Pu-erh tea standard cake Bing Dao-ripened (357g)-2017

ValleyGreenTea

Pu-erh tea standard cake Bing Dao-ripened (357g)-2017

$54.60 AUD

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50g Sample

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Bing Dao Ripened Pu-erh Cake (Shou 熟) — Lincang 2017

Other names: Bing Dao, 冰岛, Mengku, Lincang Pu-erh, Shou Pu-erh, Ripe Pu-erh, 熟普

Bing Dao cake is the queen of pu-erh — Yunnan's most celebrated name for natural, rock-sugar sweetness.

This ripe (Shou) cake is pressed from Mengku Bing Dao leaf off century-old ancient trees, with excellent craft and dignified packaging to match.

Pressed in 2017, it already drinks beautifully — rich and full-bodied — and it has real room to grow with age.

Best of all, it's an excellent entry-price-point Bing Dao Cake — a genuine taste of Yunnan's most famous sweet-tea name, without the premium price tag.

About This Cake

A premium ripe (Shou) pu-erh cake from Bing Dao (冰岛) in the Lincang region — pressed from the leaf of century-old ancient trees (古树) at Mengku (勐库). The craft is excellent and the presentation handsome.

Though only pressed in 2017, it already pours a rich, full-bodied cup with the smooth depth Bing Dao is loved for — and, well stored, it promises to keep improving for years to come.

Type: Ripened (Shou 熟) pu-erh cake
Region: Bing Dao (冰岛), Mengku (勐库), Lincang (临沧)
Trees: century-old ancient trees (gu shu 古树)
Taste: rich, full-bodied, deep and smooth
Ageing: pressed 2017 · strong potential to keep improving with age
Craft & packaging: excellent craft, handsome presentation
Best for: an affordable first taste of famous Bing Dao
Weight: 357g cake · 50g sample

Essential Pu-erh Tea Accessories

A few pieces make pu-erh much easier to enjoy:

Cake pin (breaker): a pu-erh cake is pressed rock-hard, so you'll want a proper pu-erh cake pin to prise it into pieces without shredding the leaf.
Teapot: for pu-erh we reach first for a Yixing zisha pot — the unglazed clay softens pu-erh's earthy edges for a rounder, smoother cup — or a gaiwan for an easier, more affordable start.
Storage: keep your cakes breathing and organised in a pu-erh bamboo storage unit.

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 cake.

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.

Love black tea, dark tea (hei cha) or roasted oolong? Start ripe — like this cake.

Your next pu-erh: explore by region.

Scroll down — there's plenty here to help you decide. Finding a cake you love is a genuinely fun journey, and the pricey one isn't always the one that suits you.

Every one of our cakes comes in a 50g sample, so you can try before you commit. There's no better way to know a tea than to taste it.

And once you find your favourite — buy a little more to keep. Most pu-erh cakes are aged for years, and when a batch sells out, it's gone for good. Storing the one you love is the smart move.

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 what to expect from each:

1. Banna (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.

↳ 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) This cake, 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: even from the same tree, tender bud-and-tip fetches more than coarser leaf — and spring tea is prized over autumn.
Age, storage, grade & brand: older well-stored cakes, higher grades, and established houses like Dayi and Xiaguan all add to the price.

That's why two cakes with the same famous name — say, "Bing Dao" — 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. A higher-priced cake usually costs more for a real reason — finer material and higher quality.

But taste is deeply personal, and 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 cake 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 gently brewed, well-aged ripe pu-erh tends to drink smooth and rounded rather than sharp. It's the classic cup to enjoy after a rich meal — warming, comforting and easy — which is exactly how it's been loved in China for generations. If you're sensitive to caffeine, keep your leaf light and your steeps short.

Brew this ripened pu-erh the right way

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

🍵 Brewing Guide

How to brew ripened Pu-erh properly?

Ripened (Shou) pu-erh is smooth, forgiving and hard to over-brew — and this Yiwu cake is an especially easy, stable one. The one thing it needs is heat: full boiling water, plus a quick rinse of the leaf before you start.

The Vessel: Gaiwan or Yixing Clay

Brew it in a gaiwan for clean, easy tasting, or a Yixing clay teapot for a rounder, fuller cup — the clay holds heat and deepens the body. Keep one clay pot for ripe pu-erh only.

The Ritual (Gongfu Style)

Temperature: 100°C — full boiling water. Ripe pu-erh needs proper heat to open up and turn smooth and sweet.
Ratio: 1:20 to 1:30 — for a 150ml gaiwan, use 5–7g.
Step 1 — Warm the Vessel: pour boiling water in, swirl, discard. Pre-heats and primes the vessel.
Step 2 — Break & Add the Leaves: use a cake pin from the edge, keeping the leaf as whole as you can, then add to the warm vessel.
Step 3 — Rinse (洗茶): pour boiling water in, then decant and discard within 5 seconds. An aged cake gathers a little dust over its years in storage, so this first infusion simply washes the leaf clean — it's about cleanliness, not taste. Rinse twice for an older cake like this.
Step 4 — First Five Brews: quick in, quick out — around 10 seconds each. This cake is forgiving, so there's plenty of room to find your strength. Decant fully.
Step 5 — After Five Brews: extend the steep gradually. A good cake gives 8–10+ infusions.
Step 6 — Drink: smell the empty cup first. The finish is smooth, sweet and lingering.

On busy days

Thermos: drop 2–3g into a flask, fill with boiling water, steep about 5 minutes. Smooth and sweet all afternoon — never bitter.

Common Mistakes

❌ Water under 95°C — ripe pu-erh stays flat and thin without a full boil.
❌ Skipping the rinse on an aged cake — always pour off the first quick infusion to wash away storage dust.
❌ Long steeps in the first few brews — keep them quick to stay clean and smooth.
❌ Using a clay pot that's held green or floral tea — flavours cross-contaminate. Keep one pot for pu-erh only.

📦 Storage & Care

Storage Care for Pu-erh

Pu-erh is built to be kept — in fact, a good ripe cake keeps improving with age. Sharp notes soften, the body rounds out, and the woody sweetness 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 fermenting 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 Cake Whole: break off only what you need. A whole cake ages more evenly than loose broken leaf. (Ageing describes flavour maturing over time, not any health effect.)

A note on aged pu-erh packaging: the thin outer paper is made that way so the tea can breathe — and after a long time in storage it can turn a little brittle or tear. That's completely normal on an aged pu-erh.

🌿 The Origins

From Bing Dao, Lincang

Core Terroir: Bing Dao (冰岛), at Mengku (勐库) in the Lincang (临沧) region — the "queen" of Yunnan pu-erh, famous for a high, lifted aroma and a clean, rock-sugar sweetness.
The Trees: pressed from the leaf of century-old ancient trees (古树) — deep-rooted old growth that gives a fuller, more layered cup.
The Cake: excellent craft and handsome packaging. Pressed in 2017, it already drinks rich and full-bodied, with real room to keep improving as it ages.
The Maker: produced by He Cang Xuan (合昌轩).
The Craft: ripened pu-erh is made by wo-dui (渥堆, "wet piling") — a controlled fermentation that mellows the raw leaf into a dark, smooth tea ready to enjoy, while still leaving room to age.
VGT Sourcing: for 18 years, Valley Green Tea has been a trusted place to buy authentic pu-erh tea online in Australia. Explore more Ripe (Shou) pu-erh, browse our Raw (Sheng) pu-erh, or see the whole Pu-erh collection.

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