The most westerly of the five Banzhang villages, 坝卡龙 Bakalong represents the most affordable slice of the Banzhang terroir experience.  While it may not have as strong a fragrance and huigan as its neighbor Lao Banzhang, this year's Bakalong serves up the classic banzhang profile with a side of electric-textured veggie-meat broth.

Between Bakalong and Bakanan, these two twin villages are alternatives to the other more expensive Banzhang villages, sharing similar profiles with slight differences we’re curious to discover the more we work with this family.  Many may have already tried Bakalong tea, just under a different name; note that a primary role of these villages has been to subsidize Banzhang tea blends -- teas sold under a higher price-tag name. While less common on the market by its actual name, if sourced from origin and divorced from the associated neighborhood hype, lesser-known Bakalong gives us the most affordable banzhang terroir experience.

Bakalong is the most western village of the 班章五寨 Banzhang Wu Zhai (Five Villages)

During our visit to Zhilin, Mr. Yang of LBZ’s son in Bakanan, we shared a meal and tea with some of his crew. While the Yang family is of the Hani ethnic minority, their crew in Bakanan is the local Lahu, as Bakanan and Bakalong are Lahu villages. Having never visited and naturally curious about the lesser known fifth village in the Banzhang Wu Zhai, I asked if they had relatives in Bakalong. Before long we found ourselves driving down the road to Bakalong, to pay a visit Nalan’s aunt’s, Napo, tea gardens and home tea processing unit.

Having been essentially demolished and rebuilt in 2022, it seems like Bakalong serves as a home for hired tea workers for the Dayi (TAETEA) company, originally the Menghai Tea Factory.  Driving through the pass between Bakanan and Bakalong are endless Dayi tea plantations.  These newer gardens have all but replaced most of the ancient tree groves of Bakalong, except this one:

Filming how wild it was to see a village of brand new buildings.  The government mandated and subsidized the demolition of old structures + the building of new developments, completed in 2022.