Across Hunan and Guangxi — a dark-tea quest with Amgalan Chin
In the autumn of 2023, I took a train from Changsha to Yiyang, then a bus winding into the misty mountains of Ānhuà. This was home to the raw material of the first tea in this trio — a meticulously pile-fermented hēi chá crafted by a family I’ve known for a decade. The couperation and controlled humidity gave the leaves a deep, molasses sweetness I seek in all dark teas.
A week later, I traveled south to Cangwu County in Guangxi to taste Liù Bǎo. In a small workshop filled with bamboo baskets and clay jars, the tea master showed me his 2019 pile, where the leaves had fermented slowly under banana leaves, developing the signature betel-nut earthiness. The aging cellars, lined with river stones, whispered stories of the Maritime Silk Road.
Back in Hunan, in Yiyang’s Yiyang County, I selected a 2021 Fú zhuān brick. The golden flowers — Eurotium cristatum — glowed like amber under a loupe. The tea had aged in a cellar that once stored rice wines, gifting it camphor and wild honey notes.
These three 40g parcels, now nestled together, span 2,000km of tea history. I curated this set for those who love pu’er but hunger to explore the wider dark tea family. Drink them side by side; let the earth speak.