Da Hong Pao Tea

Da Hong Pao (translated Big Red Robe ) is a heavily oxidized tea that falls within the Oolong family. Even at a glance one can tell this tea is dark and rich with a deep flavour. Normally brought out for guests of honor within the China region due to its high quality.

The story behind this tea (every Chinese tea has one and we love including them!) is that during the Ming dynasty, the emperors mother at the time fell sick but was cured due to a certain tea - and to help both preserve and remember which bush these leaves came from, big red robes were placed over those bushes.

Those very same bushes still reportedly exist today with price tags of their leaves going for up to 1 million USD per Kilogram!

Brewing

1. Preheat your cup by pouring boiling water inside. Rotate the water around so that it has touched all sides to ensure equal distribution.
2. Normally two teaspoons are used for one teapot. This equates to around two reasonable sized pinches.
3. 90 to 95C water is traditionally used.
4. A steeping time of 1 minute is commonplace but feel free to experiment.
5. You should be able to get 4 to 6 infusions from this tea, and with each infusion please increase steeping time by 1 minute.