- Production year: 1991
- Storage: Hunan
- Month cut: March 2026
- Original brick weight: 3 kg
- Bag weight: ~50g / bag (+/- 10%)
- Price: USD 28 / bag
- Availability: In stock
Yiyang Tea Factory (益阳茶厂) (now Xiangyi) was established in 1958, and is probably the best known Anhua maker of fuzhuan teas. There is plenty of 90s fuzhuan from this brand (and others) on the market, sometimes available at surprisingly low prices. Most of these will be “tezhi” productions made of crude materials, and more often than not the bricks will have undergone prolonged cool and dry northwestern storage.
This brick is different in a couple of respects. It used more tender material, supposedly grade 2/gongjian (though with this level of (intentional) choppiness it’s hard to say for sure), of higher quality than what was normal in fuzhuan productions at the time. It was also not marketed as border-area “staple” tea. Yiyang only created two batches of this style of 3kg fuzhuans before the year 2000; the first in 1958 and the second in 1991 (this one). Finally, this brick was stored in Hunan for its entire 35 years of existence which has led to a better transformation than what one could reasonably expect from bricks with northwestern storage.
The profile is leathery, slightly minty and has a peppery note in the background. A good deal of the appeal for me sits in the body feel.
It responds well to high-ratio brewing or being pushed hard in a larger vessel. Boiling or steaming also works well, bringing out more of the medicinal side of the tea. (After a couple of gongfu brews, I recommend giving the semi-spent leaves a prolonged boil, as it often will have much more to give than what can be extracted in a small vessel.)
Same source as the 1999 BSX QLC (and the previously featured 2006 Yongtaifu “Jiangzhoujuan” Qianliangcha).
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.
