Fu Zhuan Cha 茯磚茶 - Tea Brick from Hunan

20. 08. 2024

Dark tea has a long history in China, with different types produced in several provinces. The most important types include dark tea from Hunan, and its most distinctive variant is Fuzhuan Cha. The origin of Fuzhuan Cha dark tea is closely related to the nomadic peoples of northern and western China, such as the Mongols, Tibetans and Uighurs. Their diet, rich in meat, milk and bread, lacks fiber and vitamins, making tea essential for digestion and nutritional balance. They consider tea indispensable, even more so than food for a short time.

The name Hei Cha 黑茶 can be translated as "dark tea" and the history of this tea is longer than 1000 years. Although processing methods have evolved and modernized over time, people throughout China still hold this tea in high regard as a regional specialty and a precious historical heritage.

 

Tea trade with China's border regions began during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). During the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), the government established an office to manage the tea and horse markets, using tea as a strategic resource for negotiations with neighboring nomadic tribes. At that time, the teas exported to these areas were green tea or similar types. It was a Hei Mao Cha type tea that serves as the starting material for pressing Fuzhuan Cha. Hunan was a major tea-producing region, where the method of packaging for transport by horse to distant markets was also developed.

Anhua County is the primary production area for Hunan dark tea. Located in the Wuling Mountains of central western Hunan, Anhua's unique environment of ancient till rocks and dense forests provides ideal conditions for high-quality tea. Fuzhuan Cha 茯磚茶, Anhua's most distinctive dark tea, derives its name from the Chinese word for the hottest days of summer, "Fu", as it is traditionally produced at this time. By combining local tea cultivars from Anhua and careful processing, we obtain tea of ​​exceptional quality with the help of the beneficial noble fungus Eurotium cristatum.

Eurotium cristatum, commonly known as "golden flower", is the dominant strain in the microbial fermentation process of Fu brick tea. Eurotium cristatum has beneficial biological properties, including enzyme production, antimicrobial properties, immune regulation, antitumor properties, fat reduction abilities, and weight loss benefits. Thanks to its probiotic properties, Eurotium cristatum can be combined with different types of tea substrates to prepare different fermented teas. More importantly, in the tea fermentation process, Eurotium cristatum can secrete various extracellular enzymes, including some hydrolytic enzymes and oxidoreductases. They metabolize and transform the various chemical components in tea through a series of reactions such as oxidation, degradation and condensation, which significantly affect the quality of the tea.

There is an interesting story that tells that during the days of the planned economy in China, Fuzhuan Cha tea was produced and specially supplied to the northwestern minorities, especially the Uygurs of Xinjiang. It was never sold in the inland provinces. Later, a study found that there were significantly fewer cases of high blood fat and sugar among Uyghurs from Xinjiang compared to inland Han Chinese, despite Uyghurs eating much more meat. The conclusion of the research was that the difference was mainly caused by the consumption of Fuzhuan Cha tea. Xinjiang is one of the four oldest population regions in the world and has a high percentage of residents over 100 years of age. In the 1980s, the Japanese discovered the health benefits of Fuzhuan Cha, leading to extensive research and growing popularity in Japan, which is now the largest importer of Fuzhuan Cha.

Fuzhuan Cha offers a number of health benefits::

1. Sufficient vitamins, minerals and fiber, especially beneficial for people with a diet rich in meat.
2. Digestion support and stomach nutrition by increasing the secretion of digestive juices.
3. Reducing fat and maintaining a slim body through the action of tea polyphenols and enzymes from Eurotium cristatum.
4. Protection against aging thanks to antioxidants that eliminate free radicals.
5. Antitumor effects of tea polyphenols and selenium.
6. Defense against high blood pressure through activation of dopamine neurons and softening of blood vessels.
7. Lowering blood sugar with tea polysaccharides, which are abundant in post-fermented dark tea.
8. Anti-inflammatory properties of theaflavins and tea saponins.
9. Detox effects by strengthening bladder function and reducing nicotine and heavy metals in the body.

 

Harvesting and Processing Fuzhuan Cha

The standard harvesting style for Fuzhuan Cha tea requires older tea leaves, typically a single bud with three to six leaves and long stems, harvested from late spring to early summer during warm days. Older leaves with a lower water content require only minimal withering before roasting. 

1. Roasting - Fuzhuan Cha is traditionally roasted in a large, sturdy iron pan that is heated over a wood fire. A high temperature is needed to roast old rough tea leaves. The amount of leaves in the pan is much larger than that of green tea. When the tea leaves soften and become a little sticky, their color turns dark green, the grassy aroma disappears and the leaves begin to smell. This is the signal that the baking is over.
   
   
2. 1st rolling - the first rolling, done while the leaves are still hot and sticky, shapes the body of the tea.
   
   
3. Wo Dui fermentation - the most critical processing step for shaping the quality (taste, aroma, and color) of Fuzhuan cha and other dark teas. After rolling, the tea leaves are gathered in a large pile and covered with a canvas. The residual moisture of the tea leaves is very important for the fermentation process. It can neither be too high nor too low. During fermentation, there will be a significant increase in temperature, which needs to be monitored and reduced in a controlled manner. This is done by shuffling the leaves in a pile. The temperature will increase and then decrease and it will need to be stirred once to prevent too much heat from building up inside the core of the pile. The process typically takes 12-24 hours depending on the current ambient temperature and relative humidity. In the final processing stage, the tea leaves turn a yellowish-brown color, they are not as sticky as before, and the smell resembles kvass when burning alcohol. In this phase of fermentation, the hydrothermal effect plays a key role, later it will be microorganisms.
   
   
   
   
4. 2nd rolling - less intensive rolling for further shaping of tea leaves.
   
   
5. Baking – another very important step in processing Fuzhuan Cha. Traditionally, baking is done in a special oven called Qi Xing Zao. It is a flat brick kiln with a large square surface. A fire burns inside and warms the bamboo bed where the tea is placed. The pine wood smoke that seeps through the tea leaves is desirable and contributes to the resulting taste and aroma of the tea. When the tea leaves can easily be crushed into a powder with your fingers and the stem can be easily broken, the roasting is complete. Well-roasted Fuzhuan Cha has a pleasant light pine smoky flavor and the body of the tea is bright black in color. After brewing, the tea contains about 8% water. This is a tea semi-finished product called Hei Mao Cha. It is raw material that can be further processed into Fu Zhuan Cha, Hei Zhuan Cha, and Qian Liang Cha. Hei Mao Cha tickets will be sorted before further processing. Some grades will be mixed to be pressed into bricks. After that, the bricks will be sent to the kiln to be inoculated with the noble mold Fahua (Eurotium cristatum).
   
   
6. Fahua mold inoculation (Eurotium cristatum) - this process aims to inoculate the tea bricks with Eurotium cristatum mold in a controlled drying oven. The mold is distributed to the tea leaves by air from the drying equipment. The entire process takes approximately three weeks and results in the final product Fuzhuan Cha. In this form, tea can age for decades.

The taste of Fuzhuan Cha is very distinct. It is formed mainly during fermentation under the action of Eurotium cristatum and, of course, during the subsequent maturation. Most Fuzhuan Cha lovers define it as sweetly herbal with notes of straw, wood and fresh wild herbs. In general, the taste of Fuzhuan Cha is very pleasant and is easily accepted even among tea beginners. Many customers have included this tea among the staple foods not only for its soothing taste and character, but above all for its health benefits.