Fu Brick Tea: The Dark Tea with "Golden Flowers"

Fu brick (茯砖, Fu Zhuan) is a pressed dark tea (hei cha) from Anhua in Hunan province. Its signature is the "golden flowers" (jin hua, 金花): small golden-yellow specks inside the brick, which are a mould, Eurotium cristatum, grown on purpose during a special "flowering" stage. They give the tea a sweet, slightly fungal, dried-fruit aroma. Fu brick tastes smooth, sweet and earthy, with apricot, wood and a gentle mushroom note. Brew it with boiling water, or simmer it, and store it like pu-erh.

The first time I broke open a Fu brick and saw it full of yellow specks, my first instinct was to throw it away. Everything I knew about tea said: mould means ruined. Then I read the label, brewed a piece anyway, and it was sweet and clean, like dried apricots and forest floor after rain. It took me a while to trust it. Now a Fu brick is part of my winter dark-tea corner, next to Liu Bao.

What Fu brick is#

Anhua county in Hunan is one of China's great dark-tea regions. Its teas come as loose leaf in baskets, as bricks and as the huge Qianliang columns. Fu brick is the most famous of them. The tea is made into dark tea through piling, then pressed into bricks. Then comes the special part: the bricks are kept warm and humid in a controlled "flowering" stage (fa hua, 发花), so that the golden flowers can grow evenly inside.

For the whole dark-tea family, see hei cha.

Golden flowers vs spoilage#

When in doubt, smell it. Good Fu brick smells sweet and clean; spoiled tea smells like a damp cellar in the bad sense.

How Fu brick tastes#

• Aroma: "fungal flower" sweetness, dried apricot, wood, a little earth.
• Taste: smooth and sweet, low bitterness, gentle mushroom and dried-fruit notes.
• Liquor: clear deep orange to red.
• With age: smoother, sweeter, with more wood and dried fruit.

How to brew Fu brick#

Break off a piece with a tea knife, working along the layers rather than crumbling it: see how to break a pu-erh cake.

Gongfu#

Simmered (traditional)#

Fu brick is especially good simmered. Put about 5 g in a small kettle with 500 ml of water, bring it gently to a simmer and keep it there for a few minutes. The result is thick, sweet and warming. I also simmer the leaves after a gongfu session. Simmering pulls more out of the leaf than any other method, including more of whatever the leaf carries, so keep it for clean, well-sourced tea, rinse the leaf first and don't make it a daily habit.

Full chart: gongfu brewing chart.

My session#

7 g in a 100 ml gaiwan, boiling water, one quick rinse.

Steep 1 (10 s). Deep orange. Dried apricot and a sweet fungal note on the lid.

Steep 3 (15 s). Round and sweet, with earth and a light mushroom note.

Steep 6 (30 s). Softer, woody, still sweet.

Final count: 8 steeps, then a simmer.

How to choose good Fu brick#

• Plenty of evenly spread golden flowers when you break it open.
• Clean, sweet smell. Never musty.
• Origin: Anhua, Hunan, is the classic.
• Production year stated. A few years of age make it smoother.

How to store it#

Like pu-erh: in paper or card, somewhere stable and dry-ish, away from smells, with a little air. Avoid plastic and vacuum packs. See how to store pu-erh.

Myths about Fu brick#

"The yellow specks mean it's mouldy and ruined." No. Golden flowers are grown deliberately and are a sign of quality.

"Golden flowers have special health powers." You'll read many claims. Treat them as marketing; enjoy the tea for its taste.

"All dark tea is the same." Fu brick, Liu Bao and shou pu-erh are very different teas.

My honest take#

If you're curious about dark tea, Fu brick is the most unusual place to start. Get over the "mould" reflex, smell it, brew it, and try it simmered on a cold evening.

The bottom line#

Fu brick is Anhua's dark tea with deliberately grown golden flowers: sweet, earthy, apricot and wood. Brew it with boiling water or simmer it, store it like pu-erh, and learn to tell golden flowers from spoilage.