Pu-erh & dark tea
11 teas in this category
Puerh and the broader hei cha (dark tea) family are the only Chinese teas built to age. The leaf is processed with a step called sha qing that arrests but doesn't kill the enzymes, and then either dried into raw cakes (sheng) that change for decades, or piled and microbe-fermented into ripe cakes (shou) that taste roughly aged from year one. They're separate beverages with separate audiences. Sheng is for people who like astringency, complexity, and slow change — a young sheng is bright, vegetal, and a little brutal; a 15-year sheng is something else entirely. Shou is for people who want a smooth, earthy, dark cup with no fuss and no waiting. The hei cha category also includes Liu Bao, Liu An, Fu Zhuan (with its famous golden-flower fungus), and the Hunan and Guangxi traditions that predate puerh's modern fame. Brew temperatures are full boiling for everything in this category. Use more leaf than you think (7–8g in a 100ml gaiwan), rinse twice for ripe, once for raw, and don't be afraid of long late steeps — these teas have endurance the rest of the catalog can't match.
Teas in this category
- Anhua Hei ChaAnhua, Hunan, China
Earthy and smooth with a clean, woody character.
- Bamboo Pu-erhXishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
A unique Dai minority specialty where sun-dried pu-erh absorbs sweet, grassy aromatics from fresh bamboo during roasting.
- Fu ZhuanAnhua, Hunan, China
Distinguished by golden flowers (Eurotium cristatum) — a beneficial fungus intentionally cultivated inside the brick during production.
- Hua ZhuanAnhua, Hunan, China
One of Anhua's 'three bricks' alongside Fu Zhuan and Hei Zhuan.
- Jin JianAnhua, Hunan, China
The third and most robust of Anhua's three tip grades (Tian Jian, Gong Jian, Jin Jian).
- Liu AnLu'an, Anhui, China
A rare basket-aged dark tea often consumed with pieces of the bamboo basket itself.
- Liu BaoWuzhou, Guangxi, China
Predates shou pu-erh by centuries and shares the pile-fermentation technique but develops a distinctly different character with age.
- Qing ZhuanChibi (Puqi), Hubei, China
A historically significant brick tea that fueled the Tea Horse Road and Mongolian tea trade for centuries.
- Sheng Pu-erhYunnan, China (Xishuangbanna, Lincang, Pu'er, Baoshan)
The most age-worthy tea in the world.
- Shou Pu-erhYunnan, China (primarily Menghai, Kunming)
Accelerated fermentation produces a tea that mimics decades of natural aging in weeks.
- Tian JianAnhua, Hunan, China
The highest grade of Anhua's three tip teas, made from tender buds and young leaves.