Da Hong Pao
大红袍 · Big Red Robe
Oolong
A student fell ill on the road to the imperial exams. Monks in the Wuyi mountains made him tea from bushes on the cliff above. He recovered and came first. The emperor gave him a red court robe. He carried it back and laid it over the bushes.
Six are still on that cliff. Since 2006 nobody may pick them, and the city insures them for a hundred million yuan. So nobody drinks the mother bushes. What is sold now is grown from cuttings, or blended from other Wuyi teas.
The rock is still in what you are given. The roast arrives first, dark and sweet, and under it a cool mineral feeling that stays after the cup is empty.
- roasted
- dark stone fruit
- mineral
- Origin
- Wuyi Mountains, Fujian, China
- Water
- 100°C / 212°F
- Ratio
- 5 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- Medium
- Rinse
- Yes · 5s
China ten-famous-teas; Si Da Ming Cong
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~5.0g of tea
The session
8 infusions after the rinse, about 4m 55s of total contact time.
- Rinse5sWake the leaf and pour it away — this one isn’t for drinking.
- Steep 110sFire and something dark beneath.
- Steep 215sRoast opens onto dark fruit.
- Steep 320sDried longan deepens the char.
- Steep 425sOrchid surfaces as the roast recedes.
- Steep 535sCocoa edges the fading fruit.
- Steep 645sMineral rhyme cools and coats.
- Steep 71mStone lingers, floral and clean.
- Steep 81m 20sThe rock echo alone remains.
Also sold as
Red Robe, Dahongpao
In Czech and Slovak shops
Velké šarlatové roucho
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.