Single-origin tea, direct from the village.
  • Lichuan Black Tea product packaging from Hubei
  • Lichuan Black Tea amber liquor in cup
  • Lichuan Black Tea dry leaves with golden tips
  • Lichuan Black Tea brewed wet leaves
  • Lichuan tea garden in misty mountains
  • FlowinverseTea cooperative tea farmers in Enshi
  • FlowinverseTea 2oz (57g) tea package
  • FlowinverseTea 4oz (114g) tea package
  • 2024 harvest tea comparison
  • 2025 harvest tea comparison
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flowinversetea

Lichuan Black(Red) Tea

$29.99 USD
$29.99 USD
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HIGH-MOUNTAIN 1,100 M
SELENIUM-RICH SOIL
ENJOY HOT OR COLD
NATURALLY GROWN
HAND-PICKED
SINGLE ORIGIN
SEASONAL FIRST HARVESTS
PURE · NEVER BLENDED
Weight
Year
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🌱 Village Cooperative
🚫 No Pesticides
🤲 Profit Sharing
🤝 Women-Owned

"Lichuan Black feels like a summer orchard near dusk. Honey in the air, ripe fruit opening up, and that quiet part of the evening when the heat finally starts letting go."

First you get honey in the air. Bright and warm. Then the whole thing starts opening up. Rose. Ripe nectarine. Apricot. Lychee. The fruit has that full, late-summer sweetness, but there's still some lift to it. Give it another moment and something cooler shows up. A touch of mint from dew that hasn't dried yet. Damp wood. This isn't a loud summer tea. It's softer than that. Still full of life, just slower.

Flavor profile

Sweetness

90%
Floral

80%
Roasty

80%
Fruity

80%
Sweet potato

80%

What happens in the cup


First steep

Warm entry. Honey, sweet potato, a little caramel. Then fruit arrives: apricot and lychee, ripe and full. Rose rises through the middle, and the finish settles into damp wood, dark chocolate, and just a touch of mint.


Second steep

Darker in tone. Chocolate moves forward, honey pulls back. Rose and the lychee-apricot notes stay, but damp wood gets heavier. Less plush than the first steep. More shape to it.


Third steep

Sweetness shifts to rock sugar. The minty coolness and damp wood stand out more, while lychee and apricot move to the background. Lighter body, slight chocolate bitterness, but that clean rock-sugar sweetness stays at the end.

Who grew &made this tea

Zhang Jinke

Leaves in the village with no chemical and pesticides, the most traditional way to grow the tea then also the way to make it. 

Tree are Enshi local seed-grown Taizi tree tea grew around year of 1975. 

Zhang Jinke · 30+ years in traditional tea craft

He's recognized as one of Enshi Yulu's ten leading handcraft tea makers, a prefecture-level inheritor of the craft. As the youngest student of Yang(modern father of Enshi Yulu), he keeps improving. What changed this year: he extended the resting and hydrolysis stage during processing. Less bitterness, more sweetness, more of that clean umami. The kind of change that sounds small on paper but shows up fast in the cup.

Perfect moments for this tea

🍰
Afternoon tea with something sweet
It already carries honey, caramel, and ripe fruit, so with cake or cookies, the flavors stack instead of fighting. That darker chocolate note helps hold the whole pairing together.
☀️
Mid-afternoon, instead of coffee
The ripe fruit and that small minty lift bring you back gently. Not a hard jolt. More like clearing the fog a bit so you can keep going without feeling pushed.
🌆
Late afternoon, slowing down
Rose opening slowly. Damp wood underneath. A little dark chocolate weight. Then returning sweetness and that clean mouthwatering finish. Good for sitting still and doing absolutely nothing for a while.

How to brew

4g
Leaf
per 100ml
90°C
Water
194°F
8s
Steep
first infusion
5–7×
Resteep
+5s each round

Add about 5 seconds with each later steep. The flavor will gradually move from honey sweetness toward a thicker chocolate profile. Keep the first steep quick for the lychee-honey opening. For a smoother body, push the water slightly higher, around 92–95°C.

Specifications

HarvestApril 2026
Elevation1,100m
CultivarEnshi local cultivar
ProcessingWithering → Rolling → Fermentation → Drying
FarmingNaturally grown, no fertilizer, no chemicals, nourished by natural rainfall
GardenMazhe Mountain, Tunbao Township, Enshi, Hubei, China
Cups per 50g~12 cups (4g per session)
Caffeine20–40 mg / 200ml

Common questions

How is this different from Cocoa Black Tea?+
Both are black teas, but they go in different directions. Cocoa Black Tea leans into cocoa, caramel, brownie, and baked sweet potato, like a warm, rainy forest. Lichuan Black is more about honey, lychee, apricot, rose, and a touch of dark chocolate. The fruit and floral character is much more noticeable, with a ripe, warm quality.
Will this tea be too sweet?+
No. The sweetness is real (honey, ripe fruit, returning sweetness), but the back half has damp wood, dark chocolate, and a mint-like coolness that keeps everything balanced. It's sweet without being cloying.
What food pairs well with this tea?+
Afternoon tea snacks are ideal: cookies, light cream cake, baked pastries, or anything with a fruity note. Since the tea itself already has lychee, apricot, rose, and chocolate character, it matches these flavors naturally instead of competing.
Why does this tea have a cool, minty finish?+
That's one of its most interesting qualities. The front is all ripe fruit sweetness and honey, but the finish brings a subtle mint-like coolness and damp wood feeling. So after you drink, it's not just sweet and thick. There's a clean, mouth-watering edge. That contrast is also one of the reasons it stays interesting over many steeps.
$29.99