Dark Tea History and Processing
The earliest dark tea was likely produced in Sichuan, made from green maocha steamed and compressed into border-sale tea. Since transporting tea from Sichuan to northwestern regions was difficult due to poor transportation infrastructure, reducing volume by steaming and compressing it into lumps was necessary. During this process, the piled wet tea leaves fermented for over twenty days, gradually turning from green to black. The finished lump tea had a dark brown color and developed a unique flavor profile, hence the name "dark tea." Dark tea is produced through microbial fermentation. Because the raw materials are relatively coarse and old, and the manufacturing process involves prolonged pile fermentation, the leaves mostly appear dark brown, leading to the name "dark tea."
Based on differences in origin and processing techniques, dark tea can be categorized into Hunan dark tea, Hubei old green tea, Sichuan border tea, and Yunnan-Guangxi dark tea. For those accustomed to light green tea, the initial taste of dark tea might be challenging, but with persistent consumption, its unique, rich, and mellow flavor becomes appreciated.
Dark tea belongs to the post-fermented tea category, is unique to China, has a long production history, and is primarily compressed for border sales. It is mainly produced in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangxi. Major varieties include Hunan dark tea, Hubei old green tea, Sichuan border tea, Guangxi Liubao loose tea, and Yunnan Pu-erh tea.
The basic processing steps for dark tea are killing green, rolling, pile fermentation (wodui), and drying. Dark tea generally uses coarse raw materials, and the manufacturing often involves extended pile fermentation, resulting in oily black or dark brown leaves. Dark tea is mainly supplied to ethnic minorities in border regions, hence also called border-sale tea.
Dark maocha is the primary raw material for pressing various compressed teas. Various compressed dark teas are daily necessities for Tibetan, Mongolian, and Uyghur ethnic groups, encapsulated by the saying, "Rather go without food for a day than without tea."
Types of Dark Tea:
Due to regional and processing differences, dark tea includes Hunan dark tea, Hubei old green tea, Sichuan border tea, Yunnan Pu-erh tea, and Guangxi Liubao tea.
1 Hunan Dark Tea
Primarily produced in Anhua, with significant quantities also from Yiyang, Taojiang, Ningxiang, Hanshou, and Yuanjiang counties. Hunan dark tea is made from plucked fresh leaves through five steps: killing green, initial rolling, pile fermentation, re-rolling, and drying. Hunan dark tea strips are curled like earthworms, with an oily black color, orange-yellow liquor, yellowish-brown wet leaves, and a mellow aroma with a hint of pine smoke. Steamed and compressed dark maocha packed in baskets is called Tianjian; when steamed and pressed into bricks, it becomes Heizhuan (black brick), Huazhuan (flower brick), or Fuzhuan (fu brick).
2 Hubei Old Green Tea
Old green tea is produced in Puqi, Xianning, Tongshan, Chongyang, Tongcheng, and other counties. The harvested tea leaves are relatively coarse and contain more stalks. Processing involves killing green, rolling, initial sun-drying, re-frying, re-rolling, pile fermentation, and sun-drying. Using old green tea as raw material, steaming and pressing it into brick form produces "Old Qingzhuan," mainly sold in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
3 Sichuan Border Tea
Sichuan border tea is divided into South Road border tea and West Road border tea. South Road border tea, produced in Ya'an, Tianquan, Yingjing, etc., is pressed into compressed teas—Kangzhuan and Jinjian—mainly sold in Tibet, as well as Qinghai and the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. West Road border tea, produced in Guanxian, Chongqing, Dayi, etc., is steamed and pressed into rectangular or round packages wrapped in bamboo baskets, called Fangbao Cha or Yuanbao Cha, mainly sold in the Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, and Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, etc. The South Road tea processing involves repeatedly piling, steaming, and sun-drying the harvested branches and leaves after killing green. West Road tea processing is simpler, directly sun-drying the harvested branches and leaves.
4 Yunnan Pu-erh Tea
Made from Yunnan large-leaf varietal fresh leaves processed into sun-dried maocha, which then undergoes slow natural post-fermentation or rapid pile fermentation (wodui), developing a reddish, thick liquor and aged aroma. Using Pu-erh loose tea as raw material, it can be steamed and pressed into various shapes of compressed tea. Thus, Pu-erh products are diverse, including Pu-erh loose tea, cake tea, brick tea, square tea, and tuo tea. Pu-erh cake tea is typically packaged seven cakes together, called "Seven Sons Cake Tea." There are "raw cakes" (also called "green cakes") and "ripe cakes"; raw cakes are directly pressed from sun-dried maocha; ripe cakes are pressed from pile-fermented Pu-erh loose tea.
5 Guangxi Liubao Tea
The most famous Guangxi dark tea is Liubao tea, named after Liubao Township in Cangwu County, Guangxi, with over 200 years of production history. Besides Cangwu, He County, Heng County, Cenxi, Yulin, Zhaoping, Lingui, Xing'an, and other counties also produce significant amounts. The Liubao tea manufacturing process involves killing green, rolling, pile fermentation (wodui), re-rolling, and drying. When processing the maocha further, it still requires moistening and pile fermentation, steaming and pressing into baskets, stacking for aging, ultimately forming Liubao tea's characteristic red, thick, mellow, and aged taste.
Compressed Dark Tea
Using various dark maocha as raw material, steamed and pressed into different shapes of compressed tea, mainly including Hunan's "Xiangjian," "Heizhuan," "Huazhuan," "Fuzhuan"; Hubei's "Old Qingzhuan"; Sichuan's "Kangzhuan," "Jinjian," "Fangbao Cha"; Yunnan's "Jin Cha," "Yuan Cha," "Bing Cha"; and Guangxi's "Liubao Tea."
Xiangjian: Produced in Anhua, Hunan, is a strip-shaped basket-packed dark tea. Previously categorized as Tianjian, Gongjian, and Shengjian, now renamed Xiangjian No. 1, 2, and 3, steamed and pressed from grades 1, 2, and 3 dark maocha respectively. Xiangjian No.1 weighs 50 kg per basket, No.2 weighs 45 kg, No.3 weighs 40 kg. Mainly sold in Gansu, Ningxia, etc. Xiangjian pressing involves weighing, steaming, basket loading, pressing, bundling, needle venting, and drying.
Heizhuan (Black Brick): Produced in Anhua, Hunan, is a brick-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea, size 35×18×3.5 cm, black-brown, mainly sold in Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia. Made from dark maocha through weighing, steaming, pre-pressing, brick pressing, cooling, brick removal, brick trimming, and brick inspection.
Huazhuan (Flower Brick): Produced in Anhua, Hunan, is a brick-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea. Size 35×18×3.5 cm, each piece weighs 2 kg. Mainly sold in Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia. Huazhuan evolved from Huajuan Tea (also called Qianliang Tea), pressed into a cylinder resembling a tree trunk, each basket weighing 1000 liang in old measurements. After 1958, it was pressed into bricks. The pressing process is similar to Heizhuan.
Old Qingzhuan: Produced in Zhaoliqiao, Hubei, is a brick-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea, size 34×17×4 cm, mainly sold in Inner Mongolia, etc. Made from old green tea through screening, pressing, drying, and packaging.
Kangzhuan: Produced in Ya'an and Leshan areas, Sichuan, belongs to South Road border tea, is a round-corner pillow-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea, size 17×9×6 cm, mainly sold in Tibet, Qinghai, and Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. Made from sun-dried Mao Zhuang tea by steaming and pressing.
Jinjian: Produced in Ya'an and Leshan areas, Sichuan, also belongs to South Road border tea, is a round-corner pillow-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea, size 24×19×12 cm, each piece weighs 2.5 kg. Mainly sold in Tibet, Qinghai, and Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. Made from sun-dried Mao Jian tea by steaming and pressing.
Fangbao Cha, Yuanbao Cha: Belong to West Road border tea. Yuanbao Cha is no longer produced. Fangbao Cha is produced in Guanxian, Anxian, Pingwu, etc., Sichuan. It is a rectangular basket-packed stir-fried and pressed dark tea, size 66×50×32 cm. Mainly sold in Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, also in Qinghai and Gansu. Fangbao Cha is made from sun-dried tea through stir-frying, packing, baking, and cooling.
Fuzhuan (Fu Brick): Mainly produced in Anhua, Yiyang, Linxiang, Hunan, with some production in Sichuan. It is a rectangular brick-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea. Hunan Fuzhuan size is 35×18.5×5 cm, each piece weighs 2 kg; Sichuan Fuzhuan size is 35×21.7×5.3 cm, each piece weighs 3 kg. Fuzhuan is mainly sold in Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, etc. Hunan Fuzhuan is made from dark maocha through blending and screening, steaming and pile-fermentation, pressing and shaping, and flowering (developing golden flowers) and drying. Quality is superior when more "Golden Flowers" (golden yellow mold spores) are present.
Jin Cha (Tight Tea): Produced in Yunnan Province. It is a rectangular steamed and pressed dark tea. Previously shaped like a heart with a handle, it was changed to a brick shape after 1957, size 15×10×2.2 cm, each piece 250 g. Mainly sold in Tibet and Yunnan Tibetan areas. Made from Dian Qing (Yunnan green tea) raw material,经过潮水沤堆后蒸压干燥而制成 (through moistening, pile fermentation, then steaming, pressing, and drying).
Yuan Cha (Round Tea): Produced in Yunnan Province. It is a large round cake-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea, also called "Seven Sons Cake Tea." Diameter 20 cm, center thickness 2.5 cm, edge thickness 1 cm, each cake weighs 357 g. Mainly sold in Southeast Asian countries. Made from Dian Qing raw material, through moistening, pile fermentation, then steaming and pressing.
Bing Cha (Cake Tea): Produced in Yunnan Province. It is a small round cake-shaped steamed and pressed dark tea. Diameter 11.6 cm, center thickness 1.6 cm, edge thickness 1.3 cm, each cake weighs 125 g. Mainly sold in Lijiang, Diqing, etc., Yunnan. Also made from Dian Qing raw material, through moistening, pile fermentation, then steaming and pressing.
Liubao Tea: Produced in Cangwu, He County, Gongcheng, Fu County, etc., Guangxi. Liubao tea comes in loose and compressed forms. Compressed Liubao tea is 56.7 cm high, 53.3 cm in diameter, each basket weighs 30-50 kg. Made from Liubao loose tea, through moistening, pile fermentation, then steaming, hot packing into baskets, compressing, cooling, and stacking for aging. The appearance of "Golden Flowers" (golden yellow mold) indicates the best quality.
Dark Tea Tasting Terminology:
1 Dry Tea Shape Terminology
1.1 Earthworm strip: Tea strips are straight, relatively large, resembling earthworms.
1.2 Folded strip: Tea strips are wrinkled and overlapping.
1.3 Upright: Brick form is complete, brick surface flat, edges and corners distinct.
1.4 Clear marking: Patterns, trademarks, text, etc., on the brick surface are clear.
1.5 Layering: The surface layer of the brick tea warps but does not fall off.
1.6 Broken surface: Part of the surface tea has fallen off the brick.
1.7 Cover dropping: The covering layer of cake tea falls off.
1.8 Appropriate tightness: Compression is moderate, neither too tight nor too loose.
1.9 Smooth: Brick surface is flat and smooth, without layering, surface loss, or protruding stalks.
1.10 Golden Flowers: Golden yellow spores of the gray-green mold (Aspergillus cristatus) in Fu brick tea. Abundant golden flowers indicate better quality.
1.11 Axe-shape: Brick is thick at one end and thin at the other, resembling an axe.
1.12 Gap: Brick tea, cake tea, etc., have残缺 (chi que - missing/notched) edges.
1.13 Exposed core: The inner tea is exposed on the surface.
1.14 Cracking: The brick surface has cracks.
1.15 Burnt core: The center of the brick tea is dark, black, or red. Burnt core bricks often develop mold.
1.16 Broken layer: Jinjian tea breaks in the middle, not forming a whole piece.
2 Dry Tea Color Terminology
2.1 Black and glossy: Black and oily. Also used for black tea and oolong dry leaf color.
2.2 Semi-yellow: Color is mixed and uneven; leaf tips black, stem ends yellowish-black.
2.3 Blackish brown: Brown with a black tint. Also used for compressed tea liquor color, wet leaf color, and oolong/black tea dry leaf color.
2.4 Iron black: Black like iron.
2.5 Brownish auburn: Auburn with a brown tint. Also used for compressed tea liquor color, wet leaf color, and black tea dry leaf color.
2.6 Bluish yellow: Yellow with a bluish tinge, due to insufficient post-fermentation of raw material.
2.7 Liver color: Red and dull, like liver color.
2.8 Auburnish red: Red with a brownish tint.
3 Liquor Color Terminology
3.1 Orange red: Red with an orange hue. Also used for oolong tea liquor color.
3.2 Red and dull: Red and deep/dark. Also used for black tea liquor color.
3.3 Brownish red: Red with a brown hue, like coffee color. Also used for black tea dry leaf color and milk-added black tea liquor color.
3.4 Brownish yellow: Yellow with a brown hue. Also used for black tea dry leaf color.
3.5 Reddish yellow: Yellow with a red tint.
4 Aroma Terminology
4.1 Aged aroma: A pure, aged aroma, without mustiness.
4.2 Fungal floral aroma: The special aroma from normal, abundant "flowering" in Fu brick tea.
5 Taste Terminology
5.1 Aged and mellow: Taste is aged and mellow without moldy flavor.
5.2 Coarse and plain: Taste is thin and flat, with a rough throat feel. Also used for green tea, black tea, oolong tea taste.
6 Wet Leaf Terminology
6.1 Yellowish black: Black with a yellow tint.
6.2 Reddish auburn: Auburn with a red tint. Also used for liquor color.