I got a small sample of this with another order and decided to try it. This is a brick tea with low grade leaf, and not a ripe as it says in the title. In fact, if you read the description it says made from 2002 raw leaf which was aged and then either pressed or rewrapped in 2014. This is a heicha border tea, the dark leaves are oxidized and then fermented over time, along with raw, unoxidized leaf mixed in. The oxidizing may have been accidental, or the owner here didn’t know the difference.
The flavor is similar to other aged Tibetan brick heicha, with that Chinese medicine flavor. The leaves are large and papery, some are dark and stuck together a bit. Brew has a bit of thickness, and is a clear, dark orange/red. I don’t particularly care for the Chinese medicine/incense storage flavor, I can tell some camphor is part of it. In a way I’m curious whether I could work out that flavor but I have other such teas to use in an experiment. This tea is currently marked down to $16 or so for 250g.
Flavors: Camphor, Medicinal, Wood
Preparation
Comments
There are many types, in this case it is oxidized tea mixed with raw. Sometimes the mixture is pile fermented before or after pressing, but not as long as shou would be.
That typical Tibetan brick heicha flavor comes to the fore if brewed gongfu style. When I purchased by first one in Beijing, the guy who sold me the tea prepared it by boiling the leaves in a glass kettle. Since then I’ve been using that method and the tea has a nicer body and sweetness, with that medicinal flavor in the background. Of course this could depend on the tea.
What is heicha?
There are many types, in this case it is oxidized tea mixed with raw. Sometimes the mixture is pile fermented before or after pressing, but not as long as shou would be.
That typical Tibetan brick heicha flavor comes to the fore if brewed gongfu style. When I purchased by first one in Beijing, the guy who sold me the tea prepared it by boiling the leaves in a glass kettle. Since then I’ve been using that method and the tea has a nicer body and sweetness, with that medicinal flavor in the background. Of course this could depend on the tea.