TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
The dancing big red robe tea
Suwarni: Suwarni explains the second-grade Da Hong Pao tea that she is going to put from the glass container
Change Size
Suwarni: Suwarni explains the second-grade Da Hong Pao tea that she is going to put from the glass container.
Nixon was reportedly insulted for having been given such a meager amount of leaves until Zhou Enlai told him that the trivial-looking tribute represented half of China's entire harvest of the famous tea for the year.
If the story is true, however, the gift was a total waste because the US Secret Service requires the destruction of gifts of food and drink to protect the president and his family.
Also, because the gift's retail value exceeded the retainable limit, in order to keep it, Nixon would have been required by law to purchase it at fair market price and pay federal taxes, which he might not have been willing to do.
Da Hong Pao is reserved for China's top government officials, the most exclusive elite and visiting dignitaries.
The characteristically highly oxidized tea comes from a specific sub-variety of a handful of very old tea bushes found growing on a cliff in the Wuyi mountain range and thus belongs to the rock tea category.
Harvest is controlled by the Chinese government. There is a law protecting the original tea bushes from being picked. Moreover, the tea enjoys an imperial status after a Ming Dynasty emperor, who as legend has it, sent big red silk robes as a token of gratitude to the tea bushes that cured her mother from an illness ' probably the precursor of today's Chinese habit of tying red ribbons on prized plants.
It has been said that Da Hong Pao tea from the original parent plants, which have been harvested since the Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279), is prized for its distinctive yán yun (rock-rhyme) taste.
At first I thought the taste rhymed with the mineral, stony flavors of the crag where they grow, that is, the steep rocky wall of Jiu Long (Nine Dragon) Cave in Wuyi Mountains in Nanping Prefecture in northern Fujian province, China.
But it turns out that the term means something completely different. According to peonyts.com, yán yun means 'a tingling, jolt-like sensation that provides a 'kick'', which sevencups.com refers to as 'activity, vibrancy'.
Meanwhile, amazing-green-tea.com says that yán yun signifies fragrance specific to rock tea or tieguanyin tea (famous, premium variety of Chinese oolong tea).
This liveliness, gustatory and olfactory, has been described by Chinese tea expert Suwarni of the Siang Ming Tea House as 'dancing on the palate and on the nose' respectively.
This is reflected in her second-grade Da Hong Pao, which she said comes from direct cuttings of mother plants grown outside of Nanping.
Despite being slightly acidic after its first steeping and its dry aftertaste, this copy of the original, redolent of dried frangipani flavors and violet, is lively with a tannic vibrancy suggestive of ripe Syzygium cumini (jamblang); it is nutty, too, with some sweetness.
The first grade, which Suwarni said came from the mother plant grown 1000-1500 meters above sea level in Nanping, is not so lively.
But it is true, yán yun's character lies in its wonderful interchange of frangipani, violet, and ripe Syzygium malaccense (jambu bol) scents reminiscent of monkey-picked tieguanyin, elegant smokiness, and in its silky, velvety, somewhat oily texture, and its sweet, nutty aftertaste.
These flavors were the result of Suwarni steeping the tea with bottled mineral water in a zisha (purple clay) teapot, the Chinese way (gongfu cha), for 20-25 seconds at a temperature of 80-90 degrees Celsius during and after a recent customer gathering at Siang Ming Tea House in Kelapa Gading Mall's Eat & Eat Area in North Jakarta.
There, she introduced the two Da Hong Paos in a 10-gram packet bundled with a 7.5- grams packet of top Chinese green tea Bi Luo Chun priced at Rp 225,000.
'Da Hong Pao is such a big name I actually hesitated selling it. As expectations run high for it, if extreme care is not exercised, the result might not be as expected,' said Suwarni, who went to the Wuyishan area to personally source the tea.
With so many Da Hong Pao copycats and grades hitting the market, and the elusiveness of the original as a reference point, what to expect from them is but a matter of individual perception and taste, which is also reflected in how the tea is brewed.
'In China, they brew it heavily, which brings out astringency. I prefer to brew it lightly,' she said. Steeping method aside, any expectation should be measured against how the tea is dancing, if at all, and the dent it makes in your pocket.
' Photos by Arif Suryobuwono
