Hua Zhuan (Flower Brick)
Hua zhuan, the 'flower brick,' is a pressed Anhua dark tea from Hunan whose name comes from the decorative pattern stamped around the brick's border, not from any flowers in the tea and not from the golden flowers of fu zhuan. It descends from the qian liang 'flower roll' logs, reworked into a more convenient brick. Grade and clean fermentation are what matter most, as it generally sits a step above hei zhuan in leaf quality.
Hua zhuan should show cleaner, slightly more tender leaf than hei zhuan, pressed firmly with the characteristic decorative border still legible. Look for a deep, clear liquor, a smooth woody sweetness, and the absence of sour or musty notes. A light pine-smoke character from traditional drying is authentic. Because the name invites confusion, remember the brick carries no golden flowers; if you see bright-yellow specks you are looking at a fu zhuan instead. Excess stem and a flat, dusty cup indicate lower-grade material.
Anhua County, Hunan. Hua zhuan evolved as a brick-format reworking of the labor-intensive qian liang cha logs, keeping similar material in a shape that pressed, stored, and shipped more easily. It is pile-fermented like the rest of the Anhua family and traditionally pine-fire dried. In the grade hierarchy it generally ranks above the coarse hei zhuan.
Gongfu: 6-8 g per 100 ml, 95-100°C, one rinse, then 10-20 second steeps extending gradually, good for many infusions. Western: 4-5 g per 250 ml, 95-100°C, 3-4 minutes. Break the brick along its layers. Later steeps take well to boiling.
€5-20 (about $5-22) per 100 g, mid-commodity, a touch above the plain black brick.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Hei Zhuan (Black Brick)
Hei zhuan is the plainer, coarser black brick; hua zhuan uses better leaf and wears a decorative stamped border, hence the names.
Fu Zhuan
Fu zhuan's 'flowers' are the golden jin hua fungus; hua zhuan's 'flower' is only the pressed pattern, a frequent source of confusion.
Anhua Dark Tea
Hua zhuan is one member of the broad Anhua dark tea family, alongside the loose tips and the other bricks.
Aged Shou (5+ years)
Aged ripe puerh and an aged Anhua brick both mellow into smooth dark sweetness, but the puerh route runs through Yunnan wet-pile fermentation rather than Hunan hei cha processing.
Hua zhuan grew directly out of the qian liang cha 'flower rolls,' the giant foot-pressed bamboo-cased logs of Anhua; the brick was, in effect, a way to deliver that style of tea without the enormous, labor-intensive log format.