On November 29, 2025, China's “Traditional Chinese Tea Production Techniques and Related Customs” was officially inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Currently, China has a total of 43 projects listed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, ranking first in the world.

“Traditional Chinese Tea Production Techniques and Related Customs” covers 44 national-level intangible cultural heritage representative projects. Today, we are delighted to introduce you to the production techniques of Anhua Dark Tea (Fu Brick Tea Production Techniques).

Dark Tea Production Techniques

Fu Brick Tea Production Techniques

Fu Brick Tea is a typical representative of dark teas in China, produced in Anhua County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province. It is the only type of dark tea with a flowering process that generates beneficial fungi. It is made from high-quality dark tea leaves through a series of processes including piling, fermentation, shaping, and flowering.

The production techniques are complex, time-consuming, and costly, involving over 50 steps, primarily categorized into three stages: processing raw dark tea, refining the tea, and shaping it and sealing it.

Piling is a critical step in the production of dark tea, where the freshly rolled tea leaves are piled on a clean floor away from direct sunlight and covered with damp cloths to maintain warmth and humidity. This triggers a series of complex chemical reactions that produce the distinctive flavor and quality of Fu Brick Tea.

The flowering process is the most important stage in the production of Fu Brick Tea, as it is the key to forming “Golden Flowers,” scientifically known as “Eurotium cristatum.” Historically, tea connoisseurs judged the quality of Fu Brick Tea based on the presence and abundance of “Golden Flowers,” believing that “good tea bears golden flowers, and more flowers indicate better quality.”

For centuries, Fu Brick Tea has been an essential part of life for various ethnic minorities in Northwest China, alongside milk and meat, due to its unique and irreplaceable Health benefits. It is referred to as the “Mysterious Tea” of the ancient Silk Road and the “Life-sustaining Tea” of the ethnic minorities in the Northwest. Fu Brick Tea combines practical value, cultural significance, artistic merit, and collectibility, profoundly influencing people's material and cultural lives.