Price range: $8.00 through $40.00
A dynamic, choose your own adventure Bulang cake, either straightforward Southern Menghai sumptuousness or one that bites back when brewed with a heavier hand.
The original idea behind caking young arbor 苦茶 ku cha "bitter variety" Lao Man'e material was to accomplish more of the latter—perhaps a scrappy, bitter cake for those who seek to punish the palate—one that will deliver the other side of the Lao Man'e coin; opposite the class act that is Wen Kan's State Forest Lao Man'e cake.
But farmer-producer Kangyao primarily works with kucha and processes his teas with finesse (lower wok temps for a set amount of time), therefore this cake turned into another classy take on the Lao Man'e experience. It's more bitter side and the "gamey" uniqueness of Lao Mane's ku cha flavor can be accessed by pushing the leaves, adding a bit more heat and time to its steeps.
Maybe one day we'll find a truly horrendous wall-crawler thriller of Lao Man'e for all our fellow masochists. Until then enjoy another superbly balanced LME — this one with a daily drinker price tag.
tea farmer-producer Kangyao and his family. Midnight ku cha sessions that broke the stereotype of the variety's bitter bruiser reputation
老曼峨 Lao Man’e, the oldest village in the Bulang Mountains with a history of roughly 1400 years, remains a bastion of Theravada Buddhism. It hosts some of the largest and oldest ancient arbor landscapes in the region, with over 500 acres (3200 亩) of gushu trees ranging from 100–500 years old. Its elevation is about 1250 meters—modest for a renowned tea village.
Lao Man’e tea is defined its two endemic varieties: 苦茶 ku cha “bitter tea” and 甜茶 tian cha “sweet tea”. Both can be found across the Banzhang villages. If you’ve had tea from Lao Banzhang or Bakanan, which contain a predominance the sweet variety, you’ve tasted tian cha. Admittedly, this “sweet” type isn’t exceptionally sweet, and can itself become bitter when brewed strong; its name seems more a functional contrast to ku cha than a literal description.
While other villages show traces of ku cha, Lao Man’e is its stronghold—many teas here are noticeably bitter. This punch was highly valued by the state-owned factories of the 20th century, who blended it for its ability to age into a potent, slightly sweeter, medicinal broth.
