Da Hong Pao Pilgrimage

Da Hong Pao mother bushes in Wuyi, Fujian Province. Seven Cups Tea Photo.

Da Hong Pao ("Big Red Robe") has the reputation of being the most expensive tea in China. It was named for the red robes a Ming dynasty emperor draped the tea bushes with after he drank a curative rock wulong tea brewed from their leaves.  In 2005, 20 grams of tea produced from the six "mother bushes" sold for 200,000 RMB or US$25,000, more than 90 times the price of gold at that time.

Seven Cups photo

Our second pilgrimage was to the six Da Hong Pao mother bushes, deep in the Wuyi Mountains (northern Fujian Province). We walked through beautiful valleys banked by the famous rock cliffs which give rock wulong teas ("yan cha") their name ("yan" = "rock cliff") and their unique flavor (the high mineral content of the soil and the microclimate created by these rocky outcrops 2500 feet above sea level).

 We first visited the new Buddhist temple built recently by the government as part of their promotion of Chinese cultural treasures.  

Then Zhuping took us to the "real" Tianxin Yongle temple where the resident monks have for centuries guarded and maintained the mystique of the Da Hong Pao tea bushes.

Seven Cups photo

We eventually ascended to hike the valley route, which we had to ourselves.  I could not believe that pristine valleys with just the sounds of gurgling streams and birdsong still exist in China, let alone Fujian Province!  Tea bushes planted several hundred years ago blanket the valley floor in undulating waves.

While we hiked the valley trail, everyone else took the new, shorter pathway which does not require steep stairs and narrow muddy paths.  We all converged at the same destination, to gaze in wonder at what has become a cultural icon, a symbol of the ultimate in Chinese refinement and extravagance, to enjoy tea, tea eggs, and roasted peanuts.

So, can anyone afford to drink Da Hong Pao?

We went to the beautiful teahouse of Chen De Hua, considered the father of modern Da Hong Pao, to learn more about the recent history of this tea.

Da Hong Pao traces its history to the Qing Dynasty, but its recent fame dates from after World War II when the characters "Da Hong Pao" were carved into the mountainside, probably when there were only three mother bushes (there are now six mother bushes, all seed grown).  In the 1950s the Communist Party sent guards to guard the mother bushes which had, up to then, been the purview of the monks at Tianxin Temple.  In 1964, the Tea Research Institute in Fujian Province began to promote the tea to area farmers.  In 1985 Mr. Chen De Hua was finally able to procure cuttings from "mother bush #2."  As a result many farmers now have cultivars of mother bush #2.

However, today, all Da Hong Pao teas are blends of several cultivars (could be four to five varieties).  Although it was not explicitly explained to me why they did not go the Anji Bai Cha clone route, I suspect it is because Rock Wulong tea processing is much more complicated than green tea processing and in order to assure quality control, Da Hong Pao blends are evaluated and approved AFTER all steps are completed.

Every two or three years, Wuyi Rock Wulong tea masters meet and decided what the standards for the different grades of Da Hong Pao will be, and these samples are used to compare batches of Da Hong Pao by tea producers in the Wuyi Region.  So, depending on the grade, not only is Da Hong Pao tea widely available, it is affordable.

So, what is the Rock Wulong tea process that makes it unique?  Read my next blog post!