Dark Tea | Aerobic and Anaerobic Process Fermented Tea

Dark Tea (黑茶) is defined as FERMENTED TEA.  It is called heicha (roughly pronounced ‘hey cha’) in Chinese and kuro cha in Japanese. The direct translation of the characters '黑茶' is black tea.

Definition: Tea leaves (sometimes with other parts of the plant) that have undergone a microbial fermentation.  The category included aerobically fermented tea (like Anhua Fuzhuan) and anaerobically fermented tea (like Awa Bancha).  

To clarify: This style of tea should not be confused with the Western definition of ‘black tea’, which applies to ‘oxidized’ (not fermented) tea, and is called ‘red tea’ in the East.

For (arguably) the most famous sub category of Dark Tea, please check out our Pu Er tea collection.