Organic Fermented Dark Tea (Fu Zhuan Cha) – 500g x 2

Estate Name: Yiyang Baishaxi Tea Garden
Farming Methods: Hand-picked. Organic farming. No pesticide (EU complaint)
Production Methods: Picking – Frying – Rolling – Piling – Rerolling – Baking – Sorting – Compression – Eurotium Cristatum fermenting

Other Notes: Fuzhuan Cha is one of the most sought after of Hunan’s famous dark teas. Dark Tea is a post-fermented tea similar to pu erh. There are are few types of Dark Tea from several provinces. The following is a family tree of Chinese Dark Tea.

Among them, Hunan Dark Tea is one of the most important types, and Fuzhuan Cha is the most distinctive Hunan Dark Tea. The origin of Hunan Dark Tea – Fuzhuan Cha has close relations with Chinese North and West territory nomadic nationalities. Nowadays they are Mongolian, Tibetans and Uigurs. These peoples’ diet is mainly composed of meat, milk and bread and is often lacking vegetable and fiber foods. So they need tea to help digest the oils and help supply fiber, vitamins and minerals. Tea is the necessity of their daily life. As one story tells they can stand three days without any food, while they can not stand one day without tea.

The tea trade with countries bordering China began in the middle of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD).

Tea and Horse Market: In Song Dynasty (960-1279AD), the central empire had set up official department to manage the Tea and Horse Market (茶马互市) with the North and West bordering countries. Tea was the commodity used for controlling those sometime friendly and sometime hostile nationalities. On one side the tea was exchanged with horses to equip the army, and on the other side the Chinese empire would close the tea market as a type punishment when/if they became too hostile.

Tea Transportation on Horse Back: In the ancient times, the main tea traded was Chinese traditional green tea. And the main transportation to the faraway North and West countries was horseback. To be more convenient for this type of transportation, the tea was tightly packed into compressed cakes.

Often the journey would take several months and encounter all kinds of weather conditions. Although the precious tea was well packed, the ancient natural packing materials (mainly bamboo cage, palm coat and Indicalamus leaf ) could not completely protect the tea from moisture, sunlight and other natural factors.

Bamboo cage                                             Palm coat                                           Indicalamus Leaf

The quality of tea would often be quite different by the time it finally arrived at the destination. Unexpectedly the quality change was very well accepted by the nomadic consumers. It was actually starting to become a develop a fermented flavor which they really liked and it became much sought after. Later on, the tea was processed at the tea garden before leaving to achieve the same fermentation effect caused by the natural conditions of the long journey on horseback. That was how Hunan Dark Tea was created way back in the middle of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644AD). Hunan Dark Tea has since evolved into several types – Heizhuan Cha, Qian Liang Cha, Fuzhuan Cha, Tian Jian, Gong Jian and Sheng Jian. Most of the production of Hunan Dark Tea is done in Anhua County.

Anhua County is located in the Wuling Mountains, in the western central region of Hunan Province. It is a densely forested area forestry and has the world famous tillite rocks that were formed by glaciers around six hundred million years ago. The special environmental and climatic growing conditions in Anhua makes it a very unique area for growing and harvesting excellent quality teas

Anhua Tillite Rocks formed six hundred million years ago by glaciers

Fuzhuan Cha is the most distinctive Dark Tea produced in Anhua. The name comes from that the fact that the tea is produced in Summer. Summer in Chinese is ‘Fu’. The good raw material of the Anhua tea leaf and the ingenious processing of Fuzhuan Cha not only makes it an outstanding tea in taste and flavor, but it also produces a type of fungi which is very beneficial to human health. This fungi (Eurotium cristatum) is called Jinhua in Chinese, which means Golden flower.

Fuzhuan Cha with Golden Flower (eurotium cristatum)

This golden flower is as precious as the Chinese Ganoderma. In Fuzhuan Cha, golden flower is the main fungi which grows in the fermentation process. It is known to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria and support a healthy gut microbiome. It has been known to significantly help digestion, lower blood sugar levels and regulate metabolism. The fungi also improves the quality of the tea quality by helping to transform monosaccharide and promote the oxidation of tea polyphenols. Consequently, the coarse flavor in tea is eliminated and the taste becomes smoother and sweeter. The brewed becomes a wine red color.

Xinjiang is one of the four longevity regions in the world. Globally it has one of the highest percentages of people living over a hundred years old.

Fuzhuan Cha’s great value to human health was discovered by the Japanese in 1980s. They have been studying and analysing its health properties and benefits for many years – primarily because of longevity factor in the region. As a result Fuzhuan Cha is now widely accepted by Japanese, and Japan has become the biggest Fuzhuan Cha importing country.

Processing:
Frying the traditional frying of Fuzhuan Cha is done in big thick iron pan and heated up by a wood fire. It needs a high temperature to fry the old coarse tea leaves. The quantity that can be fried in the pan is much more than that of green tea. The frying is done when the tea leaves become soft and sticky and the color turns to a dark green and the grassy flavor changes to a fragrant flavor,

Primary Rolling Fuzhuan Cha needs to be rolled twice. This is the first rolling. It is done in a rolling machine immediately after the frying when the tea leaves are still hot and sticky soft. The rolling shapes the tea body.   

Pile Fermentation is the most critical process for creating the quality (flavor, taste and color) of Fuzhuan cha and other Dark Teas. The tea leaves, after rolling are put in a big pile and covered. The moisture content and temperature of tea leaves is very important during the pile fermentation. It can’t get too high or too low. The temperature will go up and then drop down during the piling. It will need to be monitored closely and stirred at least once to avoid the temperature getting high inside the core of the pile. The pile fermentation will last around 12-24 hours depending on the surrounding temperature and humidity. During the final stages of the process, the tea leaves will turn to a yellowish brown and become less sticky. They will give off a kind of maturing alcohol aroma. This is the sign that the proces is completed

Re-rolling is conducted similarly to Primary Rolling but not as intense. It further shapes the tea body.

Baking is one of the other critical processes for high quality Fuzhuan Cha. Traditionally the baking is conducted on a special stove called a Qi Xing Zao. This is a big stove built with bricks and cement.  A wood fire is burned under the square surface, and after re-rolling, the tea is put on bamboo trays for baking. Smoke is allowed to permeate the tea during the baking process (which is unlike most green teas and oolong tea processing where smoke is prohibited during the baking process). To achieve the ultimate flavor for Fuzhuan Cha, pine wood is used. The traditional Fuzhuan Cha and Hunan Dark Teas have a fragrant pine smoke flavor and aroma.

When the tea leaves become easy to press into powder by hand and the stalks become crispy and easily broken, the baking is finished. A well-baked Fuzhuan Cha and Hunan Dark Tea is characterised by the nice smoky pine flavor and the bright black color of the tea body

Baking on Qixing Zhao

After baking the tea’s water content is around 8%. It is a semi-finished tea – called Hei Mao Cha. It is the rough material which is then further processed into Fuzhuan Cha, Hei Zhuan Cha and Qian Liang Cha.

Hei Mao Cha will be subject to careful sorting before further processing. Some sorted grades will be blended prior to being compressed into bricks. The bricks will then be sent in the drying room for Fahua (Eurotium cristatumgrowing).

Fahua (eurotium cristatum growing) is the most mysterious stage of the process. The bricks are inoculated with eurotium cristatum in the drying room. The temperature in the drying room need closely monitored and the RH adapted to the preferred growing condition for eurotium cristatum. In the final stage of the processing, the RH will be lowered to enough dry the bricks below 6% of moisture content. The final process lasts for around three weeks.

Fahua (inoculation of eurotium cristatum)

The finished Fuzhuan Cha product.

Dry Leaf
Color: Dark brown
Shape/size: Brick, Curly

Brewed Tea
Color: Wine red
Aroma: Special mild vintage fragrance
Body Taste: Mild mellow sweet aftertaste

Recommended Brewing
Water Temperature: 95-100 celsius
Amount (g/150ml): 4-5 g
Steeping Time: 3-5 minutes
# of Infusions: 3-4 infusions