any information on aged/compressed black tea?

[jimmy]

i picked up yunnan sourcing's "drunk on red" (2018 picking) and now i'm super interested in compressed black teas. i don't know why i can't find any others on the sites i know of, there is a yunnansourcing 2020 compressed black tea, but that's all they have. definitely going to pick up some more aged black teas soon, though does anyone know any vendors that specialize in compressed black tea, or any good information on the subject?

edit: just checked, yunnansourcing has a few other black cakes actually. still wondering why nobody else i know of does.
edit part two: by black tea i mean hongcha, what is traditionally called red tea.

[polezaivsani]

I've seen a cake by Spiritwood tea collective - https://www.spiritwoodtea.com/collectio ... 7083482221. No idea how good it is though.

[TeaTotaling]

i picked up yunnan sourcing's "drunk on red" (2018 picking) and now i'm super interested in compressed black teas. i don't know why i can't find any others on the sites i know of, there is a yunnansourcing 2020 compressed black tea, but that's all they have. definitely going to pick up some more aged black teas soon, though does anyone know any vendors that specialize in compressed black tea, or any good information on the subject?

edit: just checked, yunnansourcing has a few other black cakes actually. still wondering why nobody else i know of does.

I have Mountain Passage, a mid 80's Black Tea from GTH. It's fantastic boiled!!

[TeaTotaling]

@jimmy I may have misunderstood you. Seems like you are talking about Red Tea. Mountain Passage is a traditional Black Tea, not a Red Tea.

I believe GTH has some very affordable Red Tea cakes as well, although I have not tried those, yet.

[jimmy]

@jimmy I may have misunderstood you. Seems like you are talking about Red Tea. Mountain Passage is a traditional Black Tea, not a Red Tea.

I believe GTH has some very affordable Red Tea cakes as well, although I have not tried those, yet.

i meant Camellia sinensis, not roobios. you got it right the first time haha

[TeaTotaling]

@jimmy I may have misunderstood you. Seems like you are talking about Red Tea. Mountain Passage is a traditional Black Tea, not a Red Tea.

I believe GTH has some very affordable Red Tea cakes as well, although I have not tried those, yet.

i meant Camellia sinensis, not roobios. you got it right the first time haha

Right, I'm not referring to Rooibos. To clarify, traditionally, Black Tea is post-fermented tea. Not the same as Red Tea, but still Camellia Sinensis. What The West calls Black Tea is actually Red Tea.

[jimmy]

Black Tea is post-fermented tea. Not the same as Red Tea, but still Camellia Sinensis.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
yeah i'm talking about aged/compressed western black tea/chinese red tea, not fermented tea.
i misunderstood your misunderstanding

[TeaTotaling]

Black Tea is post-fermented tea. Not the same as Red Tea, but still Camellia Sinensis.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
yeah i'm talking about aged/compressed western black tea/chinese red tea, not fermented tea.
i misunderstood your misunderstanding

Check out GTH. They have two pressed offerings listed under Dian Hong. Honestly, if I wasn't swimming in tea, I would totally buy each one of their Dian Hong offerings. I'm a huge fan of Red Tea. Especially, in my 80's Duanni. Potent tea shots

[Balthazar]

jimmy I may have misunderstood you. Seems like you are talking about Red Tea. Mountain Passage is a traditional Black Tea, not a Red Tea.

"Black tea" is most comonly used to mean the same as hongcha in Chinese. Heck, even this subforum, dedicated to hongcha, is called "Black tea". "Dark tea" is most commonly used to mean the same as heicha. "Red tea" would of course be a more correct translation than "black tea", but I think that battle was lost more than a century ago

@jimmy: I have it on good authority that farmer-leaf will soon release a sun-dried hongcha cake, pressed in June this year. In fact, I received two of them last week (as another item I had ordered a big quantity of was already sold out).

I haven't tried it yet, but based on my experience with farmer-leaf's hongchas, I don't think it will disappoint. Here's some pics:

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[mbanu]

["Black tea" is most comonly used to mean the same as hongcha in Chinese. Heck, even this subforum, dedicated to hongcha, is called "Black tea". "Dark tea" is most commonly used to mean the same as heicha. "Red tea" would of course be a more correct translation than "black tea", but I think that battle was lost more than a century ago

A century ago these teas were only just starting to be differentiated, because the mechanisms that made both black and red tea were poorly understood; usually these were distinguished as Kaisow or "South China congou" and Moning or "North China congou", although they were also called "red leaf congou" and "black leaf congou". However, this was not clearly defined -- Keemun tea was considered a North China congou because it was made in Anhui, even though stylistically it was a red tea and not a black tea.

[Balthazar]

A century ago these teas were only just starting to be differentiated, because the mechanisms that made both black and red tea were poorly understood; usually these were distinguished as Kaisow or "South China congou" and Moning or "North China congou", although they were also called "red leaf congou" and "black leaf congou". However, this was not clearly defined -- Keemun tea was considered a North China congou because it was made in Anhui, even though stylistically it was a red tea and not a black tea.

Good point, and an interesting piece of historical trivia. But "black tea" was certainly used more than a century ago, although (as you write) the term comprised more than what we today call "hongcha" (e.g. wuyi oolongs but not oolongs such as TGY).

Two examples, from "Tea-Blending As a Fine Art" (1896):

The Teas of commerce are classified as China, Japan, India, Ceylon and Java Teas, but are generally divided into Green and Black Teas, under which terms they are best known to the public. They are again sub-divided into numerous varieties and grades, with names derived from the districts of production or indicative of their age, make or quality, these numerous applications being almost entirely of Chinese origin.

[...] Black and Green, the former comprising Oolongs, Congous, Souchongs and Scented Teas, the latter including Imperials, Gunpowders, Hysons, Young Hysons and Twankay or Hyson-skin Teas.

"Tea and Tea Drinking" (1884) quotes from an earlier text:

Finally, the finer kinds are again fired three or four times, and the coarser kinds, as Twankay, Hyson, and Hyson-skin, once. The others furnish the young Hyson, gunpowder, imperial, &c. Tea cured in this way is called luh cha, or 'green tea,' by the Chinese, while the other, or black tea, is termed hung cha, or 'red tea,' each name being taken from the tint of the infusion.

My point was not so much that "black tea" was used exclusively for what is called "hongcha" today (it wasn't), but that it was mostly used for teas that were not what is called heicha today (which was even less understood in the Anglosphere at the time, beond being "poor quality stuff consumed in border areas").

People may feel free to correct others on the "wrong" usage of black tea, but I for one have succumbed to the harsh realities of "terminology cementation". And it seems most Chinese producers have too, e.g. COFCOs 黑茶元 brand whose English name is "Dark Tea Garden".

[Nis]

i picked up yunnan sourcing's "drunk on red" (2018 picking) and now i'm super interested in compressed black teas. i don't know why i can't find any others on the sites i know of, there is a yunnansourcing 2020 compressed black tea, but that's all they have. definitely going to pick up some more aged black teas soon, though does anyone know any vendors that specialize in compressed black tea, or any good information on the subject?

White2Tea has quite a few cakes of black tea: https://white2tea.com/collections/black-tea

Right, I'm not referring to Rooibos. To clarify, traditionally, Black Tea is post-fermented tea. Not the same as Red Tea, but still Camellia Sinensis. What The West calls Black Tea is actually Red Tea.

If someone (non-Chinese) says black tea, there's a 99.9999% chance they are talking about what the Chinese call hongcha. Otherwise they would probably say dark tea or hei cha.

Also, since we're being pedantic, hei cha is not post-fermented, it's simply fermented (or, more correctly, microbially ripened):
http://www.teageek.net/blog/2017/02/tea ... gy-part-1/
http://www.teageek.net/blog/2017/02/sci ... -ripening/

[TeaTotaling]

i picked up yunnan sourcing's "drunk on red" (2018 picking) and now i'm super interested in compressed black teas. i don't know why i can't find any others on the sites i know of, there is a yunnansourcing 2020 compressed black tea, but that's all they have. definitely going to pick up some more aged black teas soon, though does anyone know any vendors that specialize in compressed black tea, or any good information on the subject?

White2Tea has quite a few cakes of black tea: https://white2tea.com/collections/black-tea

Right, I'm not referring to Rooibos. To clarify, traditionally, Black Tea is post-fermented tea. Not the same as Red Tea, but still Camellia Sinensis. What The West calls Black Tea is actually Red Tea.

If someone (non-Chinese) says black tea, there's a 99.9999% chance they are talking about what the Chinese call hongcha. Otherwise they would probably say dark tea or hei cha.

Also, since we're being pedantic, hei cha is not post-fermeted, it's simply fermented (or, more correctly, microbially ripened):
http://www.teageek.net/blog/2017/02/tea ... gy-part-1/
http://www.teageek.net/blog/2017/02/sci ... -ripening/

Understood. When a non-Chinese individual refers to Black Tea, when meaning Hongcha, factually they would be 100% wrong.

At some point active, induced, fermentation ceases giving way to post-fermentation.

[Nis]

At some point active, induced, fermentation ceases giving way to post-fermentation.

Perhaps, but usually the term is used to refer to the wet-piling process specifically and not anything happening after.

[TeaTotaling]

At some point active, induced, fermentation ceases giving way to post-fermentation.

Perhaps, but usually the term is used to refer to the wet-piling process specifically and not anything happening after.

I think the articles you shared give a logical and simplified explanation of the terminology.

Good read, geeking out