify by looking.

At the village entrance

The entrance gate to Lao Banzhang village seen from the road
Approaching Lao Banzhang village in the afternoon.

We reached the gate that afternoon. It’s a recognisable photograph, but a visit doesn’t connect a retail cake to a garden. Leaf can pass through several people and processing spaces before it is pressed.

For any tea bought here, I’d still want the harvest, maker and batch recorded. The camera roll helps me place our visit; it doesn’t fill those gaps.

The fresh leaf

A hand lifting freshly picked tea leaves from a woven basket in the Bulang Mountain area
Fresh leaf in a woven basket later that day. Leaf size, stem length and picking standard are visible before processing makes the material harder to read.

Later, a basket held glossy spring growth: buds, open leaves and stems. Before processing, differences in leaf size and picking standard were easier to see.

I wanted to know how long the leaf had been sitting, how it had been carried, and whether the basket held one garden’s harvest or a mixture. The photograph can’t answer those questions, but they’re the details I’d ask about before buying the finished tea.

Dinner

A plate of pork, herbs and dried chillies on a woven table during dinner in the Bulang Mountain area
Dinner in Bulang Mountain township. The camera’s location trail stayed in the same area as the late-afternoon leaf photographs.

The last photographs are of food, people and a village entrance at night. I like having them beside the garden pictures. They remind me how long the day was, and that people still had to carry and process the leaf after we had finished looking at the trees.

Next: At 2,000 Metres in Mengsong.

Quick answers

Frequently asked questions

Is Lao Banzhang a village or a tea brand?

Lao Banzhang is a real village in the Bulang Mountain area of Menghai County. Its name is also used commercially, so a wrapper still needs batch-level evidence connecting the tea to the village.

What did the visit reveal about Lao Banzhang tea?

The visit made the physical work visible: steep gardens, picking decisions, fresh-leaf categories and rapid processing. Those details are more informative than treating the village name as one fixed flavour.

Does a visit to Lao Banzhang authenticate a cake?

No. A visit documents a place at one moment. A retail cake needs its own harvest, maker, batch and chain-of-custody evidence.