2016 Hunan Dark Tea

This simple tea is aging well. The appealing aroma of cedar, a soft grainy texture and a cup character that is both sweet and reminiscent of barley and rye. It yields many more steeps than you might think.

Hunan dark tea has a long history going back to the trading routes of the ancient tea horse road/silk road. Similar to shu puer, Hunan dark tea goes through the added step of pile fermentation, which uses finished tea that is heaped up into piles, wetted, and covered. The applied heat and moisture is carefully monitored and used to facilitate beneficial bacterial growth in the process. After fermentation, Hunan dark teas are finished off by pine fire drying and either left loose like this tea or pressed into shapes (like Fu Cha). Dark teas will age well and change in profile over the course of years.