The story of Da Hong Pao oolong tea

Da Hong Pao is one of China's most famous and appreciated oolong teas. One of the most famous legends, which also explains its name, Da Hong Pao - The Great Red Robe, attributes the tea's fame to a young man, Ju Zi Ding, who, on his way to the imperial examination in Beijing, stops ill in Wu Yi. A monk heals him with oolong tea, the young man arrives in Beijing to take the exam, gets the highest grade and becomes a high civil servant. In gratitude, he returns to the monk to thank him and learn about the tea that healed him. He covers the tea bushes with his red robe, specific to the civil servants, and takes tea back to the palace to make it known.

A complementary version of this legend attributes the tea's fame to the Emperor's Mother, who, when ill, is cured by Ju Zi Ding with the tea of ​​Wu Yi.

Become famous, the shrubs in the story , 6 in number, are protected. The tea produced from these trees reaches up to 1 million dollars per kilogram and does not really leave China.

From the "mother" trees, grafts and seeds were taken, and what is marketed as Da Hong Pao today is supposed to be from Qi Dan (children) or a cultivar from the "mother" trees, called Bei Dou. Economic reality means that most of the Da Hong Pao sold are fakes, which contain other varieties, such as Shui Xian and Ro Gui. These varieties make very good teas and we also had them on offer, but they are not Da Hong Pao.

We introduce in Romania O23 Da Hong Pao tea from Qi Dan (from baby trees) with the best quality/price ratio we could find. It is a complex oolong tea, where the smoky flavor is well integrated into the tea, not overpowering, as it is in the widely spread tea versions.

By selecting this tea in the offer, we wanted to make accessible the real taste of a Da Hong Pao , so that you can discern a real Da Hong Pao from a copy in the future.