Reply To: Hei Cha, or Dark Tea – hype or truly “different?”

[Anonymous]

@jackie sums it up really well and most of the previous comments are correct: Hei Cha is a broad category of Chinese tea, equivalent to oolong or green tea. Pu-erh is a member of the Hei Cha category. Other popular teas in this category include the mentioned Fu Cha and Hunan Dark Tea.
All Hei Cha is post-fermented and most are compressed into different shapes.

But addressing the original issue: to describe Fu Cha as distinctly different from pu-erh isn’t just marketing hype. Try it and you will discover that it is indeed very different from pu-erh (although maybe not as different as white tea is from black tea). Fu Cha contains a beneficial fungus called Eurotium Cristatum (or Golden Flower) which gives it a unique flavor and aroma. Fu Cha is very popular in China and has been the subject of various medical studies, mainly related to its function to inhibit blood sugar and cholesterol.
About a year ago, I wrote a fairly exhaustive blog post about Fu Cha.