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Da Hong Pao, What’s in your Cup? Blending & Popular DHP Surrogates
Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) is one of China’s ten most famous teas, owns a mythic origin story and is as close to a household name as exists in tea. Given this, it is unsurprising that the name Da Hong Pao is a great marketing term for purveyors of tea. The name Da Hong…
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Three Chinese Yancha Brands, Supermarket Yancha, Feat. Sea Dyke, Wuyi Star, Huiyuan
The Chinese tea industry is largely composed of big businesses, large factories and corporate brands. While this frequently results in inexpensive, mediocre tea for the casual tea consumer, some of these factories also dabble in higher-end commercially available tea. A few bigger brands can be purchased in North America, usually in a Chinese or Southeast…
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Wuyi Special Regions Feat. Zhengyan, Lao Cong, Huiyuan, Niulan Keng, Tianxin Yan
Wuyishan (Wuyi Mountain) is located in Northwest Fujian and is a naturally beautiful area with a great deal of nature and wildlife. This includes an impressive amount of biodiversity, due to the area’s naturally warm climate and a nutrient rich environment. In 1999 the Chinese government designated part of the Wuyishan area as Wuyi World…
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Wuyi Oolong Tea Vendors
In line with the trends of the rest of the tea industry online, the amount of roasted oolongs and Yancha (Wuyi Oolongs) being sold online has grown significantly. With increased choices and wild price variations even within the same vendor and tea (1,2) shopping for Yancha is confusing and difficult. The online shoppers reliance on…
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The Price of Yancha
Good yancha is difficult to shop for. There are no distinctly yancha-specialized vendors and no obvious filters to quickly eliminate debris (eliminating non-specialized vendors works very well for Taiwanese oolongs + pu’erh). One other obstacle are forgeries designed to satiate the public’s demand for Da Hong Pao (usually Rou Gui + Shui Xian). This article…
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Wuyi Oolong Compendium
Home to the original oolong tea and its fair share of tea legends, the Wuyi mountains house some of the world’s most sought after oolong teas . Although there are many types of tea grown in the Wuyi mountains (notably Lapsang Souchong/Jin Jun Mei), it is most famous for its oolong teas. Due to the…