#hei cha

[Image Description: Three images. First shows a chunk of compressed tea leaves and twigs, speckled with a few 'golden flowers' (eurotium cristatum) inside a small, off-white teapot. Second shows the same pot; a partial fingerprint mars the polished clay of the lid. Third shows the pot on a grooved wooden tray beside a white teacup holding translucent, dark red-brown tea.]

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and could not get back to sleep. Theoretically this should've allowed me to begin my day early, but in fact I didn't get out of bed until after 7, instead choosing to lie there feeling terribly sorry for myself because I'd woken up at 3:30.

When I did eventually rise, I was decidedly in need of some consolation, so I brewed this. It's the tea which got me into hei cha, and still one of my favourite teas. It's dirt cheap and rather twiggy, but also sweet, nutty, and warming. I highly recommend it to everyone.

The teapot is polished white jian shui clay. This is another 'B-grade' pot, and this time I actually know why - there's part of a fingerprint in the lid, presumably from someone touching it while it was being made. I quite like this 'flaw;' it gives the pot personality :)

Tea: 2015 Gao Jia Shan 'Cha Duo Tang' Wild Harvested Hunan Fu Brick Tea from Yunnan Sourcing

Origin: Gao Jia mountain in An Hua province, China

As mentioned above, this tea does have a lot of twigs in it, but it also has more golden flowers than I've ever seen in a tea before. Right from the first steep, the taste is strong and mildly sweet, with a decadent honey flavour. On subsequent steeps, a taste reminiscent of toasted almonds joins the party. The aftertaste is very slightly tart.

Thanks for all the likes and reblogs on my comic post c:

Liubao is a type of Heicha or black fermented tea. I’m completely inexperienced with the subject and I’m pretty sure this might be my first time with heicha…(?) Correct me if I’m wrong, I honestly can’t remember. To my surprise, the brew is very light in color. Almost a green-y yellow, but it’s hard to tell with my cups. Aroma is also surprising — a bit woody and reminds me of a garden shop. Flavor is slightly vegetal with raw cacao and some dryness in the mouth. Much greener than I expected from just looking at the unsteeped leaves. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about this tea, but I’d be interested in trying more Liubao in the future.

Haven’t gotten much done this spring break; I started taking ADHD medication and it’s left me feeling sick every day. The symptoms should pass, but I’ve been unproductive as a result. Should hopefully help in the long run.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

[Image Description: Two images. First shows dark brown, dusty-looking tea leaves on a halved piece of bamboo. Second shows a small black clay teapot holding wet, crumpled dark brown tea leaves. It sits on a grooved wooden tray beside a white teacup holding opaque, very dark brown tea.]

Been a while since I posted; I've been drinking tea, as always, but not photographing it. I usually have a gongfu session each morning before work, and often just want to sit there and enjoy it without thinking about pictures. :) But I also want to talk about tea, so here we are.

Liu bao is an interesting type of tea. It's a variety of hei cha (fermented 'dark tea') from Guangxi, and is named after the village where it originated. It's quite a strongly-flavoured tea, and some examples taste like straight-up dirt. Others, however, are deliciously creamy and nutty, with a thick texture and long-lasting aftertaste. It sometimes as golden flowers, but not always.

Tea: 2011 Wuzhou Liubao Cha from Yunnan Craft

Origin: Wu Zhou prefecture in China

On Lothal?

ANYTHING HE CAN GET HIS HANDS ON.

In other circumstances? Highly caffeinated red. Definitely red.

[Image Description: Two images. First shows matte brown, dusty-looking dry tea leaves in a halved bamboo piece. Second shows a small, matte black clay teapot beside a white teacup holding opaque, very dark brown to black tea, both on a grooved wooden tray.]

Drinking some liu bao to the tune of Revolution Renaissance's 'Last Night On Earth' - a very energizing combination! I'm not incredibly familiar with liu bao, but I like the milkiness that often lurks behind its earthier flavours, and I definitely want to try a wider selection of this type of tea.

Forgot I owned a cha he; it's a simple bamboo one, but it does the job very well! The teapot is jian shui clay, again. I'm a fan of this type of clay, because it retains hear well and is porous enough to take the edge off very bitter or fungal teas without really muting them.

Tea: 2008 Liu Bao Cha (Spring harvest) from Yunnan Craft

Origin: Wu Zhou prefecture, China

(To be clear - with the origin, I try to include the most precise location available. Sometimes this is a village, sometimes it's a region/mountain, and sometimes it's no more precise than a province or a country.)

This tea definitely has a fungal, musty smell, but that doesn't particularly come through in the taste. There's not a lot of sweetness - it's primarily a gently earthy, rich tea with a milky aftertaste, though it turns slightly sweet in later steeps.