Qianliang Tea

Qianliang cha (千两茶), usually translated “thousand-tael tea,” is the best-known member of the Huajuan cha (花卷茶) family from Anhua County, Hunan. It’s pressed into a tall cylinder — a shape unlike anything else in Chinese tea — and it has its own national standard, GB/T 32719.2-2016.

The documented specification is roughly 1.55m tall and about 36.25kg, a genuinely striking format. Unlike many Chinese teas, Huajuan cha isn’t divided into grades under the national standard — there’s no “Special Grade” or “Grade 1” tier to check a piece against.

What actually sets it apart. Like other dark teas, Qianliang goes through wo dui (渥堆), the piling post-fermentation step. What’s distinctive is what happens after pressing: the standard describes the aging process as 日晒夜露 — “sun by day, dew by night.” Most other dark teas, including Fu Brick and Liubao, are aged indoors; Qianliang’s aging is documented as an outdoor process.

Anhua Qianliang also carries its own geographical-indication standard, DB43/T 657.2-2021, which replaced an earlier 2010 version. The update added new sizes (including larger and smaller variants beyond the classic “thousand-tael” format), raised the water-extract requirement from 23% to 24%, removed an old allowance for non-tea foreign matter, and extended the standard sample-retention period from three years to five.

Golden flowers: sometimes, not always. This is the detail most worth getting right before buying. Golden flowers (金花) — officially Eurotium cristatum (冠突散囊菌) in the standards — are documented very differently across dark tea products:

• Fu Brick tea: must have it, per GB/T 9833.3-2013.
• Qianliang / Huajuan cha: documented as “部分有” — some pieces have it, some don’t. Neither standard requires it.
• Liubao, Xiangjian, Qionglai dark tea, and both raw and ripe pu’er: the standards don’t require it at all.

So the common claim that all dark tea has golden flowers isn’t correct — Fu Brick is the only product in this comparison where it’s mandatory. The microbial count figure that does appear in the standards (≥20×10⁴ CFU/g) is specifically the Fu Brick requirement; no equivalent count is documented for Qianliang. And even where a count is set, it’s a minimum only — no maximum, and nothing in the standard says more golden flower means better tea. Treat a heavily “flowered” piece as one possible outcome, not a certified grade.

A fungal-floral aroma (菌花香) associated with golden flower is documented for Qianliang, alongside a pine-smoke note (松烟香) shared with Xiangjian tea. Amber liquor color is noted for aged pieces, though that particular term traces to a tea-ceremony standard rather than the product standard itself.

See Tianjian for a loose, lightly-pressed Anhua dark tea from the same family, and Fu Brick for the one dark tea where golden flower actually is required.

Look · Dry leaf

A compressed dark tea pressed into a long cylindrical form — a shape unlike any other Chinese tea. The documented specification is roughly 1.55m tall and about 36.25kg, though this is the standard's reference figure, not a guarantee for every piece sold.

Smell & taste

Typical aroma: fungal-floral, pine smoke. Flavor tendencies: full, rich. Body: full. These vary by batch, storage and brewing.

Brew · A starting point

Try 5 g in 150 ml water at 95–100°C for 15–30 seconds. Fully decant before tasting.

Read the wet leaves

Not documented in detail in the source material reviewed for this page.

Sources & review

Compiled by ChinaTea101's editors from Chinese national and industry tea standards and reference material, then fact-checked. Last reviewed 2026-09-25. How we check claims

• Standard GB/T 32719.2-2016 黑茶 第2部分：花卷茶 (Dark tea — Part 2: Huajuan tea) — National Public Service Platform for Standards Information (SAMR). Current standard; status checked on the national standards platform. View source ↗
• Standard DB43/T 657.2-2021 地理标志产品 安化黑茶 第2部分：千两茶 (Geographical indication product — Anhua dark tea, Part 2: Qianliang tea (Hunan provincial standard)) — National Public Service Platform for Standards Information (SAMR). Current standard; status checked on the national standards platform. View source ↗
• Standard GB/T 9833.3-2013 紧压茶 第3部分：茯砖茶 (Compressed tea — Part 3: Fu brick tea) — National Public Service Platform for Standards Information (SAMR). Current standard; status checked on the national standards platform. View source ↗