Hunan Dark Tea

Mainly produced in Anhua, with additional production in Yiyang, Taojiang, Ningxiang, Hanshou, Yuanjiang, and other counties. Hunan dark tea is made from fresh leaves that undergo fixing, initial rolling, pile-fermentation, re-rolling, and drying. The tea strips are curled like loaches, with an oily black color, orange-yellow liquor, yellowish-brown leaves, a mellow taste, and a pine-smoke aroma. The steamed and basket-pressed dark tea is called "Tianjian," while brick-shaped compressed forms include Heizhuan, Huazhuan, and Fuzhuan.

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 stems. They undergo fixing, rolling, initial sun-drying, re-frying, re-rolling, pile-fermentation, and sun-drying. When steamed and pressed into bricks using old green tea as raw material, the product is called "Old Green Brick," mainly sold in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

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, Rongjing, and other areas in Sichuan, is compressed into tight teas—Kangzhuan and Jinjian—mainly sold in Tibet, as well as in Qinghai and the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan. West Road border tea, produced in Guanxian, Chongqing, Dayi, and other areas in Sichuan, is steamed and pressed into bamboo baskets to form square or round package tea, mainly sold in the Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, as well as in Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, and other provinces (regions). The South Road tea processing involves fixing the harvested branches and leaves with a cutting knife, followed by multiple rounds of "pile-turning," "steaming, and distillation" before sun-drying. The West Road tea processing is simpler, with the harvested branches and leaves directly sun-dried.

Yunnan-Guangxi Dark Tea

Yunnan dark tea is made from sun-dried Yunnan green tea that undergoes moist pile-fermentation before drying, collectively referred to as Pu-erh Tea. This loose Pu-erh tea has stout strips, an orange-yellow liquor, a rich and mellow taste, and a distinctive aged aroma, making it suitable for direct consumption. Using this loose Pu-erh tea as raw material, it can be steamed and pressed into various shapes of compressed tea—cake tea, tight tea, and round tea (i.e., Seven Sons Cake Tea).

The most famous Guangxi dark tea is Liupao Tea, named after its origin in Liupao Township, Cangwu County, Guangxi. It has a production history of over 200 years. Currently, besides Cangwu, counties like Hexian, Hengxian, Cenxi, Yulin, Zhaoping, Lingui, and Xing'an also produce it in certain quantities. The processing of Liupao tea involves fixing, rolling, pile-fermentation, re-rolling, and drying. During further processing, the raw tea still requires moist pile-fermentation, steaming and basket-pressing, and aging to develop the characteristic red, thick, mellow, and aged flavor of Liupao tea.

Pu-erh tea and Liupao tea are special dark teas with unique qualities. Their appeal lies in their aged aroma, and they have a broad market in Hong Kong, Macau, Southeast Asia, Japan, and other regions. Dark tea is a tea category unique to China. It is named for the dark, blackish color of the tea leaves. Chinese people generally do not have a strong preference for aged tea. It is said that the Japanese tend to favor fresh tea; however, recently, the Japanese have started to show interest in "Pu-erh tea," a representative dark tea from Yunnan. This is likely influenced by the custom in Hong Kong of drinking aged tea.