Kangzhuan vs Qingzhuan

Kangzhuan

Kangzhuan is the heavyweight of dark tea bricks — large, coarse-pressed cakes made for the historical Tibet trade, where tea was boiled with butter and salt. The leaves are mature and the liquor is dark, earthy, and mildly smoky with a sturdy body that stands up to boiling and churning. Drunk plain it is rustic; its purpose was always utility, which is part of its charm for dark-tea explorers.

Qingzhuan

Qingzhuan, 'green brick', is Hubei's pressed dark tea from the historic Yangloudong trading post — despite the name, the tea itself is dark. Compressed into dense bricks for the northern border trade, it steeps thick and warming with earthy depth, woody notes, and a hint of medicinal character that softens with age. Mongolian and Tibetan butter-tea traditions were built on bricks like this one.

Kangzhuan

Water temperature

95–100°C

Leaf to water

6g / 300ml

Steep time

2–4 min

Re-steep

2–4 times

Qingzhuan

Water temperature

95–100°C

Leaf to water

5g / 250ml

Steep time

1–2 min

Re-steep

4–6 times

Kangzhuan

Medium caffeine — roughly 20–40 mg per brewed serving

A moderate, steady lift without an intense spike.

Qingzhuan

Medium caffeine — roughly 25–45 mg per brewed serving

A moderate, steady lift without an intense spike.

Kangzhuan

China · Hubei / Sichuan border trade

Kangzhuan bricks traveled the tea-horse road into Tibet for centuries; Hubei and Sichuan both produced them for border trade.

Qingzhuan

China · Hubei (Chibi / Yangloudong)

Qingzhuan brick has been produced around Chibi's Yangloudong since the Qing dynasty for trade toward Mongolia and Russia.