Dark tea is one kind of tea with the most complicated processing among six kinds of tea in China. Owing to long history, it has developed into many tea products; each product is utterly different in quality for different processing method.

The most important characteristic processes in the processing of Hunan dark tea are pile fermenting and fire-drying with pine wood during primary processing. Without these two processes, it can’t be called “dark tea”. At present, the traditional processing method is still applied to the production of Hunan dark tea, which is complicated in technique, high is technology. The processing of some tea products is followed from generation to generation, refused to impart outside, so it’s mysterious kept secret.

The model of making Jingyang Brick tea, the tea was created by the merchants of Shanxi. It has a history of more than three hundred years on compressing “Fu tea”, “governmental tea” and “official Tea” in Xianyang, Jingyang of Shanxi. In 1953, they were moved to the place of production, Anhua to produce, in 1958, changed to compress by machine, since then the history of Jingyang brick Tea has announced an end .Recently, there are some tea lovers in folk produce Jingyang brick Tea by traditional technique, because it’s made by hand , the tightness degree of the tea is proper, the fungus granule is bigger and brighter than that of Fu brick tea made by machine, the aroma of fungus is more fragrant, it is very popular in the market, but the output is very low.

Fungus-growing of Fu Brick Tea, which means there are many golden granules of fungus like “Milian flower” on the internal surface of brick tea, so it is called fungus-growing. It is the unique characteristic of Fu Brick Tea, the quality of the tea is often judged according to the fungus is luxuriant or not. Because Jingyang Brick tea, the predecessor of Fu Brick tea was used natural method of fungus growing, the golden fungus passed through the paper, but now it’s dried in artificial baking house, the fungus is bound to grow inside brick tea.

Candida, the catalyst of the pile-fermenting technique of dark tea. Without it there was no real dark tea, without it the tea wouldn’t be pure in aroma, mellow in taste and glossy in color.

Qianliang tea was dried by putting in sun and opening in dark, it may be said “absorbing the elite of the nature”. The season of stamping and making the tea is very strict, or it is easy to become mildewed or burn in the heart. Qianliang tea stored for many years, has been filled with tea worms on the surface of it. Tea worms and their excrement not only can’t damage the quality, but also make the pharmacologic efficacy more remarkable.

Besides compressed dark tea, the loose dark tea leaf has seven kinds: “Yajian, Baimaojian, Tianjian, Gongjian, Xiangjian, Shenjian, Kunjian”. Which made by tender dark tea leaf raw material. Yajian and Baimaojian is the top-quality dark tea loose tea leaf，they are not trade merchandise, just for the gifts from tea merchants with small quantity production output. The Tianjian and Gongjian Dark Tea, was compressed by foot in former times, with primitive bamboo package and setting forth the light sweet scent of bamboo leaves. This product is delicate in raw material, special in work, deep in color and mellow in taste, chiming in with Liubao Dark tea of Guangxi, was only possessed by the rich men in former days.