Kang Zhuan
A Sichuan dark tea pressed into bricks for the historic tea-horse trade with Tibet, and still the basis of Tibetan butter tea. It is made from very coarse mature leaf and stem, and is designed to be boiled hard and churned with yak butter and salt rather than drunk as an infusion.
Character
Coarse and astringent as a plain infusion, and quite different as intended — boiled and churned with butter and salt, where its roughness is exactly what stands up to fat and salt. A tea that only makes sense inside its own preparation.
- Flavour
- Smoky, Woody, Earthy
- Aroma
- Toasted
- Mouthfeel
- Astringent, Full bodied, Drying
- Complexity
- Straightforward
- Notes
- woodsmoke, bark, damp earth
- Aftertaste
- Rough and woody.
Bold intensity: full-bodied, astringent or bitter enough to lead the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Oxidation
- Not applicable
- Post-fermentation
- Both
- Harvest
- Summer
- Processing
- Kill-green (fixation) → Wet piling (wo dui) → Compression → Ageing and storage
History
Pressed at Ya’an for the Tibetan border trade, which the Chinese state controlled as policy from the Song dynasty onward in exchange for warhorses. The format has changed very little in centuries.
Brewing
Boiling and decoction
0.5–1.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Qing Zhuan aged
Two coarse border-trade bricks from Hubei and Sichuan, made for boiling rather than steeping. Both are among the cheapest teas in China by weight.
- Tibetan brick tea
Both are Ya’an bricks for the Tibetan market, and the names are used interchangeably. Neither is intended to be steeped and drunk as it is.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Anhua dark tea
Shares 5 descriptors with Kang Zhuan: smoky, woody, earthy, full bodied and toasted.
- Qing Zhuan
Shares 5 descriptors with Kang Zhuan: woody, smoky, earthy, full bodied and toasted.
- Samovar blend
Shares 5 descriptors with Kang Zhuan: smoky, woody, full bodied, astringent and toasted.
- Yunnan green tea
Shares 5 descriptors with Kang Zhuan: smoky, earthy, full bodied, astringent and toasted.
- English Breakfast
Shares 4 descriptors with Kang Zhuan: full bodied, drying, astringent and toasted.
- Fu Zhuan
Shares 4 descriptors with Kang Zhuan: earthy, woody, full bodied and toasted.