Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) is the most famous Wuyi Yancha (Rock Tea) Oolong from Wuyishan in China. The six original Da Hong Pao mother trees are a protected tourist attraction, and are between forty and several hundred years old, they’re no longer harvested and any Da Hong Pao sold today is not from one of these trees but from a tree that is directly descended from one of those trees via cutting, eg, the qi dan cultivar. Or is a blend of different Wuyi yancha made to fit a specific flavour profile associated with the Da Hong Pao name, this tea is the latter.

This particular Da Hong Pao blend consists of rougui 肉桂, shuixian 水仙, jin mu dan 金牡丹, meizhan 梅占, and chun lan 春兰. All the leaf material was from the 2023 harvest, and was roasted 3 times to a medium level. The leaves are carefully blended to create a well balanced tea that fits the “Da Hong Pao” profile.

The dry and heated leaves smell amazing, with floral and roasted notes, the first brew has a strong viscous mouth feel, strong roasted flavours and minor bitterness. The second brew was quite sweet and heady, after this the roasty notes take a backseat and the flavour of the leaves comes out more as it slowly mellows out with each consecutive brew. The special properties of the individual teas definitely shine threw to make this blend more than the sum of its parts.