🍂Red Tea is known as Black Tea by the West and which has been called 红茶/Hong Cha (in Asia) which is literature mean Red tea in Chinese.

Red tea is one among 6 catecories types of Chinese tea(Green, Black or Red, Oolong, Yellow, While and Dark). Unlike Oolong tea which is semi-oxidated tea(中发酵茶), black tea is fully oxidized tea(全发酵茶) that normallly have orange red color of soup and given sweet honey flavour, strong and thick, but some would taste very pleasant and delicate. 

Black Tea was originated in Fujian and its vicinities, then speard into many other areas. In Present, it generally devided into 3 main types of black tea: Small Piece or Small leaves black tea (小种红茶), GongFu or KungFu black Tea (功夫红茶) and broken black tea (红碎茶).

The processing of Black Tea is starting from 1st: Picking tea leaf，2nd: Withering (萎凋)， 3rd: Rolling (揉捻)，4th: Oxidation (发酵) and final state: Drying or frying with high temperature (干燥).

អត្ថបទនេះជាភាសាខ្មែរ/ Khmer Lan Version: https://teatimeguy.com/2021/04/19/red-tea-in-china-khmer-lan/

I. Small Leaf Black Tea

The first ever made black tea (Red Tea in China) was LapSang SouChong (正山小种), which produce in TongMuGuan (桐木关) area located in WuYi Mountain of Fujian province, China.

Small Piece or Small leaf black tea (小种红茶) was began producing around mid 17th Century (Late Ming or early Qing Dynasty). The first ever made black tea (Red Tea in China) was LapSang SouChong (正山小种) with about 400 years of producing and the traditional type was the Smoky lapsang Souchong which is produced in TongMuGuan (桐木关) area, WuYi Mountain of Fujian province, China. Nowadays, Lapsang SouChong is still produced there, but the originated Lapsang Souchong from TongMuGuan is getting higher and higher in demand which made the value in market also getting increase every year. This is also the reason which huge amount of false Lapsang Souchong that does not come from the original TongMuGuan area is lying in the market under the LapSang Name.

Lapsang Souchong is harvested normally around late spring (late April or May). The true Lapsang SouChong (正山小种) tea soup is orange red in color. The flavor of pleasant mellow sweet like honey, sometimes you might feel the fruity flavor in it. The after taste of pleasant sweet and delightful which do not make you feel upset whole day like the false type does.

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Beside from traditional smoky Lapsang SouChong (正山小种), we also can be find the new developed types that have made nowadays such as old bushes Lapsang, wild tree Lapsang and fruity Lapsang and so on.

In 2005, Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉) is the new creation of the premium and top quality of Lapsang Souchong black tea (Red Tea in China) in WuYi Mountian, Fujian.

In 2005, Beautiful Eyebrow/ Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉) is the new creation of the premium and top quality of Lapsang Souchong black tea (Red Tea in China) in WuYi Mountian, Fujian. It has to be produced from the harvested tea buds tip, which about 60 000 grams- 80,000 grams of raw material buds to create the final 500 gram Jin Jun Mei black tea.The harvested location is at high altitude 1200 to 1800 meter in national nature reserve area. The process by hand from experiences tea maker/ master by using traditional Lapsang Souchong technique. Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉) is considered to be the real treasure of Lapsang Souchong. The value of Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉) from TongMuGuan in the market nowadays is approximately USD200-250 per 50g.

II. GongFu Black Tea (Big Leaf Black Tea)

Gongfu black Tea soup is deep red coloring in general. For the flavor profile each GongFu black have its own uniqueness, Dian Hong (滇红功夫) as an example is thick and strong with fruity sweet after taste.

GongFu Black Tea (功夫红) was developed specially from small peice black tea which currently are produced in many region in China and GongFu Black Tea is the most representative black tea in China. Gongfu Black tea (功夫红) are found in YunNan province (云南) have DianHong/滇红功夫, Qiman of Anhui province (安徽) have Keemun black, ZhengHe county of Fujian province (福建省政和县) have ZhengHe/政和工夫 , HeBei Province (湖北省) have YiHong/宜红工夫, etc.

Despite from Lapsang Souchong black tea (red tea in China), this kind of tea have bigger tea leaf in general. Gongfu black Tea soup is deep red coloring in general. For the flavor profile each GongFu black have its own uniqueness, Dian Hong (滇红功夫) as an example is thick and strong with fruity sweet after taste.

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III. Broken Black Tea (红碎茶)

Broken leaf black tea (红碎茶) is a new developed types that was first produce in India and later in Sri Lanka. China Began to test producing this type around 1950s and this type is currently widely processed in some areas such as YunNan province, Hainan, Guangdong province, Guangxi Province, etc.

The appearance of the dry leaf is grainy and small, the tea soup is bright and deeply red color and the flavor is fresh, thick and sweet. This type is made from the fresh pick tea leaf after withering and rolling, the leaf are cut and made into grainy small, after that it take into oxidation and finally drying. The specific about Broken Black Tea (红碎) is the fast brewing which is mean that this type can only be steep about 1-2 times only. Dian Hong/ 滇红 from Yun Nan also have the broken leaf production are made over there as well.

For broken black tea, I have not have any right photos for showing you yet, I promise to update their dry leaf’s appearance and what is soup color would look like and how the leaf would turn after brewing as soon as I can find the right type for you.

So that is all I would like to share with all of you in this article. There are much more information about black tea and I will keep updating with you in the further articles. Thank you for Reading.

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