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.
Terroir
The standard is the columns from the village of Baisha Xi; 'imperial' columns are aged for 30+ years in stone cellars.
Leaf
dark wood, dried fruit, betel, a warm bitterness, a long deep note very long, dense; the aftertaste — 'decades in a single sip'
Properties
rich in products of long fermentation, mild stimulation; traditionally — for digestion and immunity dense, descending, ancient; felt as 'a column standing in the chest' 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