Qing Zhuan
Qing zhuan, the 'green brick,' is a dense dark-tea brick most associated with Hubei, around the Yangloudong tea district near Chibi and Xianning, historically one of the great export teas carried north to Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, and Russia. Despite 'green' in its name it is a fully post-fermented dark tea: the color refers to the bluish-dark cast of the pressed brick, not to a green tea. It is built from coarse, mature leaf for long keeping and milk-tea brewing.
Qing zhuan is meant to be coarse and rock-hard, so judge it on cleanliness and depth rather than tenderness. Look for a tightly compressed dark brick, a clear deep-brown liquor, and a woody, lightly smoky character without sourness or mustiness. Mature leaf and stem are normal for the style. The traditional bricks were stamped with characters and borders, and a crisp press is a decent sign of careful production. Sharp, sour, or moldy notes mean storage or fermentation problems.
Qing zhuan is rooted in Hubei, with the Yangloudong tea district around Chibi as its classic home, though related green-brick production also occurs across the Hunan-Hubei border zone, which is why the broader category is often labeled across both provinces. The leaf is piled and fermented, then pressed under high pressure into a hard brick designed to survive months of overland transport. It was a staple border and export tea rather than a sipping luxury.
Gongfu: 6-8 g per 100 ml, 95-100°C, one or two rinses, then 10-20 second steeps extending gradually. Western: 4-5 g per 250 ml, 95-100°C, 3-4 minutes. The brick is very hard, so pry it apart carefully along the layers. It is at its most authentic boiled or simmered, often with milk and salt or sugar in the traditional style.
€3-15 (about $3-16) per 100 g; a commodity border brick with little collector premium.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Hei Zhuan (Black Brick)
Both are dense coarse-leaf dark bricks, but hei zhuan is the Anhua black brick of Hunan and qing zhuan the Hubei green brick.
Kang Zhuan
Kang zhuan is the Sichuan border brick aimed at the Tibetan market; qing zhuan is the Hubei border brick aimed north toward Mongolia and Russia.
Fu Zhuan
Fu zhuan carries cultivated golden flowers; qing zhuan does not, and serves the northern milk-tea trade rather than the flowered-brick niche.
Liu Bao
Liu Bao is a smoother, basket-aged Guangxi dark tea drunk on its own; qing zhuan is a coarse boil-and-milk border brick.
Qing zhuan bricks were a core commodity of the old overland tea road to Russia and Mongolia, valued precisely because their rock-hard compression and robust dark leaf could survive months of camel and cart transport across the steppe.