Wuyi Da Hong Pao – High Grade

Estate Name: Wuyi Tea Garden
Farming Methods: Hand picked. Natural tea farming. EU pesticide compliant. (This tea is from an EU pesticide compliant Wuyi tea garden, utilising organic farming practising, although not yet certified organic.
Production Methods: Plucking – Withering – Rolling – Oxidation – Charcoal Roasting

Other notes:

Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) is the most famous of the Wuyi Rock Oolong Teas. The name of this tea cultivar seems to have originated from one of two legendary stories. The first one is  that in the past the tea was grown on steep cliffs and rock faces and the monks in the temple trained monkeys to pluck the tea. When the monkey plucked the tea, they will dress them in a red vest or robe – thus the name Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe). The second story is that several hundred years ago, a student went to the capital city to take part in the Imperial Exam. While travelling on his way there he became  seriously ill. The monks in a nearby temple of Wuyi offered him accommodation. These monks made tea plucked from the tea plants in the rocks nearby the temple to give him to drink in order to cure his illness. The student recovered and he went on his way to the capital for the exam. It turned out that he was picked as the no.1 student by the emperor in the final Imperial Exam and he became an Imperial Official. Later when he went back to his hometown he was so thankful for the monks and the tea they served him that he took off the red robe he was wearing and used it to cover the tea trees on the rocky slopes. Later these tea trees were given the name Da Hong Pao.

The Mother Tree of Da Hong Pao

There was one interesting story that in 1970s the American President Richard Nixon started his ice breaking visit to Communist China. The Chinese warmly welcomed him and one of the gifts President Nixon received was 200g of Da Hong Pao Oolong Tea. He asked the then Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai why his Secretary of State Kissinger (He had a trial visit to China prior to the presidential visit) got a few kilos of Huang Shan Mao Feng Tea as a gift and he only got 200g. The Premier Zhou smiled and answered “President, all China’s annual production of  this Da Hong Pao is 400g. You already have half of China’s output of this tea. The Da Hong Pao gifted to President Nixon was made by the tea leaves plucked from the mother tree which grows in the middle of the rocks. The tea from this sacred is considered higher in value than its equivalent weight in gold.

Wuyi Shan is a very rocky mountain and as such is an ideal place to produce good quality tea. As the classic tea book “Cha Jing by Luyu” explains “Good quality tea grows in the rocks, Middle quality grows in the little stone and sandy soil, Low quality grows in the yellow earth.” The rocky terrain endows the Da Hong Pao Oolong tea with rich mineral content, which gives the tea that special taste of Yanyun – the taste of rich minerals. Extremely rocky mountain areas like this lacks in fertile soil, which causes the tea leaves to grow slowly, thereby helping leaves to accumulate more quality content.

Wuyi Da Hong Pao Tea Garden

Da Hong Pao Oolong Tea is made with mature tea leaves plucked in early May. The manufacturing follows the typical Chinese oolong tea processing. It differs from Tie Guan Yin (another famous Chinese oolong tea ) and Taiwan oolongs in that it does not undergo the ball rolling process. Da Hong Pao is also more heavily roasted than Tie Guan Yin. This makes the finished tea body of Da Hong Pao open with an oily dark color due to the heavy roasting. It resemble more closely closer Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong rather than Tie Guan Yin.

   Da Hong Pao is roasted by charcoal heat.

Charcoal Roasting of Da Hong Pao

Da Hong Pao has a rocky floral flavor and a taste resembling roasted peanuts. The taste is clear, smooth and mellow, with a unuique mouth feel (yanyun 岩韵 ), ike the fresh mountain spring water coming from the rocks laden with rich minerals.

Suggested Brewing (adjust according to personal preferences)
Water Temperature: 95-100°C/203-212°F
Amount: 3g per 150ml teacup
Steeping Time: 3 minutes
# of Infusions: 2-3 infusions