Liu Bao
六堡 · Liubao
Dark
Liu Bao was the tea that went down the mines.
It travelled the sea route to Malaysia and became daily medicine for the Cantonese tin miners there, who drank it to clear the damp out of their bodies. Whole shipments went to the mining towns and nowhere else.
Its wet-piling method was later copied quietly in Yunnan to invent ripe pu-erh, which means this obscure tea is the parent of a far more famous one. It is aged in bamboo baskets, sometimes for decades, and it earns four words in Chinese. Red, rich, aged, mellow. It tastes of betel, dark wood, and dates.
- betel
- date
- wood
- Origin
- Cangwu, Wuzhou, Guangxi
- Water
- 100°C / 212°F
- Ratio
- 5 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- Medium
- Rinse
- Yes · 10s
Historic hei cha; GB/T 32719.4 standard; Qing tribute
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~5.0g of tea
The session
8 infusions after the rinse, about 4m 50s of total contact time.
- Rinse10sWake the leaf and pour it away — this one isn’t for drinking.
- Steep 110sEarth and wood, settling in.
- Steep 210sThe betel note rises, warm and sweet.
- Steep 315sDate sweetness deepens the body.
- Steep 420sDark chocolate slips underneath.
- Steep 530sWood and earth, smooth and round.
- Steep 645sA clean sweetness, no mustiness.
- Steep 71mThe cup thins to warm water.
- Steep 81m 30sA long sweet hui gan remains.
Also sold as
Liu Bao Hei Cha, Liu-pao, Six Forts, Six Castles
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.