安化县安化縣
Anhua
Mountain county on the Zi River and centre of Anhua dark tea: official border-trade tea from 1595, now 360,000 mu of tea and Fu bricks with 'golden flowers'.
At a glance#
- Rainfall · Mean temperature
- Rain: CMA 1991–2020 normal at the county station (196 m), with 81% mean relative humidity. Temperature: inference, midpoint of the 16.2–17.6 °C range given by zh-Wikipedia; zh-Wikipedia also gives 1,706 mm of rain and 275 frost-free days.
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
33 places shown Across the view · 261 km
11 places shown Across the view · 112 km
Terroir#
- Slope and light
- About 82% of the county is mountainous, with 63 peaks over 1,000 m (zh-Wikipedia). The county's tea office treats high-mountain leaf as superior to leaf grown below about 500 m: richer, more durable and better for ageing.
Cultivation#
- Cultivars grown
- 安化云台大叶种 (Anhua Yuntai large-leaf)
- Landraces
- Anhua population (群体种), with Yuntai large-leaf as its type: shrub, large leaf, thick and glossy, strong in extract.
- Practice
- Raw dark crude tea (黑毛茶) is graded under DB43/T 657.1-2021 into four grades and nine sub-grades, from one bud with 2–3 leaves (special grade) to one bud with four leaves and mature leaves (third grade).
Local words#
Market#
- Output
- County-reported: 360,000 mu of tea gardens and 210 tea firms; Anhua has been in the top ten of China's 'hundred strongest tea counties' for 16 consecutive years. No tonnage found on the pages opened.
Misnaming to watch for: The 'Anhua dark tea' GI covers raw leaf from parts of four Yiyang county-level units, not only Anhua. 千两茶 and 花卷 are related formats, as 花卷 is the family name for the rolled 'flower-roll' teas. Golden flowers are a quality marker of Fu tea, not mould damage, but they also grow naturally on other Anhua teas.
History#
- 856Yang Ye's 《膳夫经手录》 records 渠江薄片 tea, the earliest written trace of Anhua tea.
- 1072Anhua county is established; a tea market (博易场) is set up on the north bank of the Zi River.
- 1391The Ming court fixes Anhua's tribute at 22 jin of bud tea, the '四保贡茶' from the Xianxi area.
- 1524The term 黑茶 appears in censor 陈讲's memorial on the tea–horse trade, the earliest written use.
- 1595Anhua dark tea is designated official tea (官茶) and approved for the Shaanxi–Gansu tea–horse offices.
- 1756Governor 陈宏谋's 《茶商章程》 requires Shaanxi–Gansu merchants to buy official tea in Anhua.
- 1796Between 1796 and 1820 (Jiaqing era), growers at 边江 in Jiangnan develop 千两茶.
- 1915Hunan Tea Lecture Institute founded. It moved to Xiaoyan in Anhua in 1920 and to Huangshaping in 1927, and survives as the Anhua tea experiment station.
- 1940-05彭先泽 successfully trial-produces black brick tea in Anhua.
- 1950Anhua Brick Tea Factory (forerunner of 湖南白沙溪茶厂) succeeds in making Fu brick.
- 1957Yuntai large-leaf landrace identified in a provincial survey; it is listed among 21 national fine cultivars in 1965.
- 2010Anhua dark tea GI approved (applied 2009); about 7,000 km² across 32 towns in Anhua, Taojiang, Heshan and Ziyang.
Other names and written forms 2#
Chinese variants
- 中国黑茶之乡(China's hometown of dark tea)
Translations and trade names
- Anhwa
Names and ambiguities#
Notes#
Anhua's documented tea history begins with 渠江薄片, recorded in 856 in Yang Ye's 《膳夫经手录》 and attributed to the Qujiang valley. The term 'dark tea' (黑茶) first appears in a 1524 memorial by censor 陈讲. The county government dates Anhua's designation as official tea (官茶) to 1595 (Wanli 23). That year the tea was approved for shipment to the Shaanxi–Gansu tea–horse offices. In 1756, Hunan governor 陈宏谋 drafted the 《茶商章程》 rules, approved by the Qianlong emperor. They required Shaanxi–Gansu merchants to buy official tea in Anhua, and a boom followed. Anhua and Wuyishan are presented as the two starting points of the Tea Road to Kyakhta.
The product family is summarised as 三尖 (天尖, 贡尖, 生尖), 三砖 (黑砖, 花砖, 茯砖) and 一花卷 (千两茶 and its smaller relatives). 千两茶 was developed in the Jiaqing era (1796–1820) at 边江 in Jiangnan town, from Ming-era tube-packed tea. Black brick was first made successfully in Anhua by 彭先泽 in May 1940. Fu brick was first made in 1950 at the Anhua Brick Tea Factory, forerunner of 白沙溪. Fu brick is defined by 'flowering' (发花): growth of the 'golden flower' fungus *Eurotium cristatum* (冠突散囊菌), which gives a 'fungal-flower aroma'. Qianliang, black and flower bricks can also flower naturally.
Making involves two pile-fermentations, for the crude leaf and again for the finished product; firing over pine on the 七星灶 'seven-star stove', which gives a pine-smoke note; and sun-and-dew curing (晾晒) of Qianliang and Tianjian. The local landrace standard is 安化云台大叶种. It was found at Yuntai Shan in 1957 and listed in 1965 as one of 21 national fine tea cultivars. The county has 36万 mu (360,000 mu) of tea and 210 tea firms.
Prices of teas claiming this origin#
International retail
Show as table
| Product | Vendor | Channel | per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cha Yu Lin Liu Bu Xi Village Tian Jian Basket Tea | Yunnan Sourcing | International retail | $19.80 |
| CNNP Black and Gold Hei Zhuan Brick Tea of Hunan | Yunnan Sourcing | International retail | $28.00 |
| Smoked Traditional Gongjian Heicha | Tea & Whisk | International retail | $54.67 |
Listings claiming this origin 3#
Prices compared in the selected currency; unknown values appear last.
| Product | Vendor | Price | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
Cha Yu Lin Liu Bu Xi Village Tian Jian Basket Tea
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Yunnan SourcingSelected destinations |
$99.00 / 500 g | $19.80 ≈ $1.39 a session |
CNNP Black and Gold Hei Zhuan Brick Tea of Hunan
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Yunnan SourcingSelected destinations |
$70.00 / 250 g | $28.00 ≈ $1.96 a session |
| Smoked Traditional Gongjian Heicha | Tea & WhiskSelected destinations |
$31.00 / 56.7 g | $54.67 ≈ $3.83 a session |
Prices recorded on the dates checked. Conversions use ECB rates dated 2026-10-20; original prices appear alongside. Origin, age and cultivar are stated by the vendor.
Teas associated with this place#
安化黑茶
Anhua dark tea Ānhuà Hēichá
A regional dark-tea family from Anhua, Hunan, including several distinct loose and compressed products.
sourced
安化千两茶
Anhua Qianliang tea Ānhuà Qiānliǎng chá
Anhua dark tea compressed into a large bamboo-bound cylinder, named for a traditional weight of one thousand liang.
sourced
安化天尖
Anhua Tianjian Ānhuà Tiānjiān
Anhua dark tea in the Xiangjian family, traditionally steamed and packed into baskets rather than made into bricks.
sourced
安化贡尖
Anhua Gongjian Ānhuà Gòngjiān
One of the three traditional jian loose dark-tea names of Anhua.
sourced
安化生尖
Anhua Shengjian Ānhuà Shēngjiān
One of the three traditional jian loose dark-tea names of Anhua.
sourced
安化黑砖茶
Anhua black brick tea Ānhuà Hēizhuān chá
Pressed Anhua dark tea known as Heizhuan, or black brick tea.
sourced
安化花砖茶
Anhua flower brick tea Ānhuà Huāzhuān chá
Anhua dark tea pressed into the brick form known as Huazhuan.
sourced
安化松针
Anhua Songzhen Ānhuà Sōngzhēn
Anhua’s needle-shaped green tea. The name Songzhen means pine needles and describes the narrow, straight leaves; it is separate from Anhua’s dark-tea traditions.
sourced