Anheituan

[Balthazar]

Hi everyone,

Some of you may have seen the Anhua heicha group buys I’ve organized — a couple in 2022–24 and quite a few this year. As these buys have become more frequent (and since the way these teas are sold often doesn’t allow much advance notice), I’ve decided to change the format a bit. Going forward, I’ll simply be picking up a bit extra of whatever I’m usually getting for myself and offering it for sale. You can find information about what’s available here: anheituan.com.

There is a markup on the teas I offer (as explained on the site), and I won't be trying to invent a euphemism for "vendor" to describe my role. Unlike typical vendors, though, I don’t offer samples, and given the unit sizes of the slices/bricks I list, I don’t expect a lot of sales. The amount of stock will reflect that (though it might grow if there’s more interest than I expect).

In any case, have a look if you’re interested, and feel free to ask questions here or elsewhere. I’ll use this thread to post updates whenever new teas become available on the site.

[pedant]

awesome! i am a fan of qianliang, although i have only tried one log from 2011. i have some slices, but this is tempting me to try other examples.

[Victoria]

@Balthazar nice site and site structure. Those compressed Heicha logs are so beautiful, I didn’t realize they’d be so large! Thanks for sharing your teas.

[teatray]

Cool, good luck with the project! I've wanted to try one of these ever since I first saw you post about them. What's holding me back at the moment is the size of the exploratory purchase--650g-700g is a lot(~100 sessions worth, right?). That, and knowing how difficult it can be to import from China to the EU/my country. If the package doesn't slip through customs, I might need to contact you to request forms/emails for the courier, which can get overwhelming, esp. for a new seller over $60-65 worth of goods. From experience, it feels like heavier packages are more likely to get flagged for inspection, and this seems like exactly the kind of shipment that would.

It seems you are offering a great service, likely at less profit than would be reasonable, more out of love for this kind of tea than anything else. I really admire that, and of course you should not feel obliged to do anything outside of what's comfortable in that context--but, if Anheituan's diplomatic mission towards newbies ever becomes a priority, offering half or quarter slices might help people like me take the plunge. (Once/if I know I want larger quantities, I'm more willing to let me & you suffer the customs consequences ).

[Balthazar]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

@teatray: The points you are making are all very good. I too believe that the unit size of these teas will the biggest barrier for most people, and it will probably be a rare occurrence when anyone who hasn't already bought something through me makes an order. I also believe the demand will saturate fairly quickly. After all, if you have already ordered a couple of slices (=kiles of tea) you'll be set for a long while, even if you drink lots of this genre.

I might look into the possibility of offering smaller quantities at some point, but it would be much more logistically demanding than the current situation is and probably require another warehouse solution than the current bare-bones setup. So unlikely to happen in the short term.

Shipping wise, keeping the total weight at below 2kgs (so that Guangzhou ePacket becomes possible, for most destination) will typically be the bets bet in my experience. But you're right that it's sometime a lottery with different countries' customs (and it seems you have first-hand experience with pains of dealing with Bulgaria's, I haven't shipped there yet )

[Balthazar]

New tea available on the site

2014 Gaojiashan “Qianliang Jinhua Fuwang” Fuzhuan

I do not expect to be offering many fuzhuans on the site - despite it being by the biggest (as in highest sales) category of Anhua heichas by far, it's probably my least favorite overall. This one caught my interest though, and it's the first time I've seen this "in the wild" (the mentioned 2018 version I've seen for sale once before).

Blurb:

Gaojiashan (高家山) is a fairly big operation — not in the league of Baishaxi, Zhongcha, or Xiangyi, but in that tier of medium-sized Anhua heicha producers one level below. A common assessment is that their teas were more consistently good before the two brothers who ran the company split (around 2013), and that their productions have been more hit-or-miss since then. I haven’t had too many of their newer teas, but the ones I have tried support this idea.

That said, interesting productions do pop up from time to time and this is one of them. There’s definitely a gimmick factor to this first batch of their “Qianliang Fuzhuan” (not a qianliangcha with jinhua, but a fuzhuan made to the size of a qianliangcha!), but it uses good tianjian material from Yuntaishan (though take the “wild and ancient trees” claim with a qianliang of salt) and has seen a nice transformation in the 11 years since it was pressed.

The 2014 production was limited to 50 bricks. Another batch of 50 bricks was made in 2018. That number may not sound all that low when you consider the weigh of these bricks (~1.5 tonnes of finished tea per batch), but for qianliangcha logs of similar size production numbers of three or (more commonly) four digits is what you typically see.

Note: This tea contains golden flowers (Jinhua/金花) which may have been inoculated using wheat flour. Individuals with Celiac Disease or severe gluten allergies should exercise caution.

[pathlesstaken]

This is probably somewhat tangential, but how would you recommend one acclimatises to Qianliang cha? I am a fan of Anhua Heicha, but I've noticed most vendors, even specialists, will tend to only have one or two Qianliangs available, which makes getting a general sense for the tea a rather arduous task. Would a vendor such as Yunnansourcing, with a few assorted factory QLCs available, be a reasonable way to get introduced to the genre, or would such teas as "2012 Gao Jian Shan" and "2007 Bai Sha Xi", for which YS provides no more than the factory name and vintage, be a poor introduction?

[aet]

for which YS provides no more than the factory name and vintage, be a poor introduction?

what other info you would expect from the vendor to provide?

[Balthazar]

This is probably somewhat tangential, but how would you recommend one acclimatises to Qianliang cha? I am a fan of Anhua Heicha, but I've noticed most vendors, even specialists, will tend to only have one or two Qianliangs available, which makes getting a general sense for the tea a rather arduous task. Would a vendor such as Yunnansourcing, with a few assorted factory QLCs available, be a reasonable way to get introduced to the genre, or would such teas as "2012 Gao Jian Shan" and "2007 Bai Sha Xi", for which YS provides no more than the factory name and vintage, be a poor introduction?

I agree about the difficulty of getting broad exposure to the genre, particularly if Chinese platforms (Taobao/Douyin/Xiaohongshu) are off the table (and even there, finding sample sizes of less than a full slice of anything interesting can be difficult). I solved that over a period of a a few years for myself by getting involved in Mainland group buys and getting slices of pretty much anything I had a good feeling about from what I could find of info on Tieba and Wechat groups. I don't particularly recommend that path unless you have the time, money and storage space to invest. I kinda justified it as a language learning side quest myself...

Anyways. If you're completely new to QLCs I think getting samples of whatever is available is your best bet ("beggars can't be choosers" etc.). The mentioned BSX and GJS qianliangs that YS offer are good examples of the "house style" of those companies (not that it's a static style, but I'd say they are very representative for both companies QLCs). I like both of those teas myself (enough so that I already offer the former and soon will be offering the latter), and the fact that you can buy them in sample sizes of 50 grams from YS would make that my #1 recommendation for where to start out to answer the general question "is this genre of tea for me at all, or not?".

To be fair, there isn't all that much else to add of facts about these two teas. They're both "standard line" QLCs from the respective companies (multiple QLC production series from the larger producers have been more common in later years). For both teas, YS mentions that it's spring material too (true). I guess the only thing I'd have to add for the GJS is that it's Liubuxi (Yuntaishan) material (as was practically all of their output prior to the company split in 2013).

As for where to go beyond that. Not really sure (haven't followed the Western vendor space for Anhua heicha too closely). Kingteamall has some (newer) Zhongcha huajuans and I believe he offers samples.

Other producers whose QLC has been featured in group buys I arranged before opening Anheituan are:
- Li Yuanlong
- Liu Xiangrui (Daoran)
- Youxin
- Yongtaifu
- Benggeng
- Yunshang

... so I hope to add to the variation part (over time). But as mentioned it's probably not going to be in sample sizes anytime soon, so it's mostly going to be catering to the already converted or those who are curious and fortunate enough to have other tea friends they can split a slice with, to reduce the amount of tea they are blinding.

[Balthazar]

Three new additions to the site:

- 2013 Zhongcha “Xuefeng Jindian” Huazhuan
- 2012 Gaojiashan “Tezhi” Huazhuan
- 2012 Gaojiashan “Tezhi” Heizhuan

The Gaojiashan ones are available as full bricks (1 kg). I had the Xuefeng Jindian (2 kg brick) cut into cubes - weighing in at approximately 200 grams per bag.

[Balthazar]

Three new bricks added to the site:

- 2018 Wang Junan Huazhuan
- 2019 Meishan Wuyu “Dichen” Heizhuan
- 2018 Yuntaiya “Tuohuang” Heizhuan

The first two were made with Gaoma mateials, the last with Yunshang materials. The Wang Junan more on the delicate side, and the other more smoke-prominent (fermentation-wise they are all in the low-medium range).

Also, there is one slice left of the 2010 Yongtaifu Furong Qianliangcha. Though I should probably edit the part about this being "a viable option for US buyers" since the Norwegian postal service no longer ships to the US (except gifts, letters and packages valued at > USD 800). What interesting times we live in.

[debunix]

62kg logs, wow. so impressive!

[Balthazar]

Yeah, the size thing gets almost comical at times. The 62 kg version of the 2010 "World Expo" QLC weighs almost exactly the same as the 2008 "Olympics" QLC (2008 liang, heh), so although this is just speculation on my part it could be that they just wanted to use up leftover bamboo wrappings from that production.

But BSX frequently does bigger size "special productions" of various sizes, e.g. the "7810" QLC (78 kg) and the "Jiangjunfu" QLC productions (50 kg). (To say nothing of certain promotionnal productions such as this wanliang)

Another brand that often strays from the common (10, 100, 1000 liang) huajuan sizes - and has done so for two decades now - is Li Yuanlong.

[Balthazar]

Another QLC up on the site, the 2018 Yunshang "Yezhen" QLC.

It's a special tea to me as it was the first QLC I bought a full slice of, back in 2021.

(Another BSX QLC will likely be up by end of next week, before two very limited Li Yuanlong productions hopefully make an appearance by the end of this month - just need to try them first to verify quality/storage - but after that I expect new appearances to be more infrequent, as I just started a new (real) job and won't be able to spend much time in the crazy world on Anhua Heicha groups for a good while)

[Balthazar]

Some good-ish news. Guangzhou ePacket and EMS shipping are again avilable for the US.

Offcially with DDP (though in this crazy day and age I dare not make any guarantees about whether or not there will be tarrifs or other fees on arrival).

I say good-ish because prices are up quite a bit compared to back in April/May. For Guangzhou ePacket, which is almost always the cheapest of the options that can ship tea abroad, for 1 kg I'm estimating a cost of around USD 28 and for 2kgs (the limit for that shipping option) USD 49.

EMS is more expensive, at USD 56 and 76 respectively for the same weights. 5kgs would be around USD 135. So not great saving in terms scaling up. (The starting cost is USD 37.5 regardless of weight, after that the cost scales linearly).

Still, this is quite a bit better than the heretofore only available option that relied on the (infamous) UniUni for the US-part of the delivery.

My bet would be that higher shipping prices to the US is the new normal. Even from here in Norway, where the postal services will resume shipping to the US (everything but gifts or packages valued at > 800 USD has been stopped since this fall) from 1st of January 2026, there will be a significant price increase due to the added administrative burden (I am expecting something in the USD 20-30 range just for the administrative work per shipment).

(I know there are some vendors who have figures out more reasonable options with consolidation shipping services from China to the US. I'm not operating at a scale or with the time capacity to set up something like that, unfortunately.)

In other news, a couple new teas up on the site as well (the ones mentioned in my last post + a 2006 Yongtaifu QLC and a fuzhuan).