Abstract: By describing the theory and method of tea classification in China and foreign countries, and the special manufacturing technology and the quality characteristic of dark tea, it was regarded that whatever the semi-finished or the finished tea of Liupu tea, both of them were under the process of pilling up and color changing and according with the theory of tea classification, and the related standard and regulation, so could be called as dark tea, according to the investigation on the method of piling up and color changing in the various manufacturing stages of processing process of Liupu tea, the major factors influencing the piling up and color changing and the sensory quality characteristics of semi-finished tea and finished tea. However, the finished tea have received two times of piling up and color changing processes in comparing with the semi-finished tea.

Key words: tea, classification, Liupu tea, vesting