Chinese Tea Assessment: Dark Tea

Dark tea is one of the most widely produced and consumed processing categories of Chinese tea. It includes Hunan’s Fuzhuan, Huazhuan (Flower Brick), Heizhuan (Dark Brick), and Tianjian(Heavenly Tips), Sichuan’s Kangzhuan, Hubei’s Qingzhuan, Guangxi's Liubao and of course Yunnan’s Puer. Dark tea is one of the most problematic areas of tea assessment. It is problematic in its accuracy in so far as there is disagreement over brewing protocol. The good news is that is also simple in so far as the criteria and terminology used for most dark tea is quite limited compared to green tea or Oolong. Whether or not the current terminology can do justice to the full spectrum of flavors that can exist in dark teas is another story. Regardless, dark tea is a good place for someone to start if they want to get a more concrete sense of Chines tea assessment.

Part of the reason why there is cheap, but delicious dark tea available on the international market is that experimental teas that deviate from these regulated norms have a long road to market and institutional acceptance within China. The flower brick in our 2025 Heicha sampler is perfectly standard, the Fuzhuan that we call the "straight brick" would be scored poorly by a tea assesor. Nonetheless, the later has much fuller, comfier flavor. On the other end of the spectrum, the pricier Puer included in this sampler give one a taste of the loose Maocha that would usually only be tried be a blender or assessor.

Click here to see the first entry into this series. All of the information you will see here is a consolidation of official training materials, government regulation documents, and supporting academic papers. This blog series is intended to give international tea lovers an accessible but comprehensive look into Chinese tea assessing.

Basic Method

The 2008 Tea Assessor Training Materials states that dark tea should be brewed in a single 5 minute infusion, at a tea:water ratio of 1:50, usually just 3 grams in a 150ml standard tea assessment mug. This is still how it would need to be done at certain testing centers.

A new 2018 national standard (GB/ 23776-2018) from the Supply Cooperative system now directs assessors to brew dark tea quite differently. Loose dark tea ought to undergo two infusions, the first for 2 minutes and the second for 5 minutes. The first infusion would be the basis of scoring for the tea liquor color, while the second infusion would be used to score flavor, aroma, and dregs. Compressed dark tea would also be brewed twice, 2-5 minutes the first time and then 5-8 minutes the second time, with the second infusion being the main basis for all scoring.

One Chinese researcher has proposed a separate system for Puer, reducing the leaf:water ratio to 1:20 and the brewing time to 90 seconds for Ripe Puer or just 30 seconds for Raw Puer(Han 2023). Another team has proposed a single 8 minute infusion in the standard issue mugs at the standard ratio, which we also advocate(Luo et al. 2019). At this duration, although the hot-whiff aroma assessment is no longer tenable, even the most compressed bricks will open up. This can make an even playing field for all dark teas, regardless of style. This is the method that we use and recommend.

National Tea Scoring Criteria According to GB/23776-2018

Category	Dry Leaf Appearance	Tea Liquor	Aroma	Flavor	Dregs
Green	25	10	25	30	10
Whole-leaf Red	25	10	25	30	10
CTC Red	20	10	30	30	10
Oolong	20	5	30	35	10
Loose Dark Tea	20	15	25	30	10
Pressed Dark Tea	20	10	30	35	5
White Tea	25	10	25	30	10
Yellow Tea	25	10	25	30	10
Flower-Scented Tea	20	5	35	30	10

 

While aroma is allotted 25-30 points in the assessment of any given dark tea, liquor color is emphasized more for loose dark tea than any other category; flavor is the single most important aspect in dark tea assessment. As we will see below, this is simplifying because the flavor profiles and terminology of most dark teas are all straight-forward, but somewhat frustrated because of a widely loved outlier: Puer.

 Loose Dark Tea Scoring Criteria Breakdown

Factor	Grade	Characteristics		Factor Score	Portion of Total Score
Dry Leaf	甲 i	肥硕或壮结，或显毫，形态美，色泽油润，匀整，净度好 Sturdy, down apparent, beautiful shape, glossy color symmetrical, pure.		90~99	20%
	乙 ii	尚壮结或较紧结，有毫，色泽尚匀润，较匀整，净度较好 Not Sturdy, Some down, not glossy in color, relatively symmetrical		80~89
	丙 iii	壮实或紧实或粗实，尚匀净 Sturdy but rough and somewhat unsymmetrical/impure.		70~79
Liquor	甲 i	根据后发酵的程度可有红浓、橙红、橙黄色，明亮 Clear; red, dark or light orange depending on oxidization		90~99	15%
	乙 ii	根据后发酵的程度可有红浓、橙红、橙黄色，尚明亮 Not clear; red, red, dark or light orange depending on oxidization		80~89
	丙 iii	红浓暗或深黄或黄绿欠亮或浑浊 Cloudy; dark red, dark yellow, yellowish green.		70~79
Aroma	甲 i	香气纯正，无杂气味，香高爽 Pure & Correct Aroma, No odors, Strong & Pleasant		90~99	25%
	乙 ii	香气较高尚纯正，无杂气味 Strong Aroma, Not Quite Pure, No Strange Odors		80~89
	丙 iii	尚纯 Not Quite Purity		70~79
Flavor	甲 i	醇厚，回味甘爽 Smooth & Thick, Sweet Huigan		90~99	30%
	乙 ii	较醇厚 Relatively Smooth & Thick		80~89
	丙 iii	尚醇 Not Quite Smooth		70~79
Dregs	甲 i	嫩匀多芽，明亮，匀齐 Evenly Tender, Numerous Buds; bright; complete		90~99	10%
	乙 ii	尚嫩匀，略有芽，明亮，尚匀齐 Lacking in Even Tenderness, Some Buds, Bright, Not Quite Complete		80~89
	丙 iii	尚柔软，尚明，欠匀齐 Not Quite Soft, Not Quite Bright, Lacking in Completeness		70~79

 

Dry Leaf

In looking at the dry leaves, usually in the form of a pressed brick, cake, or basket (lou), the pressing will usually be the first aspect scored. Before breaking off and weighing the chosen sample, the completeness of the corners and definition of the mold are taken into consideration. Pressed or loose, the presentation of non-tea matter, long or old stems exceeding 3 centimeters, and an uneven pick all could mean a lower dry leaf score. 

Different style of dark have their own corresponding color and pressing standards. Ideally, if you were following the 2008 regulations, you would find the following characteristics when observing a sample of a given dark tea:

Dry Leaf Ideal Standards 

Production Style	Appearance	Shape & Weight
花砖 (Flower Brick)	Dark Brown, Flat Surface	2kg Tight Brick
黑砖 (Dark Brick)	Dark Brown, Flat Surface	2kg Tight Brick
茯砖 (Fuzhuan)	Yellow/Dark Brown, Fungus Evenly Distributed	2kg Loose Brick
青砖 (Qingzhuan)	Dark & Glossy, 川 / 中茶 Characters Imprinted	2kg Tight Brick
天尖 (Heavenly Tips)	Dark & Glossy, Neat Strips	Loose Basket
康砖 (Kangzhuan)	Brown	0.5kg Tight Brick
散普洱 (Puer Loose)	Yellowish Orange - Golden Down	Loose
普洱七子饼 (Caked Puer)	Dull Brown, Not Shiny, Down Present	357g Circular Cake
六堡 (Liubao)	Dark & Shiny	Loose Basket

 

Dry Leaf Sample Picture

In the pictures above you can see some relative high grade loose Puer, with the golden down visible, a perfectly textbook cube of Flower Brick that required a saw to separate out, and a fairly abysmal Fuzhuan. In the Fuzhuan particularly, the presence of already hardened stems, uneven pressing, and lack of flowers all would have knocked off points in official scoring. After weighing and brewing up these teas, the relative achievement of official standards for each of these three samples can become even clearer. 

In reading official dark tea assessment, one may encounter the following special terminology for dry leaf:

-泥鳅条 (Mud Fish Strips): Narrow, somewhat straight tea leaves.

-折叠条 (Folded Strips): Strips folded inward, folded into balls

-红梗/宿梗 (Red Stems/ Existing Stems): Already hardened wooden stems, often red in appearance.

-黄花茂盛 (Yellow Flowers Abundant) Meaning an ample and even distribution of Eurotium Cristatum fungus throughout a Fuzhuan brick.  

-丝瓜瓤 (Vine Fiber Pulp) tea leaf venation has separated from leaf matter.

-乌黑 (Raven-Black): Shiny, dark black appearance.

-猪肝色 (Pig Liver Color): Red with brown, the color of some lower grades of basket pressed Anhua tea.

Liquor

Two characteristics that assessors universally do not want to see are cloudiness and broken matter at the bottom of the bowl. Both are on display in the pictures below. Historically, cloudiness could be the result of storage mold or factory floor contaminants. However, an early pick and correct processing can mean greater polyphenol and caffeine content. It is precisely these substances which in certain cultivars can combine at lower temperatures to create a “cream-down” effect, which is not a cloudiness indicative of poor quality. Hence, some advocate for a double infusion approach when assessing dark tea, where tea liquor is scored at the 2 minute mark. Tea liquor that has been brewing for eight minutes can drop down in temperature to below 40 degrees and start to show a cream down effect. 

Liquor Sample Pictures

     

The picture on the left shows the cream down effect of a loose raw Puer after an 8 minute one shot infusion. In a case like this, it is better to re-assess using the double infusion method to verify that the cloudiness is not the result of other factors.

The picture on the right shows a fair amount of debris visible at the bottom of  Flower Brick and Fuzhuan samples tested in the making of this blog. No content floats to the surface, nor does the dust appear to be composed of anything but tea particulate matter that broke off from the leaves before piling. Nonetheless, even though it is tea, more particulate matter could be an indication of poor heat control prior to piling or less flexible, more mature leaf material being utilized in a given brick. 

The liquor color of the two samples in the second picture is also worth discussing The liquor color of the two samples in the second picture is also worth discussing further. While the Flower Brick (right picture, left side) is about on the mark for “yellowish orange,” the Fuzhuan beside it is significantly darker than the usual yellowish orange that is desired in either the 2008 training materials or 2021 Hunan regulations. The producer of this particular brick explained that this tea has been piled for weeks longer than the norm and did have it inoculated to grow the usually desired fungus, affecting liquor color. Without this information, one would have to guess as to whether or not it is the tenderness of pick material, the duration of piling, or the integrity of the leaves that have contributed to this outcome

 Dark Tea Liquor Standardss

Dark Tea Style	Description	Consulted Standard
Fuzhuan	橙黄或橙红尚亮 Orange Yellow or Orange Red, Not Quite Bright	Hunan DB43/T+657.4 Special Grade
Flower Brick	橙黄或橙红 Orange Yellow or Orange Red	Hunan DB43/T+657.6 Grade 1
Heavenly Tips	橙黄或橙红 Orange Yellow Or Orange Red	Hunan DB43/T+657.3 (Xiangjian) Grade TJ
Dark Brick	橙黄或橙红 Orange Yellow Or Orange Red	Hunan DB43/T+657.5 Grade 1
Loose Puer	橙红明亮 Orange Red, Bright	(Yang 2008) Grade JY
Liubao	红浓 Deep Red	(Yang 2008) Ungraded
Kangzhuan	棕褐 Brown	(Yang 2008) Ungraded
Qingzhuan	橙黄明亮 Orange Yellow & Bright	(Yang 2008) Ungraded

  

Aroma

In assessing aroma, dark tea is usually a matter of what is not present. Quite arbitrary sounding terms like “pure” and “strange odor” have enter official lexicon to refer to the wide variety of smells that dark tea can pick in the course of storage. Fishiness, is one such odor equally despised by assessors and consumers alike.

Other yucky smells can come from the factory floor. An overwhelming campfire aroma (烟气), not to be confused with a mild, more pine-forward smokiness (松烟香), may suggest that dark tea has directly taken in the flavor of smoke during the drying process due to the proximity of wood-burning stoves. A brassy sourness (馊酸气) from excessive piling is equally a turn-off. Finally, if you smell wet socks or musty rotting wood(霉气), it might be wise to check for potentially harmful white or black mold that may have emerged from poor piling or storage.

Above all else, it is that old scent or mellow scent (陈香) that is desired in most commercially sold dark teas. Again, this is more about absence than presence. An aged dark tea should have less sweetness, florality, frutiness, or sharpness than a fresh tea from any other category. Interestingly, research seems to indicate that the aging process can mean less tea polyphenols, less amino acid content, and less total soluble content coming out of the leaves and into your cup(Yang, Zhao, Luo 2023). Part of the magic is the same principle that mutes an old green tea in Japan and spoils red tea in India: the slow absorption of moisture back into the leaves.   

How this old scent presents in samples can vary slightly between different styles. Assessments of Fuzhuan may mention the fungus flower aroma(菌花香), sticky rice smell (糯米香) for Ripe Puer, and betel nut scent (槟榔香) for Liubao. All of these terms refer to mellow smells that should be thought of basically just referring to an unoffensive old scent. 

Puer presents a problem that should obvious to most that have read this far. The old textbook standard scent for loose Puer, “tender and lasting down smell, mild old scent” (豪香细长，略带陈味), does not tell one much about the aromatic quality of a Puer. More down means more buds, potentially meaning more sweetness and florality, but also greater sharpness. In real assessments today, terminology from outside dark tea is regularly employed to describe both ripe and raw Puer, with the latter now sometimes be scored as a green tea. It is thus perhaps better to think of Puer as a whole separate category. Dozens of terms have been included in a “Raw Puer flavor wheel” proposed by one research team(Zhang et al. 2025). For that very reason, Puers are seldom a dark tea sample that a new assessor would be asked to score when testing for a certificate.

Flavor

The flavor notes used in dark tea assessment can be almost comically straightforward and simple. It is more a literally exercise than a scientific one. Tea assessors have developed an opaque, flowery vocabulary to describe the almost identically smooth and aged flavor prized in dark tea. Some important basic differences are however reflected in the newest language. Dark Bricks do tend to have a more astringent edge, even after ample aging. For that matter, Qingzhuan, Flower Brick, and Kangzhuan all tend to have a weaker mouth feel and sharper edges. Loose packing and more tender leaves allows other styles to be more flavor forward. Heavenly Tips, one such example, brews up a thicker broth that ought to resemble Ripe Puer or Liubao more than any brick, and Fuzhuan can sometimes be not far behind. These looser packed dark teas can all have a glutinous sweetness and a smoothness that is more complete and longer lasting than tight bricks. Chemically, there is research that suggests that this sweet smoothness is correlated with higher sugar content, lower polyphenol content, and less theaflavin(Wang et al. 2022). Raw Puer is again its own universe and should not be ignored for now.

Dark Tea Flavor Standards

 

Dreg Assessment

Looking at the dark tea dregs, one will have the greatest odds of encountering random matter (杂物) like weeds and hardened branches from the tea field, as well twine, rope, plastic scraps, dust and even cigarette butts from the factory floor. Obviously, finding any of these all would be grounds for a low score. These days, thankfully, if you are assessing a dark tea, even a brick, made after 2010, you should not encounter anything too offensive.

Another universal marker of poor quality is the separation of tea venation from the leaves themselves mentioned back in the section on dry leaf assessment. A mild case of this can be seen in the picture on the left in the center of the pan. In more extreme cases, the younger leaves itself can become like a mushy, muddy blob(泥滑). This happens after excessively long piling wherein the leaves have gone too far along in their way to becoming mulch.

Dark Tea Dreg Standards

Dark Tea Style	Description	Consulted Standard
Fuzhuan	黄褐，尚嫩，叶片尚完整 Yellowish Brown, Not Quite Tender, Almost Complete Leaves	Hunan DB43/T+657.4 Special Grade
Flower Brick	黄褐,叶张尚完整，带梗 Yellowish brown, Not Quite Complete Leaves, Stems Included	Hunan DB43/T+657.6 Grade 1
Heavenly Tips	黄褐夹带棕褐，叶张较完整，尚均嫩 Yellowish Brown w/ Some Dark Brown, Relatively Complete Leaves, Uneven Tenderness	Hunan DB43/T+657.3 (Xiangjian) Grade TJ
Dark Brick	较软，黄褐或带棕褐，明亮 Relatively Soft, Yellowish Brown or w/ Dark Brown, Bright	Hunan DB43/T+657.5 Grade 1
Kangzhuan	棕褐,稍花杂、带细梗 Brown, Somewhat Mixed Leaf Material, Thin Stems Included	National GB/T 9833.4-2013 Special Grade
Loose Puer	红亮柔软 Bright Red, Soft	(Yang 2008) Grade JY
Liubao	古铜色褐 Bronze Brown	(Yang 2008) Ungraded
Qingzhuan	暗褐粗老 Brown Brown, Rough & Old Material	（Yang 2008） Ungraded

 

Note that older leaves and some stem content are both features rather than defects when it comes to dark tea dregs. A “good” Heavenly Tips or Fuzhuan has always been expected to be made from relatively whole leaves, but not necessarily the most tender leaves. The leaves in flower bricks, dark bricks, and Qingzhuan were all historically pulverized. You can see what this looks like in the picture above on the right side. Now, the market has been moving away from this processing style for more than a decade. The newest 2021 assessment standards out of Hunan have followed this shift. 

Academic Sources Consulted

(Chinese savvy friends can reach out for PDFs)

Han Liyan. 2023. Optimization of Brewing Conditions of Puer Tea and Analysis of its Soup Quality. Yunnan Agricultural University. Master’s Degree.

Luo Yuan, Li Shi, Huang Jianan, Xiao Lizheng, Ou Xingchang, An Minhui. 2019. Research on the Preperation of Tea Soup For The Sensory Evaluation of Hunan Dark Tea. Journal of Tea Science 39(03):289-296.

Wang Liming, Xiao Jie, Hou Can, Gao Xiaona, Niu Xinghe, and Ying Jian. 2022. Prediction Model and Digital Labelling For Taste Quality of Puer Ripe Tea. Food & Nutrition in China 28(11): 19-23.

Yang Xiaoping, Zhao Xiao, Luo Yuexin. 2023. Research Progress on Aging Technology of Dark Tea. Food and Fermentation Industries 9(12):309 - 318

Yang Yajun. 2008. Tea Assessor Training Materials. Beijing: Jindun Publishing House: p. 214-233.

Zhang Chunhua, Wang Zilong, Pu Ruqiu, Zeng Wanling, Li Maoyu, Zhang Jiali, Gong Min, Zhang Zhihao, Dan Zhiguo. 2025. Study on the Construction and Sensory Characteristics of the Flavor Wheel of Raw Pu-erh. Science & Technology (Online Advance Printing): 1-21.