Anhua Qianliang Tea

Anhua Qianliang Tea is also known as Huajuan Tea. Current DB43/T 657.2—2021 and GB/T 32719.2—2016 both place it in the Huajuan Tea system and distinguish Wanliang, Wuqianliang, Qianliang, Wubailiang, Sanbailiang, Bailiang, Shiliuliang and Shiliang by dimensions and net weight. The standards also explicitly state that finished Qianliang Tea is not graded and that physical reference samples define only the minimum quality level. “Qianliang” therefore refers first to a traditional weight specification and product form; it does not mean a higher legal grade than Bailiang or Shiliang.

China's official heritage materials record that in 1821, the first year of the Daoguang reign, local tea merchants compressed dark tea into small cylindrical bundles weighing 100 liang to make transport easier. By 1863, the second year of the Tongzhi reign, the size had increased to 1,000 liang, giving rise to the name Qianliang Tea.

Traditional Qianliang is famous for its long cylindrical body, lattice-like bamboo wrapping and enormous single-unit weight. Its column form was not created merely as a spectacle; it developed as a practical solution to transport, storage and labor-intensive pressing during the long history of tea trade.

Qianliang Tea is not an independent geographical-indication name; it is one of the protected products explicitly listed within the Anhua Dark Tea GI system. Yiyang's 2011 management measures define the protected region as 32 townships across Anhua County, Taojiang County, Heshan District and Ziyang District and require production and processing of Anhua Dark Tea within that protection area.

Its raw material returns to the Anhua dark rough-tea system, where suitable cultivars include Anhua Yuntaishan large-leaf tea, Zhuyeqi and Anhua population cultivars.

National intangible-cultural-heritage materials divide Qianliang production into dark rough-tea manufacture and deeper processing. The rough tea first undergoes heat-fixing, rolling, pile fermentation, re-rolling and drying. It is then screened, blended, softened, loaded into bamboo baskets, foot-pressed or lever-pressed, bound with hoops, sealed, cooled and dried.

The current local standard summarizes the finished-product sequence as screening, sorting, semi-finished blending, steaming, basket filling, rolling and shaping, and sun drying. Traditional production then exposes the massive tea column to sun by day and dew by night for more than 50 days or even longer. In this sense, Qianliang is “forged” through both heavy physical compression and a long natural drying and stabilization period.

DB43/T 657.2—2021 writes aging changes directly into Qianliang sensory requirements. The finished tea should have an even form, dense compression and a dark-brown appearance; some pieces may show golden flowers. The liquor is orange-yellow or orange-red. Aroma should be clean and may include pine-smoke or fungal-floral notes; after more than 10 years it may show aged aroma. The taste is rich and mellow; new tea may be slightly astringent, while tea aged for more than 5 years can become mellower and sweeter.

This standard is particularly useful for Cha Yu Jing because it allows different ages to have legitimately different styles rather than forcing every Qianliang to be described as “aged, sweet and mellow.”

In 2008, Dark Tea Making Craft (Qianliang Tea Making Craft) entered China's second national intangible-cultural-heritage list, project code VIII-152, item No. 935, with the Anhua County Cultural Center as safeguarding unit. In 2022 it became a Hunan constituent element of UNESCO's “Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China.”

The broader Hunan Anhua Dark Tea Culture System became one of China's fifth batch of Important Agricultural Heritage Systems in 2020 and entered China's third GIAHS tentative list in 2025. As of this review, it is still not a formally designated FAO GIAHS.