ValleyGreenTea

Pu-erh golden award raw brick-2007-250g

$71.40 AUD

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50g sample

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Golden Award Raw Pu-erh Brick (Sheng 生) — 2007

Other names: Raw Pu-erh Brick, Aged Sheng Pu-erh Brick, Menghai Raw Pu-erh,

A gold-award raw pu-erh brick. This premium raw (Sheng) pu-erh is by Long Yuan Hao (龙园号), a prestige Chinese pu-erh brand, and it won the Tea Ancestor Gold Award in 2007.

It's made from early-spring Menghai arbor leaf — strong, tight and smooth, with abundant silver buds.

Aged since 2007, the dry brick has a pure, elegant, robust aroma, and it pours a clear, light-yellow cup with a mellow, refreshing taste — a brick for both drinking and collecting.

About This Brick

A mid-aged raw (Sheng) pu-erh brick from Menghai, made from early-spring 2007 arbor leaf — strong, tight and smooth, rich with silver buds.

A prestige Long Yuan Hao pressing that took the 2007 Tea Ancestor Gold Award, now well matured into a clean, mellow, refreshing cup. Both a lovely drink and a genuine collector's piece.

Type: Raw (Sheng 生) pu-erh brick,
Region: Menghai (勐海), Ban-Na, Yunnan
Leaf: early-spring arbor leaf — strong, tight, smooth, abundant silver buds
Accolade: 2007 Tea Ancestor Gold Award
Flavour: pure, elegant, robust aroma; clear light-yellow brew; mellow and refreshing
Production: 2007
Weight: 250g brick, 50g sample

Essential Pu-erh Tea Accessories

A pressed brick needs a couple of tools to enjoy it at its best:

Cake pin: a brick is densely pressed — slide a cake pin in from the edge and prise gently, keeping the leaves as whole as possible.
Vessel: for pu-erh we reach first for a Yixing zisha pot — the unglazed clay rounds the cup out for a smoother, fuller brew — or a gaiwan for an easy, more affordable start.
Storage: keep your brick breathing in a pu-erh bamboo storage unit or an unglazed clay jar.

See the full range in our Pu-erh accessories.

Want to understand pu-erh a little better? Here's some honest, no-fluff knowledge to help you find your pu-erh.

How to Choose Your First Pu-erh

Your first pu-erh:

start with our Pu-erh Beginner's Trial Pack.

It brings together raw and ripe, loose and cake, in one box

— the easiest way to feel the difference and learn where you'd like to start next.

The quick version:

Raw (Sheng) is like sashimi — fresh, bright and a little wild;

Ripe (Shou) is like a rich, slow-cooked stew — dark, mellow and smooth, transformed by time.

Love green or white tea? Start raw — like this brick.

Love black tea, dark tea (hei cha) or roasted oolong? Start ripe — explore our Ripe (Shou) pu-erh.

Your next pu-erh: explore by region.

Scroll down — there's plenty here to help you decide. Finding a pu-erh you love is a genuinely fun journey, and an aged, award-winning brick like this is a special one to enjoy and keep.

Pu-erh Regions: Why Origin Shapes Taste & Price

Region is one of the biggest reasons two pu-erhs can differ so much in taste, quality and price.

Across Yunnan, tea grows on hundreds of mountains, each giving its own character — shaped by the land and the tree type (ancient-tree, arbor or plantation).

Here's how Yunnan's three core regions break down — and where this brick sits:

1. Ban-Na (西双版纳) The King of Pu-erh

Yunnan's most famous region, and home to the old and new "Six Great Tea Mountains." It splits into two very different sides:

Menghai (勐海) — bold and domineering: rich, thick flavour, powerful cha qi and a high aroma.

★ This brick is from Menghai — one of the heartlands of premium pu-erh, whose rich teas age beautifully.

↳ Bu-Lang Tea Mountain (布朗茶山) — its most celebrated origins: Ban Zhang (班章), Lao Man E (老曼峨) and Hekai (贺开).

Yiwu (易武) — soft and fine: a floral-honey aroma over a wild forest character, with the least bitterness of all.

2. Lincang (临沧) The Queen of Sweetness

Lincang is all about sweetness — a high, lifted aroma and a broad, generous sweetness, floral and honeyed, with barely any bitterness. It's built on the celebrated Mengku broad-leaf variety.

Best-known origins: Bing Dao (冰岛), Xigui (昔归), Xiao Hu Zhai (小户寨) and Mengku (勐库).

3. Pu'er (普洱) The Birthplace

Where the name "pu-erh" began. Soft, sweet and balanced, leaning to a floral-fruity sweetness — easy and approachable.

Best-known origins: Wuliang Shan (无量山) and Kunlu Shan (困鹿山).

A handy shorthand pu-erh drinkers use:

Ban Zhang is the king (bold and powerful),

Bing Dao is the queen (sweet and smooth),

Yiwu is grace itself (soft, supple and silky).

What Decides a Pu-erh's Price?

Pu-erh prices run from everyday to eye-watering, and it helps to know what you're paying for. A few things set the price:

Where it's grown (region): a famous mountain like Lao Ban Zhang or Bing Dao is scarce and commands top prices.
The tree (variety & age): ancient-tree (gu shu) leaf sits above arbor (qiao mu), which sits above plantation (tai di).
The pick: tender early-spring leaf, like this one, fetches more than coarser or later leaf.
Age, brand & accolades: older well-stored teas, prestige makers like Long Yuan Hao, and award-winners all add to the price.

That's why two cakes with the same famous name can sit at very different prices. The exact village, tree type, grade and season all change what ends up in the cup, so the same name never means the same tea.

We're honest about price. This one earns its keep — a prestige-brand, gold-award brick with nearly two decades of clean age.

A bigger price tag doesn't mean "better for you." Don't chase the number on the label: trust your tongue, not the price. The right pu-erh is simply the one you love drinking — which is exactly why we sample everything first.

Pu-erh, Caffeine & Antioxidants

Like all true tea from the Camellia sinensis plant, pu-erh is post-fermented and naturally contains antioxidants and caffeine — that's simply part of the leaf.

A well-aged raw pu-erh like this drinks clean and mellow, its early bitterness long softened with age. If you're sensitive to caffeine, keep your leaf light and your steeps short, and enjoy it earlier in the day.

Brew this raw pu-erh the right way

— check out our professional Brewing Guide, Storage Care, and The Origins below 👇

🍵 Brewing Guide

How to brew aged raw (Sheng) Pu-erh?

A well-aged raw (Sheng) pu-erh like this takes full boiling water — the years have softened its early bitterness, so 100°C draws out its clean, mellow, refreshing character. Always give the leaf a quick rinse first.

The Vessel: Zisha or Gaiwan

Brew it in a Yixing zisha pot for a rounder, fuller cup — or a gaiwan for an easy, more affordable start that keeps the aroma bright and clean. Keep one clay pot for raw pu-erh only.

The Ritual (Gongfu Style)

Temperature: 100°C — full boiling water for this aged brick. (A young raw pu-erh would go cooler, 90–95°C.)
Ratio: 1:20 to 1:30 — for a 150ml gaiwan, use 5–7g.
Step 1 — Warm the Vessel: pour boiling water in, swirl, discard.
Step 2 — Break & Add the Leaves: a brick is densely pressed — slide a cake pin in from the edge, take your time, and keep the leaf as whole as you can.
Step 3 — Rinse (洗茶): pour boiling water in, then decant and discard within 5 seconds. This wakes and rinses the pressed leaf.
Step 4 — First Brews: quick in, quick out — around 10 seconds each — to keep the cup clean and bright. Decant fully.
Step 5 — Later Brews: extend the steep gradually. A well-aged brick gives a long, mellow, refreshing run of infusions.
Step 6 — Drink: smell the empty cup — the aroma is pure, elegant and robust.

Common Mistakes

❌ Skipping the rinse — always pour off the first quick infusion to wake the leaf.
❌ Long steeps in the first few brews — keep them quick to stay clean and refreshing.
❌ Water off the boil — an aged brick like this wants a full 100°C.
❌ Using a clay pot that's held ripe or floral tea — flavours cross-contaminate. Keep one pot for raw pu-erh only.

📦 Storage & Care

Storage Care for Raw Pu-erh

Raw pu-erh is made to be kept — more than any tea, a good raw brick keeps improving with age. Bitterness softens, the body rounds out, and the aroma deepens over the years.

Cool, Dry and Dark: store in a cool, dry spot out of direct sunlight. Do NOT refrigerate.
Let It Breathe: do NOT seal pu-erh airtight. The thin paper wrapper is deliberately breathable so the tea can keep maturing slowly. Keep it in the wrapper, or in a breathable home like our pu-erh bamboo storage unit or an unglazed clay jar.
Away From Odours: pu-erh readily absorbs smells. Keep it away from coffee, spices and scented foods, and never store different teas together — they cross-scent.
Keep the Brick Whole: break off only what you need. A whole brick ages more evenly than loose broken leaf.

🌿 The Origins

A Gold-Award Menghai Brick by Long Yuan Hao

The Brand: Long Yuan Hao (龙园号) — a prestige Chinese pu-erh brand. This brick won the 2007 Tea Ancestor Gold Award.
Region: Menghai (勐海), in Ban-Na, Yunnan — one of the heartlands of premium pu-erh, whose rich teas age beautifully.
The Leaf: early-spring 2007 arbor leaf — strong, tight and smooth, with abundant silver buds.
The Cup: a pure, elegant, robust aroma; a clear, light-yellow brew; a mellow, refreshing taste. A brick of both drinking and collection value.
Format: pressed into a 250g brick, also available as a 50g sample.
VGT Sourcing: for 18 years, Valley Green Tea has been a trusted place to buy authentic pu-erh tea online in Australia. Explore more Raw (Sheng) pu-erh, browse our Ripe (Shou) pu-erh, or see the whole Pu-erh collection.

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