dark tea

Literal meaning

black tea (dark tea)

Definition#

One of China's six basic tea classes: teas whose processing includes a microbial post-fermentation, typically by piling damp leaf, giving dark leaf and liquor. Main producing areas include Hunan (Anhua), Hubei, Sichuan, Guangxi and Yunnan. Ripe pu'er is a dark tea; whether raw pu'er belongs here is disputed.

Translation and usage#

Language	Use	Alternatives & cautions
English	dark tea post-fermented tea (heicha) translation	Also acceptable hei cha heicha post-fermented tea Avoid black tea in English 'black tea' means 红茶 (hongcha); literal translation causes a category error
Deutsch	Dunkler Tee nachfermentierter Tee (Hei Cha) translation	Also acceptable Hei Cha Heicha nachfermentierter Tee postfermentierter Tee Avoid Schwarzer Tee German Schwarztee = 红茶
Русский	хэй ча тёмный (постферментированный) чай pinyin with a gloss	Also acceptable хэйча Хэй Ча тёмный чай чёрный чай (хэй ча) постферментированный чай Avoid чёрный чай (без пояснения) Russian 'чёрный чай' = 红茶 in everyday use; some Russian tea writers do use 'чёрный' for 黑茶 (Chinese convention), so it must be glossed хэйча без пояснения в массовых текстах читатель поймёт «чёрный» как обычный чёрный чай
简体字繁體字	黑茶
日本語	黒茶

Common confusions#

Whether sheng pu'er is a 黑茶 is contested; Yunnan industry often treats pu'er as its own category.
raw pu'er: dark tea in GB classification debates vs. 'green-processed' in vendor usage
Chinese colour categories and common English tea names differ: 红茶 is normally black tea in English, while 黑茶 is dark tea. A literal colour translation can therefore be misleading.