Da Hong Pao "Big Red Robe" Oolong

Da Hong Pao is a rich deeply roasted oolong from the Wu Yi mountains in Fujian, China. This tea is delightfully cozy with a warming, toasty flavor surrounding stone fruit and floral notes. Its deep minerality is common of teas from Wu Yi due to the rich mineral soil. 

As with many teas from China, the name has a historical significance. Though the details of the story vary depending on who tells it, the story tells of a man traveling to take his imperial exams to become a scholar. The man fell ill by the mountains of Wu Yi and a monk brought him tea which healed him. The man went on to his exams and finished with top marks earning him an imperial scarlet robe. The man went back to thank the monk who gave him the healing tea, and when inquiring where the tea leaves came from, the monk showed him a stand of tea trees at the base of the hill. The man was so thankful for the healing properties of the tea that he wrapped his imperial robe around the tea trees to protect them. Thus the name "Big Red Robe" has been carried down for teas that derive from these plants. Only a few of the original plants are alive today and the small amount of tea harvested from them sell for 10s of thousands of dollars today. Cuttings were taken of the bushes and propagated in nearby fields from which people produce this famous tea from in larger quantities.