What Is White Peony Tea(Bai Mu Dan) Good For & How To Make It?

 White peony is a flower name, but to tea lovers, that it’s a kind of awesome tea. Don’t be misunderstood, it’s not a herbal tea but a type of white tea from China. Due to the least processing, people thought it could bring more natural benefits than green tea, becoming more and more popular in recent years. And the white peony tea(Bai Mu Dan) may be the one with the best cost-effective.

What Is White Peony Tea

Except for the moonlight white tea, in the traditional sense, the authentic white teas are graded into 3 classes by the picking standard:

• Baihao Yinzhen(Silver Needle Tea) – Only made from the tenderest buds;
• White Peony Tea – Made from one bud and the first or the second leaf;
• Shoumei Tea(Gongmei) – Made from one bud and the forth or the fifth leaf;

Generally recognized that the white peony tea quality is second to the silver needle but higher than Shoumei. Even though their price reflects this situation, they are actually teas with a totally different flavor. It seems not right to judge their quality only by the picking standard.

White peony tea originated in Fujian, also called Bai Mu Dan. Fuding and Zhenghe are both famous producing regions. The source leaves are picked from the Da Bai or narcissus type Camellia Sinensis, the feature is full of tiny fuzz(Hao) on the leaves. The flavor also has a little difference between Fuding and Zhenghe white peony tea because of the different cultivating environments.

Every year when the spring comes, the Fujian tea farmers are beginning to get busy picking tea. At this time, the tender buds are growing on the branches, which is for making Baihao Yinzhen tea. Plants growing fast in spring, tea farmers need to finish the picking job in about 10 days, before the buds develop into leaves.

When the Qingming(A Chinese Solar Term, 4th April) Comes, the first bud grows into the first leaf, and the new bud will branching out. Farmers pick them both for making into white peony tea. The time for picking white peony tea is also short. It will typically be finished before the Guyu(A Chinese Solar Term, 20th April) comes. The leaves coming later only can be made into Shoumei tea. It makes both silver needle and white peony tea a low yield and leads to a high price.

Unlike silver needle tea, which only got the white-fuzz buds, white peony tea still with 1 or 2 leaves more. The tea will spread out when brewing and looks like a white flower in the water; that’s how the name comes. Personally, I think the tea may be named by the tea master casually because you are hard to connect the tea look and the white peony flower.

In Chinese culture, peony emblems luck, elegant, and rich, and it’s the Chinese national flower. But many of the time, people refer to the pink peony but not the white one, because of white emblems death in Chinese culture. So named the tea as white peony is unlikely for a good omen reason.

The white peony tea infusion is light but full of aroma

Processing Methods

White tea got the least processing degree in all tea types, only a simple withering, and drying. It makes white tea leaves retained the most original style and look like fallen-leaves.

Withering refers to let the water in leaves getting evaporate by a placing way and being a certain fermenting degree. Traditionally, white tea will be withered in a sun-drying way. With the cultivation and production scale growing, the Fujian tea master now prefers to wither the leaves in an indoor way.

After picking, the leaves will be placed on a giant bamboo sieve, then sent into the withering workshop. The temperature in the house will be controlled at about 22-27℃ and 67%-75% humidity. It cost about 25-30 hours till the leaves’ water content is reduced to under 25%. Compared with sun-drying, indoor-withering can make the fermented degree better controlled and not affected by the weather factor, leading to a higher yield.

Finally, the tea masters will dry the leaves with a machine to let the water content further reduced to under 7%-8.5% (many of the time, it will be lower.) Just like Shoumei tea, white peony tea often will be steam to soft and compressing into tea cakes for sale; it can also get a new flavor after long-time aging. Some creative tea masters will compress the white peony tea into a small ball(dragon balls), which is very convenient for just one brew.

White Peony Tea Grades

White peony tea will be classified into 4 grades according to the picking standard and leaves quality.

Peony King

Peony King’s flavor is close to Baihao Yinzhen because it is mainly made from one bud with the first leaf; the second leaf is in less situation. The buds are fat and big, with more fuzz than the leaves. So when you are making a cup of peony king tea, more flavor comes from the “Hao aroma,” and the mouthfeel also mild and smooth.

First-Grade White Peony

The first-grade white peony tea is made from one bud with the first and the second leaf. The bud is long and thick, also full of white fuzz. And the leaves are narrow, and fuzz is on the back. The leaves are more than buds, so the first-grade white peony tea has a stronger floral aroma and a little wild grass smell.

The first-grade white peony tea’s buds are a little longer

Second-Grade White Peony

The bud of the second-grade white peony tea is much smaller, and the leaves are bigger. It will get some stems because the leaves had grown when picking. Even though the second-grade one still with lots of fuzz, the floral aroma from the leaves almost concealed the Hao aroma. The tea stems also bring some herbs scent; it will be more obvious after rounds brewing.

Third-Grade White Peony

The third-grade white peony was the last picked, one bud with two leaves; some buds have grown into the third leaf. Because the proportion of leaves and stems is bigger, the third-grade white peony tea tastes close to the Shoumei tea, with a strong floral and herbs aroma. And after aging, it will be easier to develop the TCM scent.

White Peony Tea Benefits

Due to the least processing, the white tea beneficial ingredients are more close to the natural state. This is very consistent with the modern health concept of advocating a natural diet, even though the benefits it brings actually will not be much more than the other teas.

Compared with Baihao Yinzhen, white peony tea not only got the tender bud but leaves, so rich beneficial ingredients it contains. Especially the tea polysaccharide that contains in stems.

Likewise, white peony tea benefits come from tea polyphenols, which are richer in the tenderer buds and leaves. Having white peony tea is good for:

Anti-inflammatory

Tea polyphenol is an efficient natural anti-inflammatory. It can help eliminate inflammation in the body, prevent any related diseases like CVD; to a certain extent, it can also help prevent cancer. To the people who love beauty, they may be more focused on the skin-beauty effect. Many skincare products declared they have white tea extractive contained and good for the skin.

Anti-aged

As an antioxidant, tea polyphenol also can help with anti-aged, especially in preventing wrinkles.

Weight Loss

White peony tea not only rich in tea polyphenol but caffeine. Under their synergistic effect, it can help the body better manage fat absorption, reduce the fat accumulate, and lead to a weight loss purpose.

Liver Protection

Alcohol will harm the liver. A study showed that the antioxidant in white peony tea could help fix the impaired liver and reduce alcohol absorption. It seems a great help to the drunkards on their AA program.

Related Reading: What Is Tea Polyphenol & What Is It Good For.

Caffeine In White Peony Tea

White peony tea is made from the Camellia Sinensis, so it contains caffeine natively.

The caffeine amount in your cup is affected by many factors. Even though white peony tea is from the tenderest buds and leaves, it’s not the one that contains the most caffeine because of the processing and the brewing water temperature.

With moderate caffeine and rich amino acid, a cup of white peony tea can give you a vigorous morning or let the afternoon-weary go away. Of course, it still not suitable for drinking before bed, or it will cause insomnia by the caffeine stimulation.

Related Reading: Factors Influences Caffeine Amount In Tea.

How To Aging White Peony Tea

White peony tea cake leaves show a little darker green

Just like dark tea, white peony tea also can get a better flavor by long-time storage. This change is not like the Pu-erh tea; more is from the internal material transform but not rely on the microorganism much.

The compressed tea cake will be more suitable for aging than loose leaves because the smaller surface area will not get damp by the water in the air easily. During the compress processing, the leaves will be a little break inevitably, a few chlorophylls lost, and get slightly fermented. So the white peony tea cake usually looks a darker green.

Before storing white peony tea, the first thing we should do is to check whether the leaves are damp. Take some leaves and pinch them with your fingers. If they break into a powder, that means they are dry enough; if they only are crimp but not broken, that means the teas may have already affected with damp and not suitable for aging.

Aging white peony tea does not need a ventilated air. We can package it with a non-smell aluminum foil seal bag, then put it in a cardboard box; it will be better to seal the box with tape after putting the tea in. The storing environment needs to be dark, air humidity under 45%, and the temperature should not higher than 25℃.

It’s not recommended to store the white tea in a fridge; the dried leaves are easily affected by the smell from other food, make the flavor go bad.

How To Make White Peony Tea

Use a Gaiwan to make white peony tea

1. Preheat and clean the teawares with 100℃ water;
2. Take about 5g white peony tea, put them into a Gaiwan, cover, let the waste heat warm the leaves, and you will smell a charming scent when you open the lid after few seconds;
3. Add 90℃ water in, cover, and steep for about 8 seconds, then pour out the infusion into a fair cup;
4. Serving;

The white peony tea is full of tiny fuzz(Hao), which is the tea’s best value. So the first brewed you can drink directly; of course, you can short the steep time and pour it out as wastewater.

If you are making the aged white peony tea, after 3 rounds of brewing, you can transfer the leaves from the Gaiwan to a teapot. Add hot water in and keep heating to boil, then cook for about 3 minutes. Cooking can extract the aged white peony tea better.

Reference

White Peony (Fermented Camellia sinensis) Polyphenols Help Prevent Alcoholic Liver Injury via Antioxidation;

Comparison of the main compounds in Fuding white tea infusions from various tea types;

Shoumei Tea(Gongmei): An Excellent White Tea With An Ugly Look

 In our impression, white tea may all like the Baihao Yinzhen, full of tender buds. The fuzz reflects shining silver light under the sun, noble and elegant. In the Fuding White Tea market, there also a kind that looks very ugly, but the yield over 50% of the total, and regarded as the best white tea for a beginner – Shoumei Tea.

What Is Shoumei Tea

White teas primarily come from two regions in China, Yunnan(moonlight white tea) and Fujian(Fuding and Zhenghe.) According to the different tea tree types and picking standards, Fujian white teas are grading into Baihao Yinzhen(silver needle,) White Peony, and Shoumei.

Shou means longevity, and Mei means eyebrow. The name of Shoumei tea comes from its leaf shape that looks like a long-living man’s eyebrow.

Shoumei white tea is made from the Dabai tea trees; the picking standard is one bud and to the fourth and the fifth leaf. It can be picked from spring to autumn. Due to the source leaves are old, and with many tea stems, Shoumei looks like withered fallen leaves; It often makes people think it’s low-quality. And to see by the leaf-grading system, Shoumei’s leaves belong to the lowest level, so people always regarded it as a low-grade tea.

Besides, the picking period of Shoumei is long(Silver needle and White Peony only picked in spring,) it provides more leaves for production. So Shoumei tea takes over 50% of white tea’s total yield, leading to a low price.

Shoumei looks a big difference from other white teas

Is Shoumei Tea Really A Low-grade Tea?

Low-grade source-leaves and a low price doesn’t mean Shoumei tea also low-quality. 

As a white tea, the most significant characteristic of Shoumei is it has been less processing, and more natural ingredients are retained. The leaves with stem after picked will be withering for several days, let the grassy smell go away, and get a little fermenting. Then, they will be roasted into rough tea directly.

Tea masters will screen and blend the rough tea to make the final products. In the past, the higher quality Shoumei was also called Gongmei. In the past time, there is only Gongmei but not Shoumei in the Chinese export products list; people may more familiar with this name.

Finally, tea masters will do like processing dark tea, steaming the white tea leaves to make them soft again, then compressing them into a cake. That makes Shoumei white tea allowed to be stored for a longer time, so-called aging. And the vast old leaves and stems will provide more help to the Shoumei tea aging rather. Because they contain more natural ingredients, which are the leaves aging need.

The old Shoumei tea, which aging successfully, will send out a medicine-like aroma, and the taste will also change from slight astringency to mellow. The Shoumei tea like that is one kind of high-grade tea, and it’s many tea lovers’ favorite. 

It is worth noticing that Shoumei leaves can be picked from spring to autumn, and every season they are from has a different quality. Generally saying, the spring leaves got the highest quality, so the spring Shoumei is more worth for aging.

Shoumei tea leaves look like fallen leaves and are mistaken for low-grade

What Is Different Between Shoumei & Gongmei?

We’ve mentioned that Shoumei white tea also got another name-Gongmei. Most of the time, tea merchants will regard them as the same tea, or you can think that Gongmei is a little higher grade than Shoumei. But if serious, these two teas are totally different.

Gong means tribute in Chinese. It was said that Gongmei tea is one kind of Shoumei which only supplied to the emperor in the past. Of course, this saying without any proof. In fact, the word Gongmei appeared in about the 1950s.

At that time, both Shoumei and Gongmei were made from the Xiaobai tea trees, which was different from now. Due to the grading needs, all the high-quality source leaves were made into Gongmei; thus, Shoumei had to use the leftover and be regarded as a cheaper one. And Gongmei tea also took over 70% export volume of white tea at that time.

Till 3 years ago(2018), the Chinese government has promulgated relevant regulations: GB/T 22291-2017, definitely redefined the standard of Gongmei tea and Shoumei tea.

• Gongmei: The tea made from the buds and leaves from the population cultivar tea trees;
• Shoumei: The tea made from the buds and leaves from Dabai, Narcissus, and population cultivar tea trees;

A simple way to identify them is that Gongmei’s leaf is smaller, long and thin, and with more buds; Shoumei’s leaf and stem are bigger and with fewer buds.

Still, many tea merchants will make a mistake about Gongmei and Shoumei on the package note(intentional or unintentional.) Of course, just like we often say, low-grade doesn’t mean low-quality, both of them also worth having a try.

Gongmei typically refers to the more tender Shoumei

Fresh Shoumei VS Old Shoumei

White tea hasn’t been fixated during the processing, so the leaves will keep fermenting all the time. It makes the Shoumei tea got a big difference in flavor after a long time of aging. It is generally recognized that the Shoumei, which is stored less than one year, is fresh; been stored 1-2 years, is aged Shoumei; been stored over 3 years, is old Shoumei.

The fresh Shoumei tea flavor is partial to a faint scent, and the mouthfeel is clear and rich in irritants. But only let it be a few months aging, then you will clearly experience the flavor change. The aged Shoumei aroma begins to turn rich, faintly with some floral, and the mouthfeel becomes soft. And after a long time of aging, its flavor becomes mature, more mellow, and mild, with a strong floral and Chinese medicine aroma.

Some dishonest merchants may use the fresh Shoumei to pretend to be old Shoumei for sale. Here are several points to help you identify whether the tea is fresh or old.

• Appearance. The old Shoumei tea may get many broken leaves in the package because of the long storage time. The fuzz on the leaves mostly fallen, and the tea cake’s surface looks covered with a layer of wax. Besides, fresh Shoumei looks brown-green or grey-green; the old one’s color will be darker.
• Smell. Some artificial old Shoumei will with a strong warehouse smell. And the Shoumei tea aging in an ordinary way will smell super natural and comfortable.
• Infusion Color. This is the most simple method. The fresh Shoumei tea infusion shows apricot. By the aging time growth, it will turn to orange, finally to red. Worthing to know, some Shoumei tea cakes look a little red, that’s because their source leaves are picked in summer; not can be sure it is old.

Fresh Shoumei white tea infusion shows an apricot color

Aging Methods

Even though both white tea and dark tea flavor can be improved by aging, their theory is totally different. Compared with the microorganisms help, white tea aging is more care about the active enzyme effects itself. So never put the white tea and dark tea in the same place for aging, or one of them will absolutely go waste.

4 aspects should be taking care of during Shoumei white tea storing:

Keep Out Of The Sun

White tea hasn’t been fixated; lots of Chlorophyll are retained in the leaves. The leaves will turn yellow under the sun for a long time, and some natural ingredients will be resolved, leading to the loss of the original flavor.

Keep Dry

Dark tea prefers a little high humidity environment, and white tea needs to keep dry. It’s best to store the Shoumei tea in a place with about 45% humidity. If to let the white tea under a wet environment for a long time, it will easy to get mold and develop a so-called “plum aroma.”

Temperature

As a slight-fermented tea, Shoumei also is sensitive to the temperature. Typically 10℃ to 25℃ will be suitable. Too cold will affect the enzyme activity and make the aging slow down; If too hot, the fermenting speed will up and break the flavor.

Storage Container

To pick a proper storage container for aging Shoumei tea is very important. Unlike dark tea, white tea doesn’t need ventilation during storage; the container must be sealed. Besides, white tea can easily absorb the near smell, so the container should also be non-smell. An iron or cardboard can with foil inner may be a good choice.

The longer time the Shoumei tea aging, the deep-red color it will be

How To Make Shoumei White Tea

To the fresh Shoumei, the leaves are old and big, and fewer buds, so there are no too many scruples when brewing.

1. Prepare a porcelain Gaiwan and pre-heat it;
2. Put about 5g Shoumei tea leaves into the Gaiwan;
3. Add about 90℃ hot water in, cover, then pour out the wastewater ASAP;
4. Re-fill hot water, cover, and steep for about 10 seconds;
5. Pour the infusion into the teacups, enjoy;
6. After the third brews, every rounds following can extend the steeping time for 5 seconds;

And to the old Shoumei tea which has been aging over 3 years, making it in a cooking way may be more suitable. Of course, you can also brew it with 100℃ hot water directly.

1. First, brew it like the fresh Shoumei tea way for twice;
2. Prepare a glass or iron teapot that can be heating directly, add water to 2/3, and heat it to boil;
3. Transfer the leaves after steeped in Gaiwan to the teapot, cooking for about 2 minutes;
4. Enjoy;
5. Do not pour all the infusion out every time. Left some behind, so that it won’t make the leaves cool down when to refill water and the taste change also be more naturally;

Anhua Dark Tea: The Best Border-selling Tea In The Past Time

 In Chinese history, dark tea took an important position. For a long time, dark tea had another more official name Border-selling Tea. Almost all the dark tea production and sales must be under government manager, mainly for exchanging the border regions folk’s horse. And Anhua Dark tea was the best of them.

Anhua dark tea originated in Anhua, Hunan, one of the most famous dark teas, with source leaves are from large-leaf tea trees. The infusion shows amber, tastes mellow, and full of aroma. Anhua dark tea is basically sold in compressed tea style, typically needs long-time aging to increase the flavor.

Small size Anhua Qian Liang Tea

Anhua Dark Tea History

Before the dark tea, Anhua was producing steaming green tea and white all the time. According to historical records, the tea-production of Anhua going back to the Tang Dynasty(1400 years ago.) And Anhua dark tea rise in Ming Dynasty(600 years ago.) At that time, the control by the government of tea reached an unprecedented level.

We’ve mentioned the Ancient Tea Horse Road before in the post about Zang Cha(Tibetan tea). In the Tang Dynasty, the tea-horse trading between central Chian and the border regions grew and developed a trade route called Ancient Tea Horse Road. Dark tea was born from green tea, which was fermented by the hot and wet weather in the long journey.

At the most beginning, Hunan took green tea as the main product but not dark tea. Or rather, it was rough tea. Then the rough tea would be sent to other regions for further processing. For example, Jingyang used the Anhua dark rough tea to produce Fuzhuan brick tea, famous for its golden flowers; or processed into Tibetan tea in Yaan, Sichuan.

At that time, a specialized department managed tea production and sale. All the teas were grading into 3 grades.

Gong Tea. The tea masters turned in the highest quality tea for serving the emperor and nobility.

Business Tea. Tea merchants got the government’s qualification and quota, then purchased teas from tea plantations and sold them in folk.

Official Tea. Most of the time, it refers to border-selling tea, mainly for the tea-horse trading to border regions and foreign, unified manager by the government.

Hunan has an outstanding natural environment and deep tea production history. Junshan Silver Needle tea(a yellow tea) from Hunan was always the market darling. The dark rough tea produced there also has full-flavor because of the large-leaf tea tree. One more significant advantage is, due to the mature industrial chain, Anhua tea can get a lower price; it has an excellent cost performance.

Anhua dark tea wasn’t still been as official tea. Even though smuggle tea was a capital offense at that time, face to the great benefits, many tea merchants and bandits still planned to do it. Anhua is near to the Ancient Tea Horse Road. Producing dark tea here and then smuggling teas to the border regions to exchange horses can earn big money. And due to the better taste and lower price of Anhua dark tea, it damaged the official tea business a lot.

Just like many popular industries nowadays, fake and low-quality products came soon in the huge profits and unregulated markets. The Ming government finally defined Anhua dark tea as an official tea, for better containment of them and supervised. When the Zang Tea from Yaan, Sichuan could not satisfy the border folks consumption, Anhua dark tea can take as a supplement.

However, After the cheap and fine Anhua dark tea got officially accepted, it became more loved by the border folks. Tea merchants purchase and sell Anhua tea reasonably, making it much more popular than other border-selling teas soon. A surprising thing is, due to its historical fame and often exaggerated health benefits, some fraudsters ever took Anhua dark tea as a stunt and organized a Ponzi scheme about 10 years ago.

Today some people still transport tea by horses in the Ancient Tea Horse Road

Anhua Dark Tea Types

Anhua dark tea is classified into 7 types according to the source leaves quality and processing methods, three Jians, three bricks, and Qian Liang Cha.

Three Jians

Three Jians(tip) refer to the Anhua dark rough tea classified according to the source leaves quality. Most of the time, they also sell in loose tea style.

Tian Jian. Tian Jian tea is made from the leaves picked before Guyu(a Chinese Solar Term.) The picking standard is one bud to the second leaf, which are the tenderest. The final product’s leaves are tight, dark, and glossy. Infusion shows amber and clear, with a strong pine aroma. In the past, Tian Jian tea belongs as a tribute, only for the emperor’s consumption.

Gong Jian. Gong Jian tea is made from the leaves picked in early May before the hot summer comes. The picking standard is one bud to the fourth and fifth leaves. Some Tina Jian and Sheng Jian will be mixed into the final product. Gong Jian Anhua dark tea is a little lower than the Tian Jian in quality, but it still awesome, typically offer to the nobility and wealthy.

Sheng Jian. Sheng Jian tea is made from the leaves picked after May; the picking standard is one bud to the fifth and sixth leaves. Anhua dark tea leaves are rather old, and with many tea stems, so it tastes strong and more resistant to brew. It typically offers to the civilian.

Loose leaf Anhua dark tea

Three Bricks

Three bricks refer to the compressed teas made from the Anhua dark rough tea, mainly classified according to the processing methods.

Fu Brick. Fuzhuan brick tea is the most famous type. It has a unique processing step called “create flowers,” which makes many tiny golden flowers(Eurotium Cristatum) developed inside the bricks and brings many benefits. Even though it takes the Anhua dark tea as material, it is processing in the other place, Jingyang. It is said that without the Jingyang environment, the golden flowers are hard to grow in dark tea.

Related Reading: Why Fuzhuan Brick Tea With Many Golden Flowers In?

Black Brick. Anhua Black Brick tea is the traditional one. Due to it needs different grades of leaves to make, in the past, tea masters need to compress the higher quality leaves as surface and the lower quality ones inside. Later, Hunan Baixi Tea Factory improved the processing method, made the brick tea has the same quality inside and outside. The tea factory will also imprint its brand on the brick tea, so black brick tea is also called “Eight Letters Tea.”

Hua Brick. Hua means pattern design in Chinese. Hua Brick tea is from the improvement of the Qian Liang Tea. For distinguishing from the Black Brick tea, tea masters will imprint some patterns on the four sides of the brick, so it calls Hua Brick.

Anhua Hua brick tea

Qian Liang Tea

Qian Liang tea is the most traditional style of Anhua dark tea; the processing is similar to Tibetan Tea, which also compresses the leaves into a long strip bamboo container for post-fermenting and packaging. But the Qian Liang tea processing is more complicated.

The package of Qian Liang tea is divided into three parts. Inside, packing the leaves with a smartweed leaf. Then with a palm leaf cover for water and moisture resistance. Outside is a container weave by bamboo canes. Different from Zang Tea, tea masters put the leaves in but not separate them inside. Finally, compressing the whole bamboo container and leaves by methods such as treading.

In the old times, packaging the dark tea in this way is for better transportation and deal. Every unit weighs 1000 Liang(an ancient Chinese measurement, 1000 Liang equals 50 kg), so comes the name.

But the disadvantage of this packing also evident. Due to the large volume, and the leaves were compressing very tight, people need a hacksaw for help in taking the leaves. Later the tea masters cutting the fermented Qian Liang Tea into slices and processing into Hua Brick tea for sale.

Tea masters treading the bamboo cane container to tight it

How To Store Anhua Dark Tea

Different from the raw Pu-erh tea, Anhua dark tea has been certain aging before sales. So in the storage, there is no need to develop the golden flowers intentionally; all you need to care about is the proper storage environment. It should be a ventilate, average temperature, dark, and suitable air humidity place.

For the loose leaf Three Jians tea, you may choose a non-smell container. A cardboard jar may be a good choice; it can absorb the air’s moisture to prevent high humidity. If you don’t often take the leaves from it, it’s better to open it every 3-4 months to let the air inside getting change. But to the loose-leaf tea, it’s best to finish consuming ASAP.

And to the compressed Anhua brick tea, typically there will be a rice-paper packing. First, you should check the paper’s drying degree, make sure it hadn’t been damp. Then put the brick tea into a non-smell cardboard box, place it in a proper environment, and waiting for it to age patiently. The aging can long to dozens of year, and the flavor also improve and change by the time.

Related Reading: How To Choose A Tea Storage Container.

Qian Liang Anhua dark teas are placing in a warehouse for fermenting

How To Make Anhua Dark Tea

1. Pre-heat the teawares. Both Gaiwan and the ordinary teapot is OK, and the purple sand ones may be awesome;
2. Pry the moderate amount leaves out with a small knife from the brick tea side;
3. Put the leaves into a teapot, add 100℃ hot water, steep for about 20-30 seconds, then pour out the wastewater;
4. Repeat the Step.3. Because Anhua dark tea is compressed tea, it needs to steep for a while to let the leave spread out and clean the dust;
5. Refill the hot water, steep for about 1 minute;
6. Pour the infusion into a fair cup to equal the concentration;
7. Enjoy;

Anhua dark tea is made from large-leaf tea trees and has been post-fermentation so that it can be brewed over 8 rounds. You can suitably longer the steeping time from the fourth round according to the infusion concentration.

Except for the just-brewed, you can also imitate the drinking way of the Chinese minority.

1. Pry moderate leaves for the brick tea, and put them into a small cloth pocket;
2. Heat the water in a pot to boil, then put the teabag in;
3. Cooking for about 10 minutes;
4. Transfer the infusion to another pot with an infuser;
5. Add some milk and salt in, stir;
6. Enjoy;