D-CN-030
Ya'an Tibetan Brick (Zang Cha)
雅安藏茶
Border tea brick, from Sichuan, China.
Dark tea (post-fermented)
Ya'an Tibetan Brick (Zang Cha) is strongest on body, smoothness and woody. Typical tasting words: dry wood, damp earth, cut hay, malt. Produced in Ya'an since the Tang dynasty as the central commodity along the historic Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Road. A foundational dietary pillar for Tibetan pastoralists, customarily boiled for hours and churned with yak butter and salt.
Also known as Tibetan Tea, Zang Cha and Kangzhuan Brick.
The profile
Taste, 0 to 5
Flavour families, 0 to 5
Facts
- Origin
- Sichuan, China
- Plant
- Camellia sinensis var. sinensis
- Harvest
- summer to autumn
- Elevation
- mid
- Oxidation
- 70 to 90%
- Roast
- unroasted
- Leaf
- compressed
- Price band
- affordable
- Availability
- specialist
- Ageing
- made for ageing
- Forgiving to brew
- 5 of 5
- L-theanine
- low
Made by: kill-green, then repeated pile fermentation, then steaming, then heavy hydraulic compression into bricks, then drying.
Caffeine
A cup of Ya'an Tibetan Brick (Zang Cha) carries a typical estimate of 35 mg of caffeine, within a range of 20 to 50 mg depending on leaf amount, water temperature and steeping time. Figures are estimates for a 240 ml cup. Better earlier in the day if you are sensitive to caffeine. The caffeine planner turns this into a daily total.
How to brew it
| Method | Leaf | Water | Steeps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western, 250 ml | 3.5 g | 98 to 100 °C | 4 min, 5 min, 6 min |
| Gongfu, 100 ml | 6.5 g | 98 to 100 °C | Rinse, then 20 s, 25 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, 70 s |
Up to 8 infusions. Scale for your own pot with the brew calculator.
Drinking it
- morning
- afternoon
- cold_weather
- breakfast
- after_meal
Pairs with red_meat, cheese and breakfast_dishes. Milk: yes. Iced: no. Sweetener: yes. Good for beginners: yes.
Tasting words explained
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More: all dark tea (post-fermented) teas, teas from Sichuan, China, or filter the whole drawer.