Qian Liang (千兩茶)

archetype: Thousand-year column

A thousand-year column pressed into bamboo and bark: a dark woody eternity, a dense warming earth.

History

Qian Liang Cha — literally 'a thousand liang' (about 36.5 kg) — the largest pressed tea columns in the world. Made in Anhua county (Hunan) since the Qing era. The leaf is roughly chopped, fermented, wrapped in several layers of bamboo bark and woven cover, packed into a column 1.5 m long and left to dry in the open air for up to 50 days. With ageing (10–50 years) it only grows more complex: a woody depth, betel, prune.

In the Anhua mountains there lived a hermit who never counted his years. When people asked him how old he was, he pointed to the trunk of an old tree and said: 'Ask it.' The tree was silent, the hermit was silent. When both died, in their place a Qian Liang tea column was set up — it silently keeps time for all those who have stopped counting. Whoever drinks it speaks the unnecessary less often.

Terroir

300–800 m (picking). weathered slate and red clay. subtropical; humid summer, mild winter. The standard is the columns from the village of Baisha Xi; 'imperial' columns are aged for 30+ years in stone cellars.

Leaf

dry leaf: densely pressed dark-chestnut leaf wrapped in several layers of bamboo bark; in a piece — smells of betel and warm wood

warmed: the warmed piece — dark wood, betel, dried fruit, a warm bitterness

after pour: after the rinse — wood, betel, prune, warm earth

taste: dark wood, dried fruit, betel, a warm bitterness, a long deep note

finish: very long, dense; the aftertaste — 'decades in a single sip'

Properties

TCM: warm; warms the middle and the kidneys, descends qi, disperses old damp

Modern: rich in products of long fermentation, mild stimulation; traditionally — for digestion and immunity

Cha qi: dense, descending, ancient; felt as 'a column standing in the chest'

Caffeine: low to moderate (20–35 mg)

Brewing ritual

a 200 ml clay kettle — large pieces need room; 100 °C; 6 g / 200 ml. 12s — the first dark sip: wood, betel; 15s — the peak: dried fruit, a warm bitterness; 20s — a deep woody eternity; 30s — a long dark note; 50s — a late trail — decades in a single sip; 90s — a very long depth — may be boiled.

When to drink

day and evening. autumn and winter. for support, for a millennial silence, on a day of remembrance. dark dried fruit, betel, meat dishes, incense, aged cheese. solitude; a conversation about the eternal

Tea meditation

This tea is older than many of the living.
Don't try to catch up with it.
Bow to the column with the first sip.

Questions and answers

How do you brew Qian Liang?

What does Qian Liang taste like?

dark wood, dried fruit, betel, a warm bitterness, a long deep note

How much caffeine is in Qian Liang?

low to moderate (20–35 mg)

What are the effects of Qian Liang?

rich in products of long fermentation, mild stimulation; traditionally — for digestion and immunity