ITea World Hubei hei cha (dark tea)

 

the color didn't look light like that in real life

I'm reviewing the Hubei hei cha / dark tea sample from ITea World, a set they sent free for review (many thanks!).  

Their Liu Bao was pretty good; a bit approachable and mellow as those sometimes go, but that trade-off seemed fine, giving up some intensity along with not including typical edginess, rougher feel and slate mineral base.  

This website information includes limited description of the Hubei version:

It occurred to me during the tasting to look up what this might be in more detail, beyond "dark tea from Hubei," so I'll include a couple of other references about potentially related types after the review section.

Review:

#1:  this is what I really like about hei cha; it's warm, sweet, rich, and mild, with good depth.  It's not distinctive and refined related to a set of subtle aspects standing out and balancing as occurs with good Wuyi Yancha, and not as intense and complex as sheng pu'er, but it's pleasant.  

The flavor comes across as one distinct range, but it is complex in its own way.  That might include woody tone, towards cedar, and mild and deep spice, along the line of incense spice.  And it's just opening up; that list should run longer next round.

#2:  Intensity, complexity, and depth did pick up a lot.  I don't think I'm going to do description justice; a lot of this range is unusual, not all that familiar to me.  It might taste a bit like leather, but in an unusual form, not like a shoe smells, or baseball glove, more how old books smell.  

The tannins related range is interesting, how this isn't all that close to black tea range, or even shou pu'er, but kind of in between the two.  One part tastes like an aspect in black teas, like that tannin edge, but the rest is rich, complex, and earthy, like incense spice, or Chinese medicinal spices.  One part is probably like root spice, yet another range I can't pin down well.  

It's interesting how this tastes like a range of different things that I can't clearly describe.  Sometimes when you read other reviews a flavor you've missed identifying seems clear, something odd like pine smoke, but in this case I might not be able to relate to even a long list.  It might be interesting to cite the vendor's take and a couple of other related product listings, to see what else turns up in those.

The effect is quite clean; this could easily be a bit musty, or contain an off range aspect, but it doesn't.

#3:  the flavors and overall balance shifts.  Intensity is pretty good, and in this drinkable range it could be brewed quite strong and still work.  I'm brewing the 5 gram sample in a 90/100 ml gaiwan, using 10 to 15 second infusion times, and it's still extracting plenty of flavor.  Feel is interesting, the way it really settles on the center and rear of your tongue.  There's a pine-sap like aspect that's picking up, that was present earlier, but was harder to identify when it was less dominant.  

Someone really looking for fruit tones (or that and floral range, two main review description scopes) might cite this as including dried fruit, dried mango or tamarind, and that's part of it, but definitely not the main range.  

A mineral base stands out, linking with the medicinal herb flavor aspect, grounding it in a flavor similar to what I tasted as a child in my grandparent's artesian well.  I suppose that only related to the rock content in that area, that the natural pumping process from underground pressure doesn't add any one particular flavor.

#4:  more of the same, I suppose.  There's a more subtle shift of what had already been there, the balance, but it's not unlike the last round.  Feel and aftertaste ramp up a bit as I brew this slightly longer, but it's not really fading yet.  Intensity is good for this tea version; for a tea this ground up it could extract really fast and then fade, but intensity was quite good to begin with.

#5:  heavier woody tones are picking up, what one would expect from later rounds.  This is moving through a transition cycle fast for being so ground up, and for using 15 second infusion times instead of really short brewing.  For 5 grams per 90 ml gaiwan it works out to brew a bit longer, often longer than this, and then for higher proportion, 8 or so, more standard for me, using quite short infusion times works better, under 10 seconds.

A dried fruit aspect also picks up, but I still can't really identify it.  It would be possible to interpret that as a warm and rich floral tone instead, but I think it's closer to a dried fruit.  It might be closest to dried longan.  I don't suppose that would be familiar to most, but it might be my overall favorite dried fruit.  Once I start on a bag of those I can't stop, and if I ever see that I buy it.  Fresh longan is nice too, and we buy that, but drying it warms the flavor range quite a bit, and the sweetness ramps up, and those are already sweet to begin with.  I might have been mentioning sweetness more in this review; it doesn't stand out as much as in some tea versions but that is what's tying all the rest together, making it seem pleasant.

I think I'll stop notes here because this runs long, and gets repetitive.  I really liked this tea.  For lots of the other ITea World samples they're just pretty good versions of basic types, which is nice, but not all that novel or interesting to me, having been through all that for many years, but this is a little different.  To me hei cha is usually either pretty good or else it kind of clicks, and is that much better, and this works well for me.

What is Hubei hei cha?

Hubei hei cha is probably not all one thing, but a couple of references from other vendors about hei cha versions from that area might be interesting.

2009 Chuan "Qing Zhuan Cha" (Green Brick Tea) 1700g Dark Tea, ZhaoLiQiao Tea Factory, Hubei Province (listing from King Tea Mall); this sells for $5.99 for 100 grams, not much)

"Qing Zhuan Cha" (Green Brick Tea) is a type of dark tea, distinct from green tea, originating from Hubei province. The name "Lao Qing Cha" (Old Green Tea) is used to describe this tea, where "Lao" signifies a traditional naming convention rather than the age of the tea, similar to the term "Lao Shi" meaning teacher, not specifically an old teacher.

As is common with dark teas, the material used for Qing Zhuan Cha is of a rougher texture. This tea is known for its dark appearance, elegant fragrance, and its ability to age gracefully over time.

The tea liquor is a rich red, nearing brown, with a notable brightness that speaks to its quality.

In terms of taste, Qing Zhuan Cha is thick, mellow, and smooth, making it a delightful choice for tea enthusiasts.

This tea is particularly popular among people living in regions like Mongolia and Tibet. It is valued not only for its flavor but also for its digestive benefits and cost-effectiveness, making it a practical and enjoyable choice in these areas.

Sounds nice.

2021 Hubei Dong Zhuang Brand Qing Zhuan Cha 50g, Chawang Shop listing, selling for $3.50 for 50 grams.

Traditional old style dark tea brick from Hubei province made by traditional technique (selection, fermentation, high temperature steaming, compression, drying). This style brick is made for Iner Mongolia - you can see old Mongolian script in wrapper, which is still used in Inner Mongolia. Clean deep orange brewed tea is sweet and herbal flavor in mouth with light floral aftertaste. This tea can be brewed in gaiwan or cook for a long time without astrigency or bitter or also can make nomad milk tea:

Living in Inner Mongolia and some areas adjoining to the province, the Mongolians mainly live on beef and mutton, complemented with rice and vegetables. The brick tea is an indispensable beverage to herdsmen and drinking salty tea with milk is a Mongolian tradition. The salty tea with milk uses green or black brick tea as its main material and an iron pot as the cooker. Fill the iron pot with 2-3 liters of water, and then put 50-80 grams of brick tea pieces into the pot once the water boils. After another 5 minutes, pour milk into the pot with a ratio of 1/5 to water and stir it, and then add certain amount of salt. Once the whole pot of the mixture boils, the salty tea with milk is ready to be served.

"Dong Zhuang" is the abbreviation of Yang Lou Dong tea house. Yang Lou Dong Chibi city is the origin of Qing Zhuan, the invention began in the Tang Dynasty, but the prosperity actually was during the Ming and Qing Dynasties time.

I don't think I'd experiment with making salted milk tea, boiling it together, but that does sound familiar.  It would seem to be at least vaguely related to the yak butter variations made with different types of brick teas.

Looking back it's odd that this tea is a year and a half old, even if it was pre-fermented more than these other product summaries seem to describe.  It wasn't green in character, not bitter, and didn't seem that young.  I'd expect that if it was pre-fermented that it would have more rough edges when so young.  Then again these aren't really clear processing steps summaries, and it's not clear that the three versions are identical in style.  

It's still interesting hearing about other potentially related types, and the main thing is still how the reviewed version comes across, how pleasant it is.  If it's a type of tea that sells for $5 or 6 for 100 grams, and it is similar to these, then the experienced character and quality seem amazing for that low pricing level.  It's common for different quality level versions to sell at different pricing levels; if this is a relatively identical style but a better quality version it may sell at a higher market value.