Trip to Wuyi Mountain and Story of Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe)

Last week, I went on a trip. Guess where I was I going? Of course, my destination was related to tea. Yes, I went to Wuyi Mountain. I drove there alone. It’s more than 600 kilometers from Shanghai, and it took more than six hours to drive.

Now as you see, I have entered the Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area, where there are many calligraphy sculptures left by ancient people on the rocks. Wuyi Mountain is the main rock tea producing area, and rock tea occupies a very important position in oolong tea category. The famous rock tea includes Da Hong Pao, cinnamon, narcissus, etc.

I wanna show you the most famous place in Wuyi Mountain. Here It is the location of 360 year old Da Hong Pao tea trees.

In ancient times, a scholar was seriously ill when he passed by Wuyi Mountain and was saved by a monk using Dahongpao tea leaves. Later, he became an official and cured the emperor’s illness with the tea leave from these trees. The emperor rewarded him with a Big Red Robe, which represented a high honor at that time. In order to express his gratitude for the monk and these magic leaves, he returned to Wuyi Mountain. He asked the monk to take him to the tea trees for a sacrifice ceremony. During the ceremony, he took off his big red robe and put it on the tea trees. Therefore, these tea trees became famous in China, and got the storied name Big Red Robe, which is pronounced as “Da Hong Pao” in Chinese.