---
title: "Chìbì mǐzhuānchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/chibi-mizhuancha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Chìbì mǐzhuānchá (赤壁米砖茶)

*Chìbì mǐzhuānchá* (赤壁米砖茶) is a “rice brick” from the county-level city of Chibi (赤壁市) in Hubei Province: a tablet steam-pressed from small fragments and dust of red tea. The Chibi administration calls it the only red brick tea (红砖茶) in the country. The historical center of production is the town of Yangloudong (羊楼洞), from which brick tea traveled along the Great Tea Road to Mongolia and Russia. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark, and *mǐzhuān* as a type is described by the general national standard GB/T 9833.8.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Pressed red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*): the standard GB/T 9833.8-2013 applies to *mǐzhuān* made from red tea.
* **Class discrepancy:** The raw material is red tea; this is not disputed. But an article by the trademark office (2015), known only from a retelling, assigns 青砖 and 米砖 to the dark teas (黑茶类), and the classification standard GB/T 30766 places pressed tea ([紧压茶](https://thetea.app/article/jinyachaxingzhuang)) among the reprocessed teas. This article is filed in the red tea folder — by the class of its base.
* **Category:** Pressed tea; geographical indication certification mark.
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Xianning prefecture-level city (咸宁, *Xiánníng*), Chibi county-level city (赤壁, *Chìbì*); the city's former name is Puqi (蒲圻, *Púqí*).
* **Mark holder:** The Chibi City Tea Association (赤壁市茶叶协会); in the list, Chibi is the administrative affiliation of the holder; the boundary of the zone is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material origin:** Not necessarily local: the company “羊楼洞茶业” uses fragments of the red teas 宜红, 祁红 and [滇红](https://thetea.app/article/dianhong) — of Hubei, Anhui and Yunnan.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Chibi — about 29.7° N and 113.9° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **1853 and later.** According to the periodization of the company “羊楼洞茶业”, from 1853 until the beginning of the Republic the Great Tea Road carried mainly 青砖 and 米砖.
    * **1861 — Russian factories.** According to a piece by the Hubei Committee of the CPPCC (2023), before 1861 Russian merchants bought Yangloudong tea through Shanxi intermediaries, and afterwards they opened factories in Yangloudong themselves — among them, from 1863, “顺丰” of the merchant Litvinov (李特维诺夫) — and made *mǐzhuān*, qingzhuan and the “small capital brick” (小京砖) for Russia. According to an article by the ethnic affairs commission, there were more than two hundred tea trading houses in Yangloudong, annual exports exceeded 15 million liang of silver, and *mǐzhuān* was made both in Hankou and in Yangloudong.
    * **1925 — the Guihua market.** The same CPPCC piece quotes a survey in the journal *Zhongwai Jingji Zhoukan* (中外经济周刊): in Guihua (归化) the three best-selling bricks were 二四, 三九 and *mǐzhuān*. A crate of *mǐzhuān* — 72 tablets for 23.5 liang; they were machine-pressed by the Hankou company “兴商”, and the largest buyers were in the Ili region of Xinjiang.
    * **1981 and 1983.** According to the company “羊楼洞茶业”, the English firm Twinings ordered commemorative bricks with a phoenix for its 275th anniversary; a column on the portal “爱普茶网” adds a 1983 issue.
    * **From 2013**, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Chibi received the titles “中国青砖茶之乡” and “中国米砖茶之乡” one after another; according to the ethnic affairs commission article, they were conferred by the China Tea Marketing Association.
    * **Marks.** According to a retelling of the office's 2015 article, the place name “赤壁” for tea had already been registered in 2009 by a private applicant from Fujian, and the rights had to be bought back. According to the provincial list (data as of May 2020), there are two marks, both in class 30 for tea: No. 15279686 — from March 28, 2015 to March 27, 2025, and No. 20024335 “赤壁米砖茶 CHIBI MI ZHUAN TEA” — from December 21, 2017 to December 20, 2027.
* **Name:** The Chibi administration explains the name by the fineness of the raw material; the company “羊楼洞茶业”, by the fact that during cutting the leaf breaks into particles the size of a grain of rice.
* **Cultural significance:** The Ministry of Agriculture included the “Yangloudong brick tea culture system” (羊楼洞砖茶文化系统) in the second batch of China's important agricultural heritage and called Yangloudong the “world-recognized” ancestral home of 青（米）砖.

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Not regulated; no varieties are named in the sources consulted. The raw material is described through finished red teas, not through the bushes.
* **Raw material:** Fragments and dust of red tea (红茶片末). According to the “爱普茶网” column, the export brand “牌坊” uses broken red tea and fragments, and the domestic brand “火车头” uses fragments and dust.
* **Harvest standard and timing:** Not described for the brick: the harvest belongs to the source red teas.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** According to the ministry's description, Yangloudong lies on the northern spurs of the Mufu range (幕阜山), in low mountains on the border of Hubei and Hunan.
* **Altitude, climate, soils:** No data for the product; the tie to the place is technological and historical rather than horticultural.

**5. Production Technology:**

The standard GB/T 9833.8 names the operations: sifting, blending, steaming and pressing into bricks, drying, packing. The company “羊楼洞茶业” names reprocessing of the raw material (复制), blending ([拼配](https://thetea.app/article/chunliaopinpei)), pressing (紧压) and drying in a chamber (烘制). Temperatures, pressures and durations are not found in the sources consulted. Wet piling ([渥堆](https://thetea.app/article/wodui)), by which the Chibi administration describes the neighboring qingzhuan, does not appear in these descriptions.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

Requirements of GB/T 9833.8 for the superior and ordinary grades, and the description by the Chibi administration.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** The brick is flat, with sharp edges and corners, of even thickness, with a clear impression, without black, white or green mold. The superior grade is dark and glossy in color, the ordinary grade dark brown with a yellowish tinge. The Chibi administration: the surface is black and glossy (乌亮), the design distinct.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Superior grade — clean; ordinary — even.
* **Taste:** Superior grade — rich and mellow; ordinary — nearly the same.
* **Liquor color:** Dark red for both grades; according to the administration — deep red (红浓).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Superior grade — evenly red; ordinary — dull red.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Requirements of GB/T 9833.8-2013, checked against a scan of the English edition of the standard:

| Indicator | Superior grade | Ordinary grade |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Moisture, not more than | 9.5 % | 9.5 % |
| Total ash, not more than | 7.5 % | 8.0 % |
| Foreign matter, not more than | 0.2 % | 0.2 % |
| Water-soluble extractives, not less than | 30.0 % | 28.0 % |

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice. A pressed brick is usually boiled; the method of the company “羊楼洞茶业”, common to 青砖 and 米砖:

1. Break off 10 g and put it into a food-grade filter bag.
2. “Wake up” the tea: hold the bag in 50–100 ml of boiling water for about a minute.
3. Move the bag into a pot and pour in cold water at 1 : 100 — a liter per 10 g.
4. Boil for 5–10 minutes, until the liquor turns orange-red or orange-yellow.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice for pressed tea. For 青（米）砖 the Chibi administration advises a dry, ventilated place free of odors, temperature swings and sun; not to store it in polyethylene; and to keep it apart from other teas.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the certification mark “赤壁米砖茶”. According to the list, the term of mark No. 15279686 ended on March 27, 2025, and there are no data on renewal; mark No. 20024335 is valid until December 20, 2027.
    * Check that the producer is from Chibi.
    * Compare the appearance with the standard: a brick without mold, even, with a clear impression; a dark red liquor.
    * The brands are told apart by their design: “火车头” (locomotive), “牌坊” (arch), “凤凰” (phoenix), “红梅” (red plum). According to the “爱普茶网” column, “牌坊” weighs 1125 g and “火车头” 1000 g, while “凤凰” is not on sale in China.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* In Guihua in 1925 a crate of *mǐzhuān* cost 23.5 liang — more than crates of 二四 (18.5) and 三九 (17.5).
* The “火车头” design is explained in different ways: the Chibi administration and the CPPCC piece (“according to legend”) — by Russian merchants who adapted German steam engines for steaming and pressing, and the company “羊楼洞茶业” — by the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1905.
* According to the Chibi administration, the “牌坊” design was first impressed on bricks in the early 20th century by the Shanxi trading house “聚兴顺”; because of its handsome form, *mǐzhuān* is also kept as a decorative object.
* The author of the “爱普茶网” column does not believe the “rice” explanation of the name and passes on a rumor that the export brick was called “米字茶” — after the English flag on the crates, which resembles the character 米.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Chibi Qingzhuancha ([赤壁青砖茶](https://thetea.app/article/chibi-qingzhuancha)):** A dark brick from the same Chibi, made of *lǎoqīngchá* ([老青茶](https://thetea.app/article/lao-qing-cha)) with wet piling; its mark is held by the same Chibi tea association.
* **Hubei Qing Zhuan ([湖北青砖](https://thetea.app/article/hubei-qing-zhuan)):** A general article on Hubei qingzhuan.
* **Xian'an Zhuancha ([咸安砖茶](https://thetea.app/article/xian-an-zhuancha)):** Brick tea of a neighboring district of Xianning prefecture.
* **Yihong Gong Fu ([宜红工夫](https://thetea.app/article/yihong-gong-fu)):** A Hubei red tea; according to the company, its fragments go into *mǐzhuān*.
* **Linxiang Heicha ([临湘黑茶](https://thetea.app/article/linxiang-heicha)):** Dark tea of a Hunan neighbor where *mǐzhuān* was also pressed.

**In Conclusion:**

*Chìbì mǐzhuānchá* is a red tea in the form of a brick: red tea dust, including dust brought from other provinces, is steamed and pressed into a tablet with a design. Behind it stand the history of Yangloudong and the Great Tea Road, a standard with two grades, and two marks. Only the class is disputed: some documents call it a red brick, others a dark tea.