Da Hong Pao

Where it grows

The districts recorded against this tea, all of them in China. Elevation is given as the band the district is recorded at, not a measurement of the garden this leaf came from.

• Wuyi Mountains — 200–700 metres

  How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. Approximate. Wuyi’s reputation rests more on its rocky, mineral soils and sheltered ravines than on altitude alone.

• Zheng Yan (Wuyi core) — 200–700 metres

  How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. Low, and deliberately recorded as such. Zheng yan gardens are lower than a great deal of ordinary Chinese tea land; the premium is about the ravine microclimate and the substrate, not about height.

The plants it is made from

Cultivar is the level below the variety group: a named selection of the tea plant, propagated as clones from one parent. Most consumer writing stops at the country and the category, which leaves out the layer that decides how the leaf behaves before anyone picks it.

• Shui Xian — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Chosen for structure rather than aroma: where Rou Gui brings a sharp spiced top note, Shui Xian brings weight and a long, mellow finish.

• Da Hong Pao — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  As a plant: a Wuyi rock-tea cultivar giving a thick, roasted, mineral-inflected oolong. As a name on a tin: usually a blend, and legitimately so — the blended version is the normal commercial product rather than a fraud, which is exactly why the distinction has to be stated rather than assumed.

• Qi Dan — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Knowing this resolves most of the confusion around Da Hong Pao pricing: the cheap version is usually a blend, the expensive single-cultivar version is usually Qi Dan, and neither is from the mother bushes.

• Bei Dou — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  Where Qi Dan is prized for lineage, Bei Dou is planted for reliability — it crops better and tolerates a wider range of roasting.

How it is made, in order

Read top to bottom: the list is the production sequence, and the sequence is what makes this tea its category rather than a neighbouring one. The same leaf from the same bush becomes a green tea or a black tea depending on where the heat falls relative to the bruising, so reordering these steps would not vary the tea — it would produce a different one.

1. 1. Withering — Reduces water content, softens the leaf for later handling, and permits early enzymatic and aromatic development.
2. 2. Bruising (shaking) — Ruptures cells selectively at the leaf margin, initiating localised enzymatic oxidation while the leaf centre remains unoxidised.
3. 3. Oxidation — Allows polyphenol oxidase to act on leaf polyphenols after cell rupture, converting them into the larger coloured compounds that give oxidised tea its colour and body.
4. 4. Kill-green (fixation) — Denatures polyphenol oxidase and related enzymes, arresting enzymatic oxidation.
5. 5. Strip rolling — Twists leaf lengthwise into open strips, rupturing cells while leaving the leaf largely extended.
6. 6. Drying — Reduces residual moisture to a level at which enzymatic, microbial and oxidative change effectively stops, stabilising the leaf for storage.
7. 7. Charcoal roasting — Applies low, even radiant heat over long periods with rest intervals, driving off moisture and transforming leaf compounds progressively.

The route it is made by

The steps above are what happens; this is the named production route they belong to, with the other teas made the same way.

• Roasted strip oolong — The same oolong front end, then a tail nothing else has: dry, hand-pick the stalk, roast, rest for months, roast again — a manufacture measured in seasons.

  Where it is practised: The Wuyi cliffs of northern Fujian above all, with the same construction used for the roasted Anxi styles, for traditional Dong Ding, and for the Phoenix mountain single-bush teas of Guangdong, which run it with a much longer standing rest.

What its chemistry turns on

Every true tea contains caffeine, catechins and amino acids, so listing them would say nothing about this one. What differs is what the processing above does to them — and that is the same list of steps, read for its chemistry instead of its craft.

The compounds that substantially decide what this tea is: Melanoidins, Pyrazines.

• Withering
  • creates Geraniol
  • creates Linalool
  • creates Linalool oxides
  • creates Theasinensins
  • raises Methyl salicylate
  • raises Nerolidol
  • raises Soluble sugars
  • lowers cis-3-Hexenol
  • lowers Green-leaf volatiles
  • lowers Leaf lipids
• Bruising (shaking)
  • converts Leaf lipids
  • creates Theasinensins
  • raises Indole
  • raises Jasmine lactone
  • raises Linalool
  • raises Nerolidol
• Oxidation
  • converts Carotenoids
  • converts Catechins
  • converts ECG (epicatechin gallate)
  • converts EGC (epigallocatechin)
  • converts EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate)
  • converts Epicatechin
  • converts Linalool
  • creates Beta-damascenone
  • creates Beta-ionone
  • creates GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)
  • creates Linalool oxides
  • creates Tea cream
  • creates Theaflavins
  • creates Thearubigins
  • raises 2-Phenylethanol
  • raises Geraniol
  • raises Nerolidol
  • lowers Anthocyanins
  • lowers Theogallin
• Kill-green (fixation)
  • locks 2-Phenylethanol
  • locks Anthocyanins
  • locks Catechins
  • locks cis-3-Hexenol
  • locks Green-leaf volatiles
  • locks L-theanine
  • locks Leaf lipids
  • locks Methylated catechins
  • locks Theogallin
• Drying
  • creates Strecker aldehydes
  • raises Beta-damascenone
  • raises Thearubigins
• Charcoal roasting
  • creates Epimerised catechins
  • creates Melanoidins
  • creates Pyrazines
  • raises Guaiacol
  • lowers Geraniol

These are statements about the leaf and the cup. What any of these compounds does in a body is a different kind of question and is not answered here or on the pages linked from it.

History

The four surviving mother bushes on a Wuyi cliff face have not been commercially harvested since 2006 and are protected by the state. Every Da Hong Pao sold is either a blend or leaf from propagated cuttings — usually the Qi Dan or Bei Dou cultivars. The robed-monkey and scholar’s-gratitude legends attached to the name are traditional stories rather than record.

Widely repeated legend — Repeated very widely and not evidenced. Recorded because the story is itself part of the culture, not because it happened.

Brewing

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)

  5–8 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 7 authored infusions

  Needs: Gaiwan

  Open in the brew assistant

• Western brewing (teapot or mug)

  1.5–2 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Needs: Western teapot

  Open in the brew assistant

• Gongfu brewing (Yixing pot)

  5–7 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 6 authored infusions

  Needs: Yixing teapot, Fairness pitcher (cha hai), Tea tray (cha pan)

  Open in the brew assistant

Common mistakes

• Brewing it like a delicate oolong, with too little leaf and water off the boil
• Skipping the rinse, which leaves the first drinkable infusion dusty and closed
• Judging it on the first infusion, which is rarely the best one

When the cup goes wrong

Written against oolong as a category rather than against this tea in particular, and worked back from the symptom to the likely causes in order. 18 apply to the category; the first 6 are shown.

• Every infusion in my gongfu session tastes the same — The cups are pleasant and interchangeable, with none of the change from steep to steep the method is supposed to show.
• My clay pot has changed how the tea tastes — A tea that tasted right in porcelain comes out muted, differently scented, or carrying something that was not in the leaf.
• My cold brew tastes like faintly flavoured water — After a night in the fridge the jug is pale and tastes of very little, with none of the sweetness cold brewing is supposed to give.
• My first infusion is always the worst one — The opening cup is thin, dusty or flat, and the second is markedly better — consistently, across different teas.
• My gaiwan is too hot to hold — The rim and lid become uncomfortable within seconds, the pour is rushed, and tea ends up on the tray.
• My gongfu brewing falls apart when I have guests — Sessions that work perfectly alone become chaotic with three or four people: the tea is inconsistent, the pours are rushed, and the cups arrive at different strengths and temperatures.

Every diagnosed brewing problem

If you like this

Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.

Compare this tea with another

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison. Each one is a written page with the points of difference argued out.

• Da Hong Pao the plant vs Da Hong Pao the tea — One name doing three jobs: a handful of famous old bushes on a Wuyi cliff, the propagated descendants of them, and — by a very large margin in volume — a roasted Wuyi oolong blended to a house style that need contain none of the above. Only the first two are a plant, and the third is what almost everyone actually buys.
• The four famous Wuyi bushes compared — Da Hong Pao, Tie Luo Han, Bai Ji Guan and Shui Jin Gui carry the reputation, and only one of them is easy to buy honestly. Put the two side by side
• Tie Guan Yin vs Da Hong Pao — The two most famous oolongs in China, from provinces that border each other and traditions that do not. One is rolled, floral and lightly oxidised; the other is strip-rolled, roasted and mineral. Put the two side by side

Where this tea is drunk

Documented practices that name this tea. Each page describes what is done and by whom, and separates what is recorded from what is repeated.

• Gongfu cha — A Chinese approach to brewing and serving tea built on small vessels, a great deal of leaf and many short infusions — practised today across a spectrum from everyday habit to formal hosting.
• Tea as a gift in China — A very large share of expensive Chinese tea is bought to be given rather than drunk — which means the packaging carries the message, the price has to be legible without opening the box, and the manufacture has been pulled toward what a gift needs rather than toward what a cup needs.

Guides covering this tea

• Water temperature, and why it matters more in tea than in coffee
• Why famous tea names are substituted, and how to read a price that does not add up
• When the tea and the plant share a name