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Hello.

I am currently interested in trying / sampling some heizhuans. I have never tried it before but I have tried other anhua heicha. Im quite lost on where should I look for / where to buy samples from when it comes to something like heizhuans to get me started.

Paging resident Nordic fu/hei expert @Balthazar

I'm going to assume you are limited to ordering from "Western facing" vendors and not interested in ordering through e.g. Taobao through an agent. (Let me know if that's not the case.)

If that is the case then there is a hidden blessing in the lack of options (no endless alternatives and decision fatigue!).

For newer, "artisinal" stuff, Exquisite Leaves and The Fragrant Cup are probably your best bet. (There's also Xin An Chu.) These types of vendors mostly keep it a secret whose productions they're selling (though you can sometimes find out from the pictures...) and I am pretty confident there's a good margin on the products (nothing wrong with either of those things, of course). But those who have tried their teas seem to be satisfied customers, and they do offer samples. (Fake-edit: I just noticed Fragrant Cup currently doesn't sell any heizhuan teas, but I'm assuming that's only temporary since they're Anhua focused...)

For "bigger factory openly disclosed brand name" stuff, YS has a couple heizhuans. Some other vendors (e.g. Chawangshop) occasionally has something from this category in stock too. My personal preference for heizhuans is much more with the former category than with the latter, but again, beggars can't be choosers and being limited to Western vendors as an Anhua heicha fan is a bit of a vagabond experience. But still probably a lot better now than it was just a few years ago, with the appearance of those smaller vendors mentioned here.

Also, I could always send you a couple heizhuan samples. If you live in Finland shipping from here won't be too bad. Let me know if you're interested (and perhaps ask a moderator for access to private messages, which will by default be locked until you've made a certain number of posts).

Hopefully this is not too off topic. @Balthazar What do you think about ZhongCha fuzhuan? Would this be an good entry to Heizhuans?

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:23 pm

Hopefully this is not too off topic. Balthazar What do you think about ZhongCha fuzhuan? Would this be an good entry to Heizhuans?

It wouldn't actually be an entry to heizhuans at all, since heizhuan and fuzhuan are two different types of tea. (It can be confusing, since "heizhuan" sounds like it might encompass all brick teas that are heichas.) But Zhongcha offers heizhuans as well, e.g. this

The biggest difference is of course that fuzhuans contain jinhua/"golden flowers" by design/intention, whereas heizhuans only occasionally do so (and by accident, usually related to not being heavily enough compressed).

But to answer about Zhongcha/COFCO's Anhua heichas in general, they are a decent introductions to most genres imo. Their profile is definitely a bit heavier on the fermentation than some others, but worth sampling and a useful reference point.

Hello Yu855

Chawangshop is selling the samples of hei cha. But it is located in China. Other vendor is yunnansourcing too from China. Actually I am drinking "2012 CNNP Hunan Hei Zhuan" from chawangshop. I like it. It remains me young sheng a bit.

Balthazar wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 08, 2023 12:06 am

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:23 pm

Hopefully this is not too off topic. Balthazar What do you think about ZhongCha fuzhuan? Would this be an good entry to Heizhuans?

It wouldn't actually be an entry to heizhuans at all, since heizhuan and fuzhuan are two different types of tea. (It can be confusing, since "heizhuan" sounds like it might encompass all brick teas that are heichas.) But Zhongcha offers heizhuans as well, e.g. this

The biggest difference is of course that fuzhuans contain jinhua/"golden flowers" by design/intention, whereas heizhuans only occasionally do so (and by accident, usually related to not being heavily enough compressed).

But to answer about Zhongcha/COFCO's Anhua heichas in general, they are a decent introductions to most genres imo. Their profile is definitely a bit heavier on the fermentation than some others, but worth sampling and a useful reference point.

@Balthazar
Thank you for the information. A local tea shop does carry the Zhongcha fuzhuans, I'll give it a try next time.