Tibetan Hei Cha Ya Xi (Fine Bud) Grade

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Earth, Marine, Wood, Mineral, Mushrooms, Wet Moss, Dark Wood, Metallic, Raisins, Roasted, Sweet, Tobacco, Wet Wood
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by cultureflip
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 4 oz / 127 ml

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12 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I have been thinking about Tibet and the Lama lately and thought I would sip this in their honor. When piping hot this tastes like a pu-erh but as it cools for just a few moments it’s like a blend...” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “After the epic letdown that was RIshi’s Osmanthus Silver Needle it is nice to be pleasantly surprised by the the quality of a tea, especially one which is, to me, uncharted territory. The wet aroma...” Read full tasting note
    72
  • “099/365 Getting towards the end of my Dark Matter teas now, but still a few treats (including this one!) to go. The initial steep initially tastes like wet raw wood, but that gives way very quickly...” Read full tasting note
    65
  • “From LP Dark Matter This tea was great. I’m not a fan of shou, but this had zero fermentation flavor and was fruity, complex, and well-balanced. I kept going back to the gaiwan. Didn’t keep...” Read full tasting note
    89

From Life In Teacup

Hei Cha, literally meaning “black tea” in Chinese, is produced in Hunan, Sichuan and a few other provinces and has supplied to Tibet, Mongolia and other Northwestern ethnic groups since the 7th century.

One of the highest grade Tibetan tea. In traditional Tibetan society, it was exclusively for royal families, Lamas and affluent merchants. The tea leaves are from all natural environment of above 1000m (3000 ft.) elevation. The tea is processed with tedious, traditional procedure of more than 32 steps, and wrapped in hand-woven bamboo encasing.

About Life In Teacup View company

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12 Tasting Notes

81
6768 tasting notes

I have been thinking about Tibet and the Lama lately and thought I would sip this in their honor.

When piping hot this tastes like a pu-erh but as it cools for just a few moments it’s like a blend of both worlds both worlds of pu-erh and black tea. I am enjoying it more once it has had a chance to cool a bit.

It did smell earthy pu-erh like prior to infusing and now that I am drinking it – it has a lovely hint of sweet. It’s a tad malty but smoother that I thought it would be. This is pretty good!

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72
144 tasting notes

After the epic letdown that was RIshi’s Osmanthus Silver Needle it is nice to be pleasantly surprised by the the quality of a tea, especially one which is, to me, uncharted territory.

The wet aroma is delicious and pungently earthy. It smells alive and welcoming with notes of wilted florals and virile soil. Everything about this tea is soft and striking. The mouthfeel is thick and coats the tongue with a low buttery “sweetness” that is not typically sweet yet not exactly savory either. Can it be the ever so elusive and ambiguous “umami” quality? Truly a rare species to behold especially in such a seemingly unlikely habitat. The woody malt sits heavily on the palate and a wet wood hui gan fills the throat leaving a lingering dark, nutty flavor in the mouth.

It is lighter, more complex and with a taste more like “tea” than most shu puer though with some overbrewing there can be a similar wo dui or piled fermentation greasy taste. It’s also softer and more pastoral in taste than typical Yunnan red teas. I know I’ve never had a tea from Sichuan before so this one stands out as unique to me.

And check this out: a 200 gram hand-woven bamboo package of this is, wait for it . . . $28.

Read more here: http://gingkobay.blogspot.com/2011/03/tibetan-hei-cha-ya-xi-grade.html

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65
2238 tasting notes

099/365

Getting towards the end of my Dark Matter teas now, but still a few treats (including this one!) to go. The initial steep initially tastes like wet raw wood, but that gives way very quickly to a fairly intense sweetness. There’s a fruitiness (stone fruit?) that lingers in the aftertaste. It reminds me, at this stage, of a roasted oolong – although a really good one!

Second steep is woodier and earthier, more approaching shou pu’erh levels of flavour. I’d say it’s also slightly less sweet, although there’s still an element of sweetness that keeps the other flavours from becoming too overpowering or savoury. The initial fruitiness has disappeared.

Third steep is similar, although less intense overall. The raw wood flavour is still most prominent, along with a subdued earthiness. The sweetness is diminishing rapidly.

I’ll probably give this one another few steeps, at least until I go home for the day. I don’t mind it, but it’s not making my soul sing in the way some of the other Dark Matter teas have done. It’s fairly middle of the road, in my estimation.

Preparation
Boiling

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89
314 tasting notes

From LP Dark Matter

This tea was great. I’m not a fan of shou, but this had zero fermentation flavor and was fruity, complex, and well-balanced. I kept going back to the gaiwan. Didn’t keep count, but I think I had at least 20 steeps over a period of 5 days. Later steeps were more fuity and complex, to the point where I bumped my rating up a couple of points.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 g 3 OZ / 88 ML

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74
101 tasting notes

From Dark Matter 2016:

Near boiling water, gaiwan, rinsed once, steeped starting at 5 seconds and increasing.

I love the large leaves on this. I grabbed one out that was longer than my pinky. The tea brews to shades of dark dusky amber never getting truely dark. I found the flavor to be rather subtle, not in a bad way just not what I was expecting. It stated with a bit of briney flavor and a few steeps in had a nice earthy funk. Got some woody and mineral flavors in later steeps and some sweetness at the end. Pretty refined for something with both “Tibetan” and “Hei Cha” in the name.

Flavors: Earth, Marine, Wood

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95
400 tasting notes

Dark Matter 2016

Pretty good. Deep Earth. Really picked up after steep 5 (increased temperature to near boiling, longer steeps at 20 seconds). 80/100.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFbWw6yA-y9/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

PS. Got pretty tea drunk.

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80
526 tasting notes

I like heicha on cloudy days, so the weather told me that it’s time to drink this tea. The brick is lightly compressed consisting of brittle twigs and black leaves. The little guy had a fragrant aroma of dry mahogany, slight grassy tones, and some musk in the background. I warmed up my gaiwan and placed a chunk inside. The scent deepened to a wet forest moss, some tobacco, and a sweet raisin undertone. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste began as very sweet with some light spiciness, A heavy wood base lifted these flavors up and crafted a soothing heavy brew. The brew became slightly more sweet and an underlying roasted tone became apparent in later steeping. This tea was a very easy drinker, but it lacked any complexity or deep character. The brew finishes with a quick drop off to mineral tones alike copper, iron, and dry stone. The drink in it’s red liquor form and metallic taste reminded me a little of blood… Anyways, hahah, it was a good drinker, and for the right price I could see it as a nice rainy day brew; however, I’ll learn next time to not push the tea so far into the vampiric territory.

Flavors: Dark Wood, Metallic, Mineral, Raisins, Roasted, Sweet, Tobacco, Wet Moss

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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85
55 tasting notes

This is the second tea I’ve tried from the dark matter group buy!

I’m sad that this tea has an under-eighties average, because I think it deserves better than that. Hopefully the average will rise as it gets more reviews. I like it. It has a light, refined, sweetish flavor and is still distinctly post-fermented. I have no idea if I steeped it correctly or not, of course. I just used almost-boiling water, watched the leaves unfurl for a minute or two, then decided it was time to drink it, lol.

JC

I had this tea 4-5 years ago. I can see how it would rated lower, when I had it had lots of potential but it was still a rougher steep. If you have enough of this tea. Put some away so you can try it a year from now and even in two years. it will continue to get smoother and sometimes thicker. :D

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14 tasting notes

Hiya! Puerh Noob reporting in.. but in this case it should be Hei Cha Noob :P This is the first tea I chose to try from LP’s Dark Matter Group buy. It’s also my first Hei Cha! Whee! Excited and a little scared with not knowing what to expect other than it’s different from puerh.

7 or 8 steeps in and I know I’m going to have to revisit this tea, originally I didn’t think the flavor changed to big extent, but upon further reflection as I stare into my tea cup making mouth smacking sounds… I have to accept that this tea has just been very sneakily morphing it’s flavor profile through the steeps. I’ve noticed the change in scent more than in the flavor of the tea.. but it’s there… yes it is…

Scent wise my first cup made me think of a light roasted oolong – last cups the scent is much more marine like (meh, me no likey marine stuff).

Sooo this tea sorta confounds me (in a good way.) The first taste that i get is like the scent of fresh lumber from a hardware store, which in my book isn’t bad.. after all I’ve been drinking and liking puerh that tastes like dark damp wood and earth. What has COMPLETELY distracted me from the aforementioned subtle flavor morphing is how I’m experiencing this tea…Sounds crazy but this is a fast tea… It hits with the fresh lumber flavor and bam that gone and I’m hit with a really high pitched sweet experience, like an artificial sweetener, but then that disappears and I’m left with a pretty clean palette and my mouth is left salivating for more.. W. T. F???

10/11 steeps in – yes, I’m floating and starting to visit the bathroom alot.. gah.. I want a bigger bladder installed?? And I’m getting lazy soo other points of interest for me:

Steep 3 – added milk, was pleasantly surprised, milk goes very nicely with this, I’d do it again if I were in a milky tea mood. (I’ve tried to add milk to some shu and not been successful with that.)

The marine flavor is definitely getting stronger and deepening the wood flavor, so the flavor starts as a darker wood, super sweet bam and then a very faint nori end flavor that morphs into a lingering sweet/savory feeling in the mouth that lasts quite a while.

This tea is making me think waaaaaaay too hard, I’ve tossed the leaves that I’ve used into a mason jar since I think they still have alot of flavor to them and Life In a Teacup mentions that Tibetans like to drink the brew the next day.. not sure if they drink it cold or hot, but I like cold tea so I’m going to try it. :)

I’ve found that puerh lets me eat onions and things I’m not supposed to eat, without having to take an antacid with my meals… crossing my fingers that hei cha will do the same thing for my digestion and that I won’t wake up in the middle of the night in pain. Yes, I’m willing to live dangerously and be a guinea pig test subject. Will edit this with my results.

Would I recommend this? I think this is interesting, so yes. Would I buy it… that I’m on the fence about, only because I’m not a fan of marine-ish notes in my tea, though somehow I find this works and it’s not over the top. Based on steeps 1-7 or so? I was definitely interested, it’s the later steeps that are making me think harder about wanting more. Thankfully I can have another session with the sample I have to better evaluate how I feel. :D

Flavors: Marine, Sweet, Wet Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
mrmopar

Excellent review!

White Antlers

Really enjoyed this review. Made me want to drink this all day long. Thanks! :-D

Matu

Maybe I’ll visit this one next :) I had a similar experience with the 2010 Bai Sha Xi Tian Jian – First 7-8 steeps were awesome, then the last few made me think twice about whether I’d buy it.

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35 tasting notes

When first starting to steep it gave off an earthy scent like a ripe puer. After about a minute of steeping it has a strong mineral taste along with the earth. The tea has a very strong thickness to it.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec 7 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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