---
title: "Měnghǎi Bānpén chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/menghai-banpen-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Měnghǎi Bānpén chá (勐海班盆茶)

*Měnghǎi Bānpén chá* ([勐海](https://thetea.app/article/meng-hai)班盆茶) is a geographical mark for the tea of the village of Banpen (班盆) of Menghai County (勐海县), Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The village stands two or three kilometers from Lao Banzhang, at the junction of the Hekai and Bulangshan tea areas, and trade descriptions call it the neighbor closest in character to the famous village. Which class of tea the mark covers is not stated in the documents found.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Not fixed by the mark's document. The old gardens of Menghai are a source of large-leaf raw material above all for pu-erh, but red and white tea are also made from the same leaf; the register does not say which product the mark covers. All the descriptions of Banpen's taste that were found describe raw pu-erh (生茶, *shēngchá*).
* **Category:** Village geographical mark of Menghai County — a collective or certification trademark.
* **Origin:** China, Yunnan Province (云南, *Yúnnán*), Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Menghai County (勐海县, *Měnghǎi Xiàn*), village of Banpen (班盆, *Bānpén*).
* **Administrative affiliation:** The sources diverge. Some descriptions assign Banpen to Bulangshan Mountain ([布朗山](https://thetea.app/article/bu-lang-shan)); others place the village on the border of Menghun Town (勐混) and Bulangshan Township, in the Hekai village committee (贺开村委会) of Menghun Town. The second is consistent with the list of Hekai villages and with the composition of Bulangshan Township, where Banpen is absent.
* **Mark zone:** The provincial list names only the prefecture and the county — this is the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Exact coordinates of the village are not found in the sources consulted. The center of the neighboring Bulangshan Township is at about 21.59° N and 100.42° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **The village.** A documented history of Banpen is not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2012–2016.** The county technical service center for the tea industry (勐海县茶叶技术服务中心) applied in 2012 for the umbrella certification mark “勐海茶”; the mark was registered in 2014 and put into use in 2016.
    * **Before 2019.** The mark “勐海班盆茶” is registered: the provincial list of geographical trademarks of Yunnan as of December 28, 2019 lists it in row 227. The registration number, the holder, the year and the product class are not named in the sources consulted; whether the mark is still in force is not confirmed.
    * **System of marks.** In the same list, the umbrella “勐海茶” and fifteen marks for mountains and villages are recorded under the county; the press in 2022 wrote of sixteen — the sources do not explain the discrepancy.
* **Name:** “Menghai” (勐海) is the name of the county; “Banpen” (班盆) is the name of the village, and the meaning of the place name is not explained in the sources consulted; “cha” (茶, *chá*) means tea.
* **Cultural significance:** Banpen lives in the shadow of Lao Banzhang; one description calls it a “forgotten pearl”. Hence its double reputation — an honest neighbor of the famous village and raw material that is easy to pass off as Banzhang tea.

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety / Cultivar:** No separate variety is named in the sources consulted. For pu-erh, the standard GB/T 22111-2008 requires Yunnan large-leaf tea (云南大[叶种](https://thetea.app/article/qiaomuguanmu), *Yúnnán dàyèzhǒng*); whether the mark restricts the raw material in the same way is unknown.
* **Tree age:** According to trade descriptions — from one hundred to four or five hundred years.
* **Harvest:** Timing is not given in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest standard:** Not given in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material requirements:** Rules of the mark are not found in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The south of Menghai County, the junction of the Hekai and Bulangshan tea areas; the gardens, according to descriptions, adjoin the gardens of Lao Banzhang.
* **Growing altitude:** The old village — about **1760 m**; for the village as a whole one description gives **1600–1750 m**. According to another, the average altitude here is about 100 m lower than at Lao Banzhang.
* **Climate:** Descriptions speak of frequent rains and fogs; there are no figures specifically for Banpen.
* **Soils:** According to trade descriptions — yellow-brown (黄棕壤); there are no measurements.
* **Cultivation practice:** According to the seller, without fertilizers or pesticides, in the moderate shade of the forest; this has not been verified.
* **Area:** The data diverge. Trade descriptions speak of more than two thousand mu (more than 130 ha) of old trees, but the same text says that the old garden “has survived on only a hundred-odd mu”. A 2016 description of Hekai gives the two villages of Banpen together about 2000 mu of continuous old gardens.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology fixed by the mark is not described in the sources consulted. The general scheme of the class for raw pu-erh according to the standard GB/T 22111-2008, not a description of Banpen tea specifically: the fresh leaf is spread out (摊放, *tānfàng*), fixed by heat (杀青, *shāqīng*), rolled (揉捻, *róuniǎn*), the clumps are broken up and the leaf is dried in the sun (日光干燥, *rìguāng gānzào*). The result is “sun-dried raw tea” ([晒青](https://thetea.app/article/shai-qing)毛茶, *shàiqīng máochá*); it is sorted, steamed, pressed and dried. Raw pu-erh has no wet-pile fermentation ([渥堆](https://thetea.app/article/wodui), *wòduī*).

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The descriptions come from trade publications on raw pu-erh from Banpen; there is no laboratory tasting behind them.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Large, thick, glossy, with noticeable down; the twist is tight. On the surface of the cake, buds in white down are evenly visible.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** A separate description is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** High and pure, sweetish, with floral-fruity notes, a honey tone at the bottom of the cup, camphor and woody hints.
* **Taste:** Dense, almost viscous. Slight bitterness and astringency give way to sweetness after a few seconds; one description calls the bitterness weaker than in other Bulangshan teas. The returning sweetness (回甘, *huígān*) is long. Assessments of the character diverge: one description calls the taste purely sweet and soft, another — commanding and full.
* **Liquor color:** For young tea there are no descriptions. According to one description, after several years of storage the liquor becomes orange-yellow with an orange-red tint.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No descriptions in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical data on Banpen tea are not found in the sources consulted. For reference — the class norm, not a measurement: the standard GB/T 22111-2008 requires raw pu-erh to have no less than 28.0% polyphenols and 35.0% water extract, with moisture no higher than 13.0%.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice — for raw pu-erh, to which all the descriptions found refer; red or white tea from the same leaf is brewed differently.

* **Water temperature:** 95–100 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 5–7 g per 100 ml.
* **Teaware:** Gaiwan (盖碗, *gàiwǎn*) or a clay teapot.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea.
    3. Rinse the leaf with hot water for 5–10 seconds and pour it off.
    4. First infusion — 10–15 seconds.
    5. Pour out through a pitcher.
    6. Repeat infusions, adding time; the dense raw material withstands many infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. A dry, clean, ventilated place without odors or direct light, a paper wrapper or a box. Pu-erh allows long aging; for Banpen, descriptions say that over the years the liquor darkens and the aroma becomes fuller.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Prices are not found in the sources consulted. Banpen is less known than Lao Banzhang, although, according to descriptions, its quality is similar — hence the main risk.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * The main substitution goes from Banpen, not to it: the leaf of the neighboring village is sold as Lao Banzhang. The label “[老班章](https://thetea.app/article/laobanzhang)” at a price closer to Banpen's is a reason to ask where the leaf comes from.
    * Check the mark “勐海班盆茶” and that the producer works in Menghai County; the mark does not confirm the class of the tea or the age of the trees.
    * The words “[古树](https://thetea.app/article/gushu-dashu-taidi-yesheng)” (old trees) on the wrapper are a claim by the seller, not part of the mark.
    * A price much lower than usual for old trees of southern Menghai is a reason for doubt.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* Descriptions call the altitude, climate, soils and tree age of Banpen and Lao Banzhang almost identical.
* Tea fame links Banpen with Bulangshan, and the administrative list — with Hekai.
* A 2022 newspaper and some trade descriptions write the name of the village with a different first character — 邦盆; trade texts explain that both spellings render the sound.

**13. Comparison with Neighboring Teas:**

* **Lao Banzhang (老[班章](https://thetea.app/article/ban-zhang)):** A neighboring Bulangshan village, the benchmark of powerful raw pu-erh; Banpen is described as close in character and a little softer.
* **Bulangshan (布朗山):** The mountain massif with which Banpen is linked by taste, although administratively the village, according to most sources, belongs to Hekai.

**In Conclusion:**

*Měnghǎi Bānpén chá* is a mark for the tea of a village that was unlucky with its neighbor. Two or three kilometers from Lao Banzhang, in the same fogs, Banpen produces, according to descriptions, a dense, sweet and strong raw pu-erh, yet it is less known. The mark confirms the name of the place but fixes neither the class of the tea nor the age of the trees, and even the affiliation of the village is divided by the sources between Bulangshan and Hekai.