Your Starter Deck Like our 2024 Anhua Heicha Starter Deck, this is meant to be a comprehensive introduction into Anhua Heicha. Six samples, four styles, and three producers are included. This time we have rotated in four new teas at the same great price. Altogether, at least 7 grams of the following teas are included: -2017 Fuzhuan (Easy Tea) -2017 Straight Brick (Xia-Shang-Zhou) -2013 Straight Brick (Xia-Shang-Zhou) -2018 Heavenly Tips (Xia-Shang-Zhou) -2019 Flower Brick (Qingyun) -2017 Dark Brick (Easy Tea) We want you to experience the full spectrum of Anhua Heicha over three sessions. In the first session, you will try three brick samples of the same vintage, both from certified producers within the nominal Anhua production region. The gap between the two samples shows the impact of their different production philosophies. The second session showcases the different aging potential of Heavenly Tips as opposed to two wrongly maligned bricked variants. After trying all of these samples, you can say definitively whether or not you like Anhua Heicha and what processing styles most interest you. At the very least, you will be able to say you got a fair sense of the variety that exists within Anhua Heicha. We recommenced you space out these two sessions, and at the absolute minimum try a 30 second rinse and one minute infusion for each sample through a gongfu style infusion before you boil them, should you be so inclined. Session 1: Fuzhuan & Fu By Other Names These are three of the most representative and middle-of-the-road Heicha you could try. Fuzhuan has been the most well known and best selling style of Anhua Heicha for a century now. Past the seven year mark, two of these teas are mellowed but still affordable, while the 2013 brick shows what premium Fu tastes like without its usual sharp edge. The three variations we are offering here, from Easy Tea and Xia-Shang-Zhou, represent two different production philosophies. Easy Tea puts a greater emphasis on more consistent source materials and premium appearance, while Xia-Shang-Zhou emphasizes a natural storage at high elevation without any interest in maximizing the growth of Jinhua fungus. They market their unadorned Fu as "原生砖” literally meaning natural brick, describing it as almost closer to Huazhuan in profile. Regardless of the fungus content, all three of these teas have a smoky aroma and refreshing citrus notes. Session 2: Dark Horses Heavenly Tips’ relative obscurity is completely undeserved. The dismissal of Flower and Dark Bricks are unequally unfair. Heavenly Tips, the most lightly packed and carefully picked processing style, is usually stored in 50 pound cube-shaped chests called lou. It is not bricked, and as a result it can age more quickly and completely than other processing styles. The resulting flavor profile is the closest thing in Anhua to Ripe Puer. Whatever citrus, sour notes that can come out in the Fuzhuan aren’t here. Instead one gets a thick, chocolaty liquor, and a lingering huigan without overwhelming or immediate sweetness. Dark Brick and Flower Brick bricks by definition both tend to be tightly packed, and are fully dried before packaging, leaving little time for the famous “jinhua” fungus to grow. The former is usually made from lower-grade shredded leaves, while the latter is made from the higher grade “huajuan” material that used to be made into cylindrical Qianlong tea. Both styles, but Dark Brick especially, are the sturdy bricks that have often made their way onto the international market alongside Hubei’s Laoqingzhuan and Sichuan’s Zangcha. Dark Brick and Flower Brick are the most suited to be boiled and enjoyed as Mongolian style milk tea, but both of the samples we have included can also be enjoyed Gongfu style. The 2019 Flower Brick has some sharpness alongside its woody aroma and watery mouthfeel. The 2017 Dark Brick, which Easy Tea calls “heicha for people who aren’t in the mood for heicha” - is consistently sweet and mellow. It can be enjoyed in the same way that hojicha can, before bed and in quantity.
