YS 2018 Tian Jian and 2012 Qian Liang hei cha

I bought and reviewed a few teas from Yunnan Sourcing not so long ago, and they sent these hei cha samples with them (many thanks for that).

Hei Cha should be familiar enough, but if not it translates as dark tea or black tea (probably as well to go with "dark," given English using that other term for something else).  It's closest to shu pu'er, but saying just that really oversimplifies things.  I've liked versions in the past; they're definitely different, spanning earthy and mineral intensive ranges, not exactly the most approachable category but still interesting and pleasant. 

Liu Bao is most common, but these other types of brick teas (one of these is loose, to be clear) tend to have a different, milder, more complex character.  All are earthy, but Liu Bao can often express more in mineral range instead, a slate-like mineral aspect along with some degree of char, charcoal-like flavor.

Per normal process I'll just try the teas and write about that, and cite the descriptions before posting a final edit.  One of these is loose tea but the other is prepared as cubes of cut compressed tea; that's going to change things for brewing process.  It's likely that a Gongfu approach makes less sense than just letting them sit longer in a lower proportion of water, but I'll go with that anyway, since it's the standard approach for me at this point.

For background I'll add the actual vendor descriptions.  It stands out that one tea was produced in 2018.  That's normally not how that goes with compressed hei cha, with most types of them usually aging some to transition before sale (or at least that's my understanding), but Liu Bao (another loose hei cha, like this Tian Jian version) can be sold "younger," when new.  It's possible that the style is similar to that hei cha type.

Yunnan Sourcing vendor descriptions

2012 Gao Jian Shan "Qian Liang Cha" Hunan Hei Cha:


Gao Jia Shan production made from 2012 Spring tea leaves. Pressed into a huge 36 kilogram column called "Qian Liang Cha" (aka 1000 catty tea) and then aged for 7 years before we purchased a whole column and then cut into slices and re-packaged into white wrapper 680-780 grams cake...  

Qian Liang tea is compressed in a long column (typically 36kg) through a laborious process that involves steaming the leaves and funneling them into a three layered cylinder of woven bamboo.  Then a team of 5 to 8 people will simultaneously compress the tea using leverage and then tighten each section with thick bamboo stripling.  Once firmly compressed the Qian Liang "logs" are dried in the sun and then finally cured for months in an indoor warehouse.  In this form they can be aged for decades or even centuries without molding, only improving in taste, aroma and complexity with each passing year!

one disk layer (credit the Yunnan Sourcing page)

Interesting!  Those 800 gram cakes (cut disks) sell for $70, so on the inexpensive side too, as hei cha tends to be.  That would be a lot of tea to buy if you didn't know if you liked it but they also sell a 50 gram portion (for $7), which is enough for limited sampling and sharing.


2018 Cha Yu Lin "Liu Bu Xi Village" Tian Jian Basket Tea:


This is a 2018 spring harvest production of Tian Jian tea from Liu Bu Xi village in An Hua County of Hunan（about 20km west of An Hua, here).  High quality first flush of spring tea was picked and processed carefully using kill-green (frying), rolling, fermenting, and drying and then steamed and packed into these little hand-made baskets.

This is a smoky, peaty, molasses type Tian Jian.  it's very sweet and full-bodied as well.  Very rich and complex.  If you are a scotch whisky fan or want a non-alcohol equivalent then this is the tea for you! 

it did look more like a compressed tea before separation (credit YS page)

Again this is moderate in cost, with 500 grams selling for $56, with 50 grams around $8.

Review

Qian Liang left, Tian Jian right

2012 Gao Jian Shan "Qian Liang Cha" Hunan Hei Cha:  it's not even completely unpacked yet, never mind saturated; this might be equivalent to drinking a second rinse for infusion strength (although some people use longer rinses, equivalent to infusion times), with a third rinse to follow.  It works to help the tea loosen and break up, poking it and tearing it apart early on.

Flavor is earthy, as one would expect long-aged cork to be.  It will probably "clean up" some within another couple of infusions but it could be mustier than it is; this flavor range is still relatively clean, for it tasting like aged cork.  Sweetness often helps the earthier range flavors in different hei cha seem to balance, and that supports this version.    Describing a longer flavor list should wait an infusion or two.


2018 Cha Yu Lin "Liu Bu Xi Village" Tian Jian Basket Tea:  it's quite smoky.  Often that comes across as probably a naturally occurring flavor aspect in some young sheng but I'm pretty sure this tea has come into contact with real smoke.  I'm not opposed to the idea of a smoked tea; in the right balance that can make Lapsang Souchong versions very pleasant.  Those tend to be more modest quality versions of that tea, versus their typically superior quality level unsmoked counterparts.  But then it's flavored tea, so the conventions and overall effect changes.

Again I'll hold off a round on saying much more beyond noting this is smoky.  I expected it to taste like Liu Bao and maybe it does, under the smoke.  It might even balance well once the smoke fades a little and natural flavors in the tea evolve to ramp up.

I'll give the next round for both around 30 seconds, which might be a little long for optimum results but it will get those early transitions moving along.

Second infusion

Qian Liang left, Tian Jian right

Qian Liang Cha:  much improved; sweetness ramps up a good bit more, and the old cork flavor fades to be a good bit cleaner, maybe like really old natural fiber rope instead.  Just a little toffee flavor integrates along with the sweetness, and some warmer and richer tones along with that.  The mineral range that's common in sheng, varying a lot in character across younger and more aged versions, isn't as noticeable in this.  The overall effect is a little towards that of a soft, warm, aromatic spice, it's just still more on the earthy side than that.


Tian Jian:  the balance of smoke is improving, with that pulling back just a little.  At least it's now possible to get a sense of what's beyond it.  This does taste a little like a young Liu Bao, that one vegetal aspect that's in those (which isn't the most pronounced flavor; lots of mineral range is typically much more intense).  It tastes a little like a moderate quality version of black tea, the way those can have kind of an awkward roughness to them.  It's not the kind of thing one would experience too often but much less oxidized black tea (kind of a contradiction in terms, right?) expresses this sort of character, like this one.  It seems to relate to stopping the oxidation process before it shifts vegetal range over to the warmer, sweeter and completely different black tea range (malty, or towards cocoa or other flavors).

This probably really does have one more infusion to go to transition to more of how it will be overall though, so it's a little early for mentioning general impressions.  I'll back off brewing time to a bit under 30 seconds to try them on a moderate infusion strength side.

Third infusion

Qian Liang:  this totally works now; it's where it should be.  Sweetness bumps just a little so that it's now part of a pronounced dark caramel / toffee effect.  What I referred to as an aged cork to aged natural fiber rope transition is onto a range even closer to a warm spice, or in incense scent range.  It leaves off as what I interpret as a heavily malted grain, similar to that really rich scent in processed animal feed.  Back in the realm of human foods I guess it's close enough to Ovaltine.

Compared to drinking a good bit of young, aged, or slightly aged sheng (or slightly age-transitioned, depending on use of terms) this is a bit simple in character.  The flavors could cover a broader range, feel is limited, and aftertaste covers only a faint residue of that sweetness and earthiness.  Shu pu'er also tends to give up a lot of those layers of complexity but to me it still falls in the middle, with all those not completely dropping out, just not expressing the same intensity across a lot of range.  With a lot of sheng I would need to drink at least a couple of sips of water between tasting two versions to try to clear away the aftertaste experience of the last (kind of a shame, sometimes, cutting the effect short), but this hei cha is already gone on its own.


Tian Jian:  much better; smoke and the rest balance now.  That smoke is probably a positive contribution; the tea would be different and simpler without it.  Mineral is pronounced in this but not to the extent in Liu Bao (a typical level; those must vary too).  A Chinese-Malaysian friend (who just sent me quite a bit more of a young version I'll get around to reviewing) mentioned that the char effect can resemble the slight charcoal / roasted edge of crispy pork, with a bit of savory depth to it that also matches.  He's right, and it's present in this too (as in two versions compared earlier in the year, one from that friend in KL).

The vegetal rage is woody, a mix of live or only slightly cured hardwood and bark, the way that peelable barks come across, not necessarily birch or aspen, a warmer, darker-colored and scent bark range.

Fourth infusion

Qian Liang:  I might leave off at this infusion, not because the tea is finished, or because it's done transitioning, but only because most of the story will have been told, and going on about minor later transitions won't add much.  The flavor is essentially similar but transitions a little; it's a little creamier, with a little more of a light spice-tone depth.  This probably would keep up those sorts of mild shifts across another few infusions, only limited by me having used relatively long infusion times so far to produce relatively intense versions of these teas.  Drinking them lighter would also work; that's just how I tend to like hei cha. 

The malt-like sweetness is still nice in this; that balances the rest.  There isn't much for any rougher earthier or mineral aspects to balance against, anything to work in spite of not being mild and positive.

If anything the only limitation is that it's simple in effect; there's decent flavor complexity within a limited range but not much for feel structure or aftertaste.  So I guess how much someone likes it relates to their connection with that flavor, and feelings related to the rest dropping out.  Even shu pu'er can have a richer thickness and more aftertaste, although I suppose this might match a lighter and less complex version of one.  It's nice though; I like it.


Tian Jian:  this tea is completely different; it has transitioned quite a bit.  Smoke has largely faded away, leaving the light mineral base, greenish wood tone, and bark-like earth / mineral.  Neither of these would be for everyone; it would depend on how one takes to the general character and then the flavors.  This tea will probably change a good bit over the next half dozen years, but it would be a long time to wait for as simple as the effect is still going to be.  It probably would smooth out and pick up depth, most likely improving substantially, some over two or three years and more as time goes on.

It's not bad as it is now, just unconventional, even within the scope of the hei cha I've tried, which tend to vary a lot.  Given that there are plenty of other types out there I've not experienced yet that's probably more a commentary on my limited exposure, more than this being that unusual.  The character of lightly oxidized black tea relates to some of what's going on with this, that wood-tone.  It's an interesting combination with a Liu Bao-related mineral range, and the smoke, but I suppose I do like the warmer, sweeter range in the other tea better.

Qian Liang left, Tian Jian right

Again both of these can be brewed in different ways.  It's not unlikely that throwing either in a thermos--at a very low proportion, to be clear, even lower than Western brewing ratios--and getting back to them whenever you happen to might provide even better results.  They would work prepared "grandpa style," drank in a tea bottle of some sort along with boiling water, refilled to make infusions as long as they hold up.  Green tea or oolong might be better for that though; these might "brew out" a bit faster.

The idea of simmering these types of teas comes up.  Who knows how close the compressed version (Qian Liang) is to the base for making Tibetan butter tea, touching up a version with a little yak butter and salt.  Good luck turning up that yak butter; hunting down a goat milk version is probably close enough, or just using ordinary butter.

This might be slightly better than a version of Qian Liang that I reviewed three months ago, a little cleaner and sweeter.  That post goes into background on the type and what the name means, really a distance measurement related to this originally being made in a large pole-like bundle, the same theme covered in that citation.  Or smaller versions are made, but per the description this really did come from a 36 kg pressed version, a huge column of tea.

Conclusions

Not bad; both are decent and interesting versions of hei cha.  Anyone's take on these would depend on personal preference, which is always true of how anyone relates to any tea, but all the more so or novel earthy and mineral intensive range hei cha versions.

Based on prior experience with hei cha I'd definitely recommend trying samples to see which types and individual versions you like best, versus gambling on an inexpensive half a kilo of one.  This other Yunnan Souricing "2007 Xiang Yi "Hei Cha Zhuan" Hunan Brick Tea" (which I reviewed here) might also be worth considering; that was a favorite from another order awhile ago.  Two years of additional aging (since that post) wouldn't have changed a tea that was already a decade old then too much, but any difference would probably relate to a slight improvement, given general perspective on hei cha aging. 

that Hunan brick tea (with just a bit of stem); very pleasant in character

I bet I'd describe that tea differently now, given how much hei cha, sheng, and shu ground I've covered in that last two years, but so it goes hearing input from almost anyone on teas.  There are bloggers around who have been at it for a decade (just not many), but in general they've stopped doing detailed tea version reviews years ago.

Compressed teas and tisanes beyond pu'er

First published in parts by TChing, with the last post of three in sequential order here


This subject is familiar to most related to sheng and shu pu'er; both have long since been pressed into cakes (bings), tuochas (dented ball shapes, kind of), bricks, "dragonballs," coins, and other shapes.  This will focus on scope outside of pu'er, since those are more commonly encountered.

The common understanding is that this form related to ease of transport from condensing the size.  Teas from Yunnan could be shipped across the Tea Horse Road to all sorts of regional destinations, processed to be easier to ship, distribute, and later store (with further reading about the modern forms of that history here).  Same for Hunan brick teas, and at some point the same compression process was also applied to shou mei white tea.

More recently compressed black teas and others have become somewhat fashionable.  Why press these, though?  We're at the stage now where modern packaging solutions can cover a lot of the same functional concerns with the tea still in loose form.  Pu'er needs air contact to ferment (to change over time), and to some extent that could apply to other tea types as well, even though the same storage approach and concerns are most typically only extended to white teas.  Compression isn't essential for aging but it does work well to store teas in that form and it helps moderate level of air contact at a suitable level.

Cakes of other tea types seem cool; that's a good reason.  To a limited extent the reshaping could also change tea character slightly, it seems, so there's a functional aspect.  For other teas "designed" for storage and aging it still makes sense on that first level.  Most recently I've tried two versions of this approach applied to tisanes (herbs and fruit), which I'll cover at the end.


shou mei (white tea), or other white teas pressed in different shapes:  really this form is common enough too, but it can be hard for one person to explore even the considerable list of most standard types.  Those teas can be mild but rich-flavored, including caramel or toffee tones with aging transition, evolving to include dried fruit or spice tones.  This post reviews two versions that seemed relatively standard, one from 2008 and 2012, along with a gong mei (same thing, different leaf grade), and candy-bar style pressed white.  Comparison reviewing four white teas together in that account turned out to be a bad idea; not so many rounds in I was blasted on all that caffeine.

Gong Mei cake, a Dayi / Tae Tea version

candy-bar style compressed white tea

a unconventional white tea cake described as pressed Moonlight White (details here)

Hunan region / Fu brick teas:  these seem kind of standard too, potentially very pleasant, flavorful, and typically relatively inexpensive compressed teas that are distinct in character from sheng and shu pu'er.  I've not experienced enough versions to generalize, but of that limited set I have tried pre-fermentation was either not used or not nearly as evident as in shu, and the teas didn't have the same intensity that younger sheng possess.

Then again I've not really tried new / young enough versions of compressed hei cha to really place starting points, related to typical use of a pre-fermentation step.  This Yi Qing Yuan factory version I reviewed with "yellow flowers" was produced in 2009, and this 2007 Xiang Yi "Hei Cha Zhuan" didn't have that version of mold present in it.  That general fungus category and specific "yellow flowers" input is identified in this reference passage:


...The genus Aspergillus is a group of filamentous fungi consist of more than 250 species, which is the most economically important of the fungal genera.  Many species of Aspergillus are used in biotechnology for the production of various metabolites, such as antibiotics, organic acids, medicines or enzymes, or as agents in many food fermentations. The fungal genus Eurotium, which is the teleomorph of Aspergillus, has been proved to be a rich source of novel bioactive metabolites. 

...species formerly included in the genus Eurotium  [a yellow-flowers related reference] are displayed with their Aspergillus name.. it is considered to be safe under low- and high-osmolarity conditions...


The typical hearsay account is that the various types of fungus are generally good for you rather than potentially harmful, not exactly confirmed in that research article passage but to a limited extent supported by it.

Hunan Fu brick tea with "golden flowers"

shai hong / Yunnan black teas:  now we're talking.  I first ran across a version of those and tasted it without reviewing what it was first two years ago, back in 2017, covered here.  Yunnan black teas / dian hong (or shai hong, a reference to versions of that being sun-dried) can vary quite a bit but the range is nice.

That version reminded me a little of those Hunan brick teas for character, beyond being compressed, for being so mild, and for including pleasant dried fruit, rich sweetness, and other earthy complexity.  I've tried a couple of other compressed Yunnan black teas since and they just vary.  This other version was pleasant, and included a bit of tartness, which can be nice in the right balance.  The two main US pu'er vendors are now producing versions, Yunnan Sourcing and White2Tea, with one of the latter's versions boasting the catchy name of Natural Redhead, and the former's branded "Drunk on Red."  The marketing factor being an input seems to show up in the product names.

This video interview with a Yunnan black tea specialist (conducted by William Osmont of Farmerleaf, a Jing Mai based producer and vendor) sheds light on the processing differences in various types of black teas, it just doesn't get into the factor of pressing those.  One take-away from that matching conventional understanding:  Dian Hong, the conventional Yunnan style black teas, are oven dried, and Shai Hong are sun-dried versions, which are milder in fragrance and said to possess the potential to improve with age.  I've tried the same versions across a broad span of time before (a year or more), and they did seem to gain depth and intensity.

chunk of compressed Shai Hong (sun-dried) Yunnan black tea

compressed oolongs:  I had heard of these long before ever trying one, and did get a chance to in the form of a Moychay (Russian vendor) Da Hong Pao roasted oolong bar.  You could tell it wasn't the refined and subtle style of Wuyi Yancha that leans towards an aromatic liqueur or perfume-like aspect range, more flavor-forward and roasted to include sweet, rich caramel flavors instead, positive in character but limited due to being comprised of relatively broken material.  It worked well for me.

I have no idea if the unusual character in that product is somehow common to other compressed oolongs, if others are as flavor-intense and distinctive as that version was.  Some are probably great and others terrible, and all probably vary in taste and other aspect range; that's how that usually goes.  This looks like an interesting version of one (that I haven't tried), a 2006 pressed Da Hong Pao brick from Wuyi Origin, a well regarded producer who sells directly.

one chunk (square) of the Moychay DHP oolong bar

tangerine or orange peel stuffed shu pu'er or black teas (chen pi):  I don't want to add too much about these versions because they really deserve more background discussion and description than I have space for here.  I've tried shu pu'er and black tea versions (and have a white tea stuffed citrus peel at home yet to try), and the were nice, unique and pleasant.  And supposedly very good for health, bordering on a form of Chinese medical practice input.  I'll leave off at citing a reference to claimed health effects, framed in Traditional Chinese medicine terms.  The tea could have positive effects without that description framework being the most accurate model, or some of the benefits could be valid and accurate even if some others aren't:

Actions: Regulates Qi; adjusts the middle Jiao (acrid lifts the spleen Qi, bitter descends the stomach Qi); dries dampness; resolves phlegm; helps the spleen to transport; relieves the diaphragm; directs Qi downward.

shu pu'er stuffed tangerine (I think; could be a mandarin orange)

compressed tisanes:  a final frontier not everyone even wants to venture into, or would have heard of.  Again I tried two completely different tisane bars from Moychay (they sent me quite a few samples to review last year, and I've even started contributing some review-article content to a their website).  One was compressed fruit that seemed to contain a bit of spice, really far from standard tea in character, but pleasant.

One was a pressed version of willow herb, which also goes by fireweed, and is also called Ivan chay.  This herb is really unique for being able to oxidize, in a way similar to tea (Camellia Sinensis), although the couple of versions I've tried wouldn't get mistaken for tea.  The other was a pressed version of dried fruits, definitely different.  A version I didn't try is made of rose petals and cherry leaves.

If the way it works out similar to "real tea" versions pressing the herbs would only change loose material character a little.  They're not the same as Camellia Sinensis but the wider range of materials input enables a different range of potential.  Any herb, flower, or fruit blend could be combined and pressed that way, in theory.  Or mixes of teas and other inputs, which is a popular theme in Western markets now.  One potential down-side is that there's no current market demand for such a thing (pressed tisanes and blends), since it seems to have just started existing, but in a different sense that only increases the potential.

compressed willow herb bar (aka fireweed or Ivan chay)

compressed fruit bar

I think the compressed tisane theme was more appealing to me because trying the one local shop white tea bar and Moychay Da Hong Pao (roasted oolong) were such positive experiences.  Both of those could be brewed Gongfu style, prepared in a gaiwan using lots of short infusions, or they worked well made Western style, and probably just as well prepared "grandpa style."  That's a reference from a well-known tea blogger to a very common Chinese brewing approach, adding tea into a tea bottle with hot water and drinking it together, unstrained, re-adding water after finishing each round.  I most often use it on road trips, and wrote a post about trying out results on different tea types awhile back.

The fruit tea version would even work well simmered with black tea, perhaps with a bit more spice added, to make a fruit-oriented version of masala chai.  Or these could be added to a thermos and left to brew that way, over any length of time.  That would seem to involve committing a thermos to the practice since cleaning after something that aromatic might be problematic, maybe even if the liner was made of glass or steel.  Tisanes have the potential to be even more flexible than teas to brew, with the exception of tea types that aren't astringent and work well at any infusion strength, versions like shu pu'er or shou mei.


Really there are too many types of tea to get to among standard types as it is, but all of these make for interesting tangents and additional range to explore.

Qian Liang Hunan Hei Cha from Jip Eu

This hei cha version Kittichai, the owner of Jip Eu, passed on in one of the visits there a couple months back (my favorite Bangkok Chinatown shop).  I tend to bring them teas to try, and they give me more in return, and I buy some to drink, related to wanting to own that tea, but almost in part to keep up the pretense of being a customer.  To me they're great to visit with; that stands out as much as the shopping opportunity.  I don't even know if they sell this but it was my impression that they don't, that he was just sharing something interesting.  Or maybe they do. 

I bought other tea I liked so much I've bought it three separate times now, a sheng tuocha that's on the basic side but well-aged and seemingly quite underpriced, which I will get around to writing about.  I almost want to just buy the rest of what they have of that tea and let it go at that, but somehow that seems selfish.  Maybe I should split the difference and buy a couple more tuochas.

I might as well cover what this is first, even though I tried the tea and made notes without looking that up:

It's Qian Liang hei cha from Anhua, Hunan.  Kittichai mentioned that, and about it being made as a long cylinder, aged for a long time, and then sliced in parts.  Teapedia lists a short description:


Qian Liang Cha (千两茶) is a speciality from Anhua. Anhua county of Hunan province is famous for many dark teas. The tea is similar to Pu-Erh produced and post fermented. Qian Liang Cha is pressed to long and heavy poles from which later small discs or cakes are sliced. Qian Liang Cha means translated 1000 liang tea. Liang is a traditional Chinese unit for mass. While 10 liang are appx. 1 pound and therefor a Qian Liang Cha is about 100 pounds (50kg) heavy.


Tony Gebely's "Tea:  A User's Guide" adds detail to that, beyond identifying it as hei cha:


Hua Juan Cha is produced by pounding steamed Hei Mao Cha into a cylindrical bamboo basket lined with a layer of bamboo leaves and a layer of palm husk. The cylinder is then pounded with a large wooden hammer as it is rolled tight by several people. It is then tied off and allowed to dry outdoors for several weeks...

Each Hua Juan variant uses a Chinese weight measure called a tael (两.). During the Qing dynasty when this style of tea was first produced, a Tael was equal to 36.25 g. The most common sizes produced are Qian Liang Cha (千两茶, qiān liăng chá) or thousand tael tea, Bai Liang Cha (百两茶, bǎi liǎng chá) or hundred tael tea and Shi Liang Cha (十两茶, shí liǎng chá) or ten tael tea.


That does go on to list this version out as a size of 36.25 kg, 150–160 cm tall, and 20 cm in diameter.  My wife would go crazy if I brought one of those home.

Review

The first infusion is a bit light; this will need to be brewed significantly longer to show its character well.  I didn't weigh out the sample but this proportion is low compared to what I tend to use for other types, intended for a longer infusion approach.  I'll skip to the next infusion to say more.

earlier round infusion brewed a bit strong

It's different, earthy in a unique way; that is kind of how I thought it was supposed to be.  It tastes like brewing aged wood and dried fungus, so mushroomy.  I expect that will clean up a bit over the next two infusions or so, and even using really long infusion times will produce a lot of steeps.  It's not musty or sour so the flavor doesn't need to clean up in those senses; it's pleasant.  A dark caramel sweetness supports that other range well, with plenty of flavor that is more towards dried fruit, closest to date, or between that and fig.  The thickness is nice, a slightly oily feel.

It transitions a little on the next round but the same description still applies, the balance just shifted a little.  The fungus / mushroom range mostly cleared out, and might be faded further in the next round.  The other dark wood / dried fruit range is nice.  A mineral layer played more of a role than I described, which stands out more in this round.  Of course it's warm and towards earthy, between a dark version of a rock and corroded metal. 

It's like you might expect a meteor to smell.  There is a big chunk of one at the temple we keep visiting, but to be honest I don't remember picking up any smell from it.  This doesn't have the same kind of feel structure that even softened aged sheng has but the version of thick feel is interesting.

It's not that different on the next round; I think transitions may not make for much of a story for this.  This does match up with the only other "golden flowers" version of hei cha I've tried, a Fu brick tea, based on distant memory of that experience. 

One would expect the flavor to be earthier in a much different way than it seems to come across, heavier on fungus (it is mold).  But to the extent it works to extrapolate from only two versions--which doesn't work, of course--the resulting flavor is sweet, distinctive, and clean in effect.  It's a bit faint and mild, something like dried bamboo smells (not that it's so familiar; that description is a stretch).  Like some sort of tisane, maybe, a root-spice version, not so different than a smell component of visiting an herb market in Seoul that sold a lot of ginseng.

A lighter infusion round doesn't change things much, but it's still quite pleasant, sweet, complex, and distinctive.  It's interesting contrasting that with brewing a round for about 2 minutes after, much longer than I would any other type of tea (except shu would also be fine prepared extra thick).  The mushroom aspect comes back; that aspect coming out seems to be a function of the infusion strength.  The tea is nicer brewed light but including mushroom flavor isn't as bad as it might sound.  It's funny how that drops out completely brewed lighter and other flavor range doesn't change that much.  The feel isn't necessarily all that thin brewed for 15 to 20 seconds at a relatively moderate proportion (low, for me).


Back at that 20+ second infusion timing it's better again, light on flavor and limited in body but interesting and pleasant.  It's interesting comparing this to a 10 year old Malaysian-storage aged sheng I tried yesterday, the final rounds of that, now surely around 15 infusions in.  It's not right to say the experiences are similar but there are some parallels and overlap.  The flavor is in a comparable range for type, with that sheng including more tobacco towards dark tree bark, now light in feel for being somewhat brewed out, but still substantial.  It's catchy. 

This hei cha is earthier, with more in the range of corroded metal or mountain spring mineral scent, like the smell from a pipe coming out of the side of a mountain with water flowing out of it.  Some people would love it, but tea drinkers acclimated to better aged sheng range might not, as much for being different as being inferior in character.  To me both are nice. 

I can't really place exactly how good this version is, to pin down trueness to type or quality related to a standard range for versions.  The other golden flowers Fu brick tea I tried a long time ago might've been slightly nicer, but similar in nature, or then again maybe I've just been drinking a lot of better teas in the past year, so this is being judged against a tougher baseline.  Either way it's interesting and pleasant, if a bit simple across some of the aspect range.  The mushroom and corroded metal range could put some people off but sweetness hinting towards dried fruit and other complexity balanced that in a reasonable way.


I sort of start to get it why people evolve a singular preference for better aged sheng, in a range of character types I've barely been exposed to yet.  I'm not sure that I'll drop out my liking for all other kinds of tea, as is common enough.  There was just a discussion in a FB tea group about that, with results splitting in both directions.  Some even claimed to have been really into pu'er earlier in their tea experience but have since moved on to preference for other types, the opposite of the more standard form of transition.  I probably wouldn't switch my tea drinking habit over to include a lot of this form of hei cha but it is interesting and pleasant to try different teas.

1997 2 kg. sheng pu'er brick (Tibetan style)

in the Tea Village shop tasting area (in October)

When I last visited the Tea Village shop in Pattaya one owner, Vee, let me try a really interesting version of aged pu'er that seemed as much like a hei cha.  That's essentially what this is.  I'll let his website description of it tell more of the details:

And that's what it is; just a bit of a mystery tea.  The "made in the Tibetan style" more or less says "hei cha" to me, and tasting it does too.  It's a fine material, very hard pressed tea, which was very difficult to extract for a brewing sample.  Vee used a hammer and chisel to remove this part, I think it was, and I used a pick for pu'er, a knife, and eventually a bottle opener (it gave good leverage and mechanics for snapping off small chunks).

You read that one part right; they sell this as 2 kilogram bricks, equivalent to nearly a half dozen typical size pu'er cakes (although it lost weight in storage, so it's down to only 5).  It sells for 12,900 baht, now equivalent to $393.  For five tea cakes worth of tea that comes out to around $80 a cake, a pretty good value for 21 year old tea.  Of course it's not pu'er, so it needs to be compared to a hei cha scale instead (in my opinion), and I doubt there is enough equivalent product on the market for this for there to be any clear fair market value.  If you want it you have to find it first, which is essentially all but impossible, and a vendor can charge whatever they want for it that makes it sell.

As for what the tea tastes like I've had it before, in the shop with him, and it seems like a hei cha to me.  It's smooth, rich, warm in effect, and centered on the plum-like range that I've encountered in other hei cha.  "Plum" may or may not be the best description for a primary taste aspect but it gets across the general range.  Onto tasting notes then.

looking bored with the tea theme right away

I think this was that tea, from trying it there

Review

The story of this tea starts with how hard it was to break up.  That initial chunk Vee used a hammer and chisel to break off, I think.  I tried to use sharp spiked tea pick to flake off some pieces but that didn't really work.  Eventually I used that, along with an actual knife (luckily that didn't end in me impaling myself), and finally a bottle opener to crack off some pieces.  It's a well-compressed tea.

I used a standard brief rinse for this tea, which wasn't going to do much for getting the small chunks of tea started brewing.  It was a judgement call as to how to brew it, related to what I broke off including both dust and small chunks.  It's not optimum to brew two completely different types of material together, since that dust will be starting to infuse within a second round (the first after a rinse), and the chunks will take a few rounds to even get soaked enough to start.  When I drank the tea with Vee we had at least 10 rounds of it and that tea may well have continued for that much longer.  The issue I'm referring to is uneven infusion exposure instead of longevity; one part of the tea will be brewed out (changing flavor to where teas that you discard as spent are in the cycle, often turning woody in flavor character) while the other just starts going.

The obvious work-around is to separate out the finer material and not use it, to set it aside for a later round.  I didn't do that though.  Per my best guess this tea won't "brew-out" to be unpleasant, but instead will retain a similar character and just fade over a very long infusion cycle, so it won't make as much difference.  And as usual intuition is my main guide for how to approach brewing teas; somehow my gut said the right thing is to mix it all and use it together.  Of course it's hard to track how frequently that's wrong.

a bit too light

I brewed the tea for around 10 to 15 seconds for a first infusion, which turned out to be more of a second rinse, too thin to get a lot of effect from.  Then for 30 seconds a second cycle, to get the tea chunks started soaking and to get the dust pretty far along, and mixed those two infusions ("stacked" them, to use the catchier formal term).  From here on a more standard approach should work, something like 15 second brewing times.  I just checked Vee's website recommendation and they said to use two rinses; that makes sense.  From there adjusting time as works best for you is the way to go.

This first infusion won't be the best representation of the tea's character but it's nice.  It has that plum effect already.  Mineral is present as a base but it's in a really soft and subdued form compared to the sheng and shou themes I've been on.  It's the other layers of complex flavors that make this nice, which are harder to pull apart.  One part is like incense spices, frankincense or myrrh (I still have to get my incense habit going to tell what that is though).  Another is a very fine trace of menthol.

As a primary flavor aspect I hate menthol (just a personal preference issue), so that #18 Ruby or Red Jade black teas from Taiwan almost always seem awful to me.  As a minor supporting element that integrates will with the rest is a completely different case; that can be great, and this works.  From there I could keep going but it seems as well to add more description related to a second round instead.

Second infusion

This opened up faster than I thought it would.  It seems to be loosened up and brewing nicely already.  I gave it about a 15 second infusion time, about twice as long as it would need to draw out flavor if astringency or other aspect moderation was an issue but this tea will be nicer at a slightly more intense brew intensity.  That's just a matter of preference; it would work well brewed wispy light or twice as strong again.

The same flavor list as last time applies:  plum, mineral, some supporting spice (which is continuous with some dark wood tones), and just a hint of menthol, which might be more faint, so that I wouldn't identify it in this round if I hadn't noticed it in the last.  It's nice the way that complex mix coats your mouth and remains as an aftertaste effect.  There isn't that much structure to the mouth-feel to talk about; the intense flavors give it a complex over-all effect but not a lot of mouth-feel structure supports or contributes to that.  The wood is similar to redwood, that aromatic, almost spicy range of wood tone.

The mineral is more intense in this round; it really covers such a range that it would be possible to write a short review description of just the mineral.  It's warm and complex in nature, towards that artesian well / red sandstone range.  It extends to being almost metallic, which could be a bad thing depending on the metal character, but it works in this.  It's not completely different than rusted iron bar but it seems to extend to metal-range complexity.  For being a flavor-intensive but simple in structure tea experience this covers a lot of ground.

Third infusion

mostly wetted and loosed up already

It's not transitioning; the taste is like before.  I could keep free-associating to come up with different interpretations for the same set of flavors and other aspects.  Probably the balance of what is there has shifted a little too; there's more that could be said about that.  That menthol background element is so faint that it may or may not be there at all at this point, but I'm going to say that it is.

dried persimmons!  I'm not sure what this coated version is covered with.

Plum still works as a fruit aspect description (for a tea that's more in the mineral and earthy flavor ranges anyway; that just stands out for some reason) but it really is closer to a dried persimmon.


Which reminds me, I was just in Chinatown and walked by those, and the looked really nice, but I was in a hurry and didn't buy any.  I love those; that flavor is as close as anything else to fig (so this tea isn't far from that either), but it's just a little lighter (but just as sweet), less rich but more complex in some sense that's hard to place.

Fourth infusion

I'm running out of time, off to get a haircut after completely losing any style due to not making that work.  It's still similar.  I remember that from trying an awful lot of rounds with Vee; it stays fairly consistent.  I like this character so that's a good thing.  I think the mineral and metal levels move around a little, that the relative proportion of those individual aspects is varying, but the overall character and effect aren't.  The aromatic wood component seems a bit stronger this round.

It's my impression that changing infusion strength shifts that balance a good bit for this type of tea.  It narrows things down that astringency and mouthfeel in general isn't a concern; optimum is whatever seems best for taste.  Aftertaste is substantial too, but it still occurs in a lighter brewed version.  Probably shifting temperature would change things a little too but I can't imagine that using anything other than full boiling point water makes any sense (not that I'll check that).

It's a very nice tea experience.  I've had a hei cha before that this reminds me of, a version of Fu brick.  It's a bit simple in effect; you either like that flavor or you don't.  The flavor is complex, and it wouldn't be familiar to everyone, but to me it's likable.  I'm not going on about how clean it is but it helps a lot that there is no trace of mustiness in this tea, or that the metal, fruit, and earthy range balances as well as it does.

This tea is probably far from finished; there might be another 15 infusions to enjoy out of it.  It'll be nice if it works out that I can do another full session in the afternoon with it since I'll squeeze in a couple of more and be off for now.

Fifth infusion

completely loosened up

The balance of those aspects is definitely shifting around.  It's much stronger towards the redwood / aromatic spice range now, although there is plenty of dried persimmon flavor balancing that (and related sweetness), and a nice dryness from some very complex mineral.  That probably works well as an overall description of this tea, even though earlier the aromatic wood was lighter.

Later infusions

I drank a couple more infusions before going out, and left the tea fully drained to try again the next morning (early afternoon; I got a late start on it).  Using extended infusion times to keep the intensity up changed the character in an interesting way, drawing out more earthy leather range flavor, still with good molasses sweetness, and a bit of spice, again supported by mineral tone.  The molasses and leather trailed into a tree-bark edge, but it was still nothing like astringency in other tea types.

Placing that style; potentially related tea versions

This tea is a little different than anything that I've tried, but all the same I'd like to cover a little more about the teas closest to it in style that I've tried.  I mentioned a Yunnan Sourcing Chinese hei cha that was similar, which was their 2007 Xiang Yi "Hei Cha Zhuan" Hunan brick tea, which I reviewed here.

To be fair to this Tea Village version it probably a was a bit more refined and distinctive, beyond just not being the same thing, maybe because the extra decade of aging helped it, or maybe it started out different.  It definitely doesn't look similar, even though the brewed character shows some similarities.  This tea just reviewed is made of fine material, very tightly pressed, with that other hei cha more from larger leaf pieces, along with a good bit of stem.

the initial chunks of that tea, YS Hunan brick

broken up in a gaiwan

loosely compressed compared to this other tea (credit YS site)

Even though they're probably not the same the character was similar, so I wanted to add a bit more about what it was, from that YS vendor description, which I'll explore further with other types descriptions afterwards.  Part of the point is to try to zero in on what that tea was in more general terms; for example, would it have been pre-fermented or not (as it was described by Vee).


Back to that Yunnan Sourcing Hunan brick description:


This is from the Xiang Yi Tea Factory in An Hua county of Hunan Province.  Xiang Yi is the second oldest producer of Hunan Hei Cha after Bai Sha Xi Tea Factory.

Hei Cha Zhuan (lit. Black Tea Brick) is composed of An Hua grown tea that's been picked and processed with frying, rolling, wilting and then sun-dried.  The bricks are tightly compressed which allows for slow but determined post fermentation. These are unique from Fu Bricks in that the golden flower spores are not introduced into the tea and as such don't exist.

This particular brick was stored in An Hua County of Hunan from 2007 until June 2016.  The smell of the dry leaf is that of dried fruit... very sweet and dense fruitiness happening.  The brewed tea is sweet and thick with (not surprisingly) strong fruit sweetness (think dried plums).  Tea can be infused 7 to 10 times if brewed gong fu style.  We recommend loosening the tea using a pick into smallish chunks layer by layer.  We also recommend using a clay pot and the hottest water possible.


One of things that stands out about this tea, besides the unique character, is the unusual level of value; they sell it for $126 for a one kilogram brick.  Supply, demand, and production costs all factor into a final tea price and apparently this end up being inexpensive.  Description in my review summarized flavor aspects as:

"fig, older hay bale, mineral, and molasses as a start but really I think cocoa sort of works, and there's another dried fruit element that's quite pronounced..."


I think that may have been a bit mustier, and also complex but maybe not in exactly the same way.  It's interesting that this tea version isn't post-fermented through any piling step, isn't it?  At least as presented, but the description from original content could be clearer.  I lose track of what typically is or is not though.  I'll cite a reference about this type (the YS version; not this Tea Village tea, since it's not as clear what it even is), from Tony Gebely's Tea: A Users Guide (a really good general reference for a lot of scope):


Hei Mao Cha (黑猫茶, hēi māo chá), Semi-Finished Dark Tea

Nearly all styles of Hunan hei cha begin with the production of Hei Mao Cha or semi-finished dark tea. Hei Mao Cha is made by fixing, rolling, pile-fermenting and drying fresh tea leaves, usually from descendants of Camellia sinensis var. assamica known as Da Ye Zhong (大叶种) or large leaf type. Another way to refer to Hei Mao Cha is pile-fermented Mao Cha.


Note that this says "nearly all styles," and goes onto say this generally refers to a pile-fermented tea.  Of course the Tea Village product description cites that being made based on a Tibetan tea type instead, not Hunan (China), but versions of that aren't listed in this book reference.  The description of it as "sheng" (which means "raw") refers to it as a non-pre-fermented tea, although I'm not sure if that's intended as a conclusive description or not.

That description cited was only about the general category; a further passage from that User's Guide reference relates to this YS tea type I'd mentioned:


Hei Zhuan Cha (黑砖茶, hēi zhuān chá), Dark Brick or Black Brick Tea

Hei Zhuan Cha is a fermented tea made by steaming Hei Mao Cha and pressing it into special rectangular molds. The bricks are then dried in a warm room and wrapped. The finished product is a rectangular brick with a flat surface, usually without markings.


It doesn't fill in much, and that's especially not helpful for not clearly linking back to the tea type I'm reviewing anyway.

Tony's book does list another type from China most typically used to make Tibetan style yak-butter tea (the association to that country that does come to mind), describing that hei cha as follows:

Kang Zhuan is a style of Nan Lu Bian Hei Cha brick from Sichuan province. Kang Zhuan is made up of a mixture of older tea leaves and stems... Leaves and stems destined for Kang Zhuan are fixed, rolled, and pile-fermented...  Kang Zhuan tea is the tea of choice when making Tibetan Yak Butter Tea. Production of this tea has spread from Sichuan to Hunan and Guizhou.


Not onto Tibetan originated tea yet (given there is such a thing; I think there is), but that does mention that final preparation style from there.  That sounds a lot like a tea I tried from Moychay, an odd looking pressed large brick made from a good bit of stem material and leaves, reviewed here, and pictured as follows:

They made no type or style claims in selling that tea, and even made it clear that it wasn't like other standard types of hei cha.  That review actually covers one of my favorite sheng from them, in the first section, a really nice, fruity version from Nan Nuo.  As far as that tea goes it was a bit rustic; as I remember it tasted a bit like barn door.


Yunnan Sourcing does list a version of that last tea type (mentioned in the Tea:  a User's Guide citation), with the description connecting with that reference:

These "Kang" bricks were produced in the small tea factory in Province of Guizhou and then sent to Tibet where they were stored in a family home for more than ten years.  These are packaged in long (1 meter) bamboo baskets, about 20 to each length.  

credit related Yunnan Sourcing page, the link just cited with the text

Given this tea I reviewed seems to contain no stem material at all (unless that was ground too fine to identify), was finely ground leaves, and was well-compressed into a brick shape instead it doesn't seem to be at all related.  Even if I did research for other different Tibetan style compressed tea versions (a reasonable next step) it would be hard placing those in relation to this tea without tasting them, or probably still difficult even with trying them.  It would be easy to note how close aspects land but not possible to separate out different causes for why (eg. tea plant type differences, growing area as an input, processing differences, where the teas spent the last 20+ years).


At any rate this was an interesting and unique tea; it's always nice trying those.  With more research it would probably be possible to come to a better guess about what this is.  Enjoying it for what it is in the cup doesn't require all that; the tea was nice.


Later edit:  I spoke with a reference about what it is, with a person who would be familiar with it.  That person said it's not uncommon for fannings (ground up tea by-product) to be pressed into bricks in Yunnan, and that those products are usually sold for next to nothing.  Here is an example of one; a 6 kilogram brick that's selling on Taobao for around $29, or a 3 kg version selling for about a third of that.

Of course quality level and material used is going to vary, and how any teas taste. 

Related to the "Tibetan" background and age claims according to that reference this probably has nothing to do with Tibet, and the label doesn't look conventional for being 20 years old.  And the tea itself claims to be from from 1962, pressed onto the surface lettering:  一九六二制  literallly means "Made in 1962."  It's not relatively new raw tea material but it's absolutely not 50+ year old tea, and the claim that it's 21 years old also seems dubious based on this latest input.

I tend to not express views or background about products that is negative here, and I respect and personally like this vendor.  But at a guess this tea is just an inexpensive, relatively recent production made to be sold to tourists.  I doubt Vee knew that, and there's a good chance that he still doesn't.  There's even some chance that's wrong, but I'm completely convinced this reference source is as good as any person one could talk to.  I won't cite who that is explicitly, since there is a convention in tea circles to initiate a dramatic cycle of blame related to anyone making any negative claims at all.

It's common knowledge that one buys all teas under a "buyer beware" context.  If you spend $400 on a unique sheng pu'er-oriented product sold by a local Thai tea vendor you take a risk.  The tea is pleasant to drink, and novel (just a bit thin across feel and aftertaste aspect ranges), so at least one gets reasonable tea as part of the deal, but it had been back-story and potential for high value and rarity enabling that level of expense to make sense. 

This same theme repeats over and over related to online tea sources and local Bangkok Chinatown vendors; you really should expect the story and label content for pu'er to potentially be completely false unless you have clear reason to believe it, and not the other way around.  If you can try a tea first and buy it based on experienced aspects versus a story being told or value claim that's even better.