The Phoenix black brick tea is a special tea product commissioned by TWININGS, the prestigious British tea company with a long-standing history, to commemorate its 275th anniversary in 1981. Through the British Foreign Office, TWININGS entrusted the Zhaoliqiao Tea Factory in Hubei Province, China, to produce this brick tea, making it a significant witness to the friendship between China and the United Kingdom.
The Phoenix Black Brick Tea yields a tea infusion that is deep red and bright in color, with a rich, mellow, smooth taste and a pleasant aftertaste of sweetness. It also has a distinct aged fragrance, earning it the reputation of being ‘a unique masterpiece among pressed teas’. Beyond its delightful flavor, it offers both drinking pleasure and health benefits, such as promoting saliva production to quench thirst, calming the mind and refreshing the spirit, and warming the body to resist cold.
Crafted from high-quality rolled black tea fragments and dust, the Phoenix black brick tea is made through exquisite traditional techniques, undergoing a series of processes including tea reprocessing, pressing, and roasting. The final product takes the form of a flat rectangular block, featuring a smooth and neat surface, clear embossed textures, and exquisite patterns. When paired with a delicately carved wooden frame, it becomes a precious craft collection for tea connoisseurs and elegant individuals at home and abroad, as well as an ideal gift. It is even hailed as ‘the king of artistic tea shapes’, bearing witness to the glorious history of Chinese black tea's development on the world stage. Owing to its noble and elegant appearance, the Phoenix black brick tea was once collected as a treasure by the British royal family.
In May 2024, the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom hosted a cultural event titled ‘Tea Connects the World · Fine Teas from Hubei’. During the event, Hubei Tea Industry Group donated a replicated version of the Phoenix Rice Brick to the Chinese Embassy in the UK, continuing the beautiful story of Sino-British friendship.
