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Fu Zhuan茯砖茶

hunan-dark · Anhua, Hunan, China

Fu Zhuan is a hunan-dark pu-erh & dark tea from Anhua, Hunan, China. Brew it at 100°C with 7g of leaf per 100ml of water; expect up to 9 short infusions in a small gaiwan or teapot. A quick rinse is recommended.

Quick facts

Origin
Anhua, Hunan, China
Category
Pu-erh & dark tea
Cultivar
Various / unspecified
Oxidation
post-fermented
Roast
None
Water temp
100°C
Leaf ratio
7g / 100ml
Infusions
up to 9
Rinse
Yes

Tasting notes

Crack open a brick and look for the jin hua — tiny yellow specks scattered through the pressed leaves. Those are the golden flowers, and they're the whole point. Unlike every other mold situation in tea, this one is deliberate, cultivated, desired. Smell the dry chunk: toasted grain, dried fig, something that sits between fresh bread and forest mushroom. In the cup it's mellow and round, almost dusty-sweet, with none of the earthy punch of shou or the astringency of young Hunan tip teas. The flavor is straightforward but weirdly comforting — porridge, raisin, a warm medicinal note on the back end that old Chinese doctors would call shun (smooth, moving). Don't over-rinse or you strip the flowers and lose the character. One 10-second wake-up is enough. Hei cha wants a slightly longer steep than pu-erh at the same leaf weight — don't rush it. Good winter tea for people who find shou too heavy.

Flavor profile

Distinguished by golden flowers (Eurotium cristatum) — a beneficial fungus intentionally cultivated inside the brick during production. These give the tea a distinct mushroomy sweetness and grain-like warmth. The brew is smooth and mellow with dried fruit, wood, and a clean medicinal finish. Aged examples become silky and increasingly sweet.

Terroir

Mountainous Hunan, conditions favorable for Eurotium cristatum colonization

Brewing

Rinse: Rinse 10 seconds — brick tea collects dust during aging. Don't over-rinse or you'll wash away golden flowers.

  1. Quick rinse — pour off immediately.
  2. Steep 1: 15 seconds
  3. Steep 2: 20 seconds
  4. Steep 3: 25 seconds
  5. Steep 4: 30 seconds
  6. Steep 5: 40 seconds
  7. Steep 6: 50 seconds
  8. Steep 7: 60 seconds
  9. Steep 8: 80 seconds
  10. Steep 9: 120 seconds

Use maximum heat and heavy teaware for best extraction. Chunks break apart easily by hand — no tea knife needed. Visible golden flowers on the broken surface indicate quality.

Aroma & taste

Aroma

  • mushroom
  • grain
  • dried fruit

Taste

  • mushroom
  • grain
  • sweet
  • wood
  • dried fruit

Processing

  • kill-green
  • rolled
  • pile-fermented
  • compressed into bricks
  • incubated for golden flowers (jin hua)
Start brewing Fu Zhuan

Sources