Jing Hong Da Hong Pao cultivar oolong

I visited the Jip Eu shop in Bangkok twice recently, first to buy some Xiaguan tuochas to give away and keep (from 2012; not quite ready yet for ideal fermentation level, but they are drinkable), and then to pick up an aged sheng cake, which I'll get back to talking about in a later post.  The second time I also bought an extra version of the local Thai sheng Kittichai made that I listed in a post about favorite sheng versions.  I just drank that tea again a few days ago; it's funny how it starts out a bit strange in early infusions and then just keeps getting better, and never quits.

On the first visit he gave me some of a Wuyi Yancha version to try, which he described as from a Jing Hong cultivar, said to be one of the types derived from the original Da Hong Pao bushes.  I've researched and written about that subject before (here), concluding that only Bei Dou and Qi Dan are cultivars tied back to that origin, to one of the original plants.  Looking around online I ran across the idea, again, that Que She is also sometimes claimed to be related, to have origins from one of those plants.

more on the DHP tea plants and legend in this TeaSenz article (photo from there)

Who knows, really.  I started a Tea Chat discussion about this back in 2015 where that Que She idea came up, and this vendor page supports that idea.  I tend to not really trust random vendor input; people often just pass on "traditional knowledge," which can come in varying forms.  I looked around the Seven Cups site for their take, since I had talked to Austin Hodges a little about that way back when, but it only says there are three related cultivars in a Qi Dan sales page, and never mentions what they are.  Qi Dan and Bei Dou links seem fairly well accepted, with a lot less support for Que She being that closely related.  Of course the fact of the matter isn't directly determined by volume of hearsay.

Searching research sources didn't help, although an exhaustive enough search along that line probably would turn up evidence.  A reference like this might help, Genetic diversity of oolong tea (Camellia sinensis) germplasms based on the nanofluidic array of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers.  Two problems come up in using such research to connect modern tea plants to prior traditional associations, and the second is a deal-breaker:  that paper is only available for purchase, not publicly accessible, and it would be necessary to map against all of those original plant versions to establish this type of connection, in this case.  If the research included genetic mapping of all of the remaining original Da Hong Pao associated plants that would work, but taking that step seems highly unlikely.

There's another problem beyond those:  tea plant genetics are only part of the story.  Processing fresh leaves into finished tea accounts for most of the variation in tea style, and a large proportion of the quality level causation, with climate and terroir issues accounting for a lot of the rest (annual rainfall, sunlight exposure, soil quality, weather suitability for harvest and processing, etc.).  I'm definitely not saying that the plant type doesn't matter, because of course it does, but that's only one input among many. 

So who knows what this "Jing Hong" really is.  It could be a direct descendant of an original DHP plant or it could be something else entirely.  In a sense it doesn't matter, because the tea is whatever it is either way, and I don't think Jip Eu even sells this, so it's all a bit academic.  Kittichai said that a friend had passed it on.  

Da Hong Pao is most often a blend of inputs instead, and Qi Dan and Bei Dou are often considered their own cultivars, but also the two most original Da Hong Pao versions.  It's also conceivable that this tea has a different name, or that it's closely related to another plant type.  If it was only somewhat genetically related, part of a later plant breeding outcome, for example, that would put it in an unusual grey area. 

that more recent visit, meeting Kittichai's son

Review:

really light oxidation and roast level, even apparent in the dry leaf

his type description; even the Roman script part doesn't ring a bell

First infusion:  clearly exceptional tea.  The style is lightly oxidized, with a very light roast level as well, so this would likely appeal to people or not based on that context.  As I take it this is essentially the most popular current style of better Wuyi Yancha, with lower quality versions tending to be oxidized and roasted a bit more (or a lot more, related to roast level).  Some of that relates to convention, and some to which preparation works best for which starting point character.  I don't have more to add about that, just saying.  You tend to hear a lot of conflicting ideas about what is most conventional, traditional, or most ideal, but it seems as well just focus on the tea experience and not the story lines, to decide what you like.

It's light enough that the vegetal nature still carries over more than is typical for this category of oolongs.  It's my take that this is probably exactly the result they were aiming for.  A smooth fullness is pleasant; it gives the tea an overall depth.  This includes some of a cognac like character that only better Wuyi Yancha versions express, along with some underlying mineral tone, and floral tone more pronounced than both in this infusion.  It's the unusually thick feel that really stands out, along with a pronounced extended aftertaste.

It's hard for me to guess at what a conventional selling point pricing would be for this tea, but at a guess it's more than I would tend to ever pay, far more than the $30 per 100 grams Jip Eu sells pretty good Wuyi Yancha versions for, perhaps well over $1/gram.  If this is as rare and sought after as Kittichai expressed, as a third main cultivar type from original Da Hong Pao plants then it may be unusually costly.  He gave the tea to me, so I didn't experience that part, but I should ask.  

To be clear this is my favorite Bangkok shop and I visit frequently (not regularly, just when I get around to going, but often), and handing out really exceptional version samples probably isn't part of their normal business practice.  I was in there recently and he gave me some An Hui (I think it was; definitely a Hunan hei cha), so it's not atypical.  They are like family to me, at least related to how I experience visiting.

my wife was my driver for the last visit

Second infusion:  this only brewed for 7 or 8 seconds but the proportion is so high that it's about optimum.  I can back off proportion a little more than this but it's about how I like it best, pushed roughly as far as makes any sense, or maybe just past that per a more standard take.  

It picks up even more depth in the second round.  It was fantastic the first round, so descriptions really aren't going to keep up with how good this tea is.  I could imagine that vegetal edge throwing some people off, and some newer to the type might even like far lower quality and more standard versions better.  By "more standard" I mean more standard for a moderate quality range; again I think for higher quality versions of this type this is quite typical.  It would be a shame to let this oxidize further and then blur it's character with a higher roast level, but it would probably work really well going slightly further with both inputs.

A perfume-like character comes across.  In the first round I had described that as being like cognac, and to me that sort of aspect range spans a continuum, expressed as liqueur-like or perfume-like in related expressions.  People familiar with it will know exactly what I'm talking about, and for others there would be no way to make it clearer.  It tastes like perfume smells, not just the floral range, which is there, but also the solvent part, a little.  

To say that it's positive or pleasant really doesn't do it justice; it's distinctive, and you either value it or you don't.  This is what teas of this general type and quality level are about, to me.  Oddly I could appreciate a much more common, standard, moderate range set of aspects about as much, related to match to preference, but it's impossible to not appreciate how good this tea is.  Feel, aftertaste, flavor range, overall balance, higher quality marker aspect presence; it's really something.  It would be a real shame to brew this Western style, or for anyone not at all on this page to drink it, and see it as mediocre tea.

Third infusion:  floral range bumps a little; this is intense.  It's a sweet, rich, and complex floral range, towards how lotus flower smells.  The part I've described as vegetal is shifting some, gaining warmth and depth, off green wood into more cured hardwood, but sweet, like cherry wood (those hardwood trees do tend to smell a little like the fruit they produce, often enough).  

The feel structure is great; I've not really done that justice, beyond saying it's "thick."  The talk of where it impacts parts of your mouth never did really do much for me, even if I could follow it, or of form, dry versus richly structured, etc.

Fourth infusion:  every round I've brewed faster, down to under 5 seconds this time, and intensity keeps up, with character improving every round.  In terms of description what I said about the last two rounds still works, with only proportion of what had been present shifting this time.  That perfume-like character is intense.  The way it all balances is amazing; no description would do that justice.

Fifth infusion:  it continues to transition, but in a way that's hard to describe.  The feel is a bit creamier now, not just smooth, rich, and structured, but actually feeling more like cream.  Pronounced floral range dominates the taste, along with the perfume-like character, including some of the solvent range along with that floral.  There is still a warmer vegetal tone, like cherry hardwood, and just a trace of flavor towards greener wood or plant stem.

Sixth infusion:  not really shifting.  There's a warmth to this tone that the sum of all described aspects might not seem to imply, and it all integrates and balances really well.  Add just a little of the wrong kind of astringency or vegetal tone and that would be lost, but it all combines perfectly.  

This is surely one of the best Wuyi Yancha examples I've yet to try.  It wouldn't work to say "best," given that quality level and drinking experience doesn't work like that, or preference to type, but if someone was more into that sort of ranking maybe.

some lightly oxidized oolong

Seventh infusion:  vegetal is picking up in relation to the floral perfume tone, although really that could relate to a minor parameter shift, a change in timing.

There's probably a lot more to say about the next half-dozen infusions, since this will keep going, but I won't say it.  The tea is great, a perfect example for that one style and type.  

It seems snobbish to say "not everyone would appreciate this tea," in the sense of "getting it," and I wouldn't mean to imply some sort of higher level understanding by that.  It represents a distinct style, one that people buying Da Hong Pao or other Wuyi Yancha versions in the US might not tend to experience frequently.  I don't mean the cultivar, but claims relate to that part might work too.  It's lightly oxidized, and not very roasted, but all that is more about the balance, the final character they were aiming for.

Maybe this was unusually expensive tea, and maybe it wasn't, and shouldn't be.  But it is very well-made, in my opinion.

visiting a water park on Thai mother's day

Mama Nid joined as well

Keo won a discount for next visit in a draw (not sure what the shaka is all about)

Chinese beans and ice after that visit; I've been hooked on that lately

Comparing a Da Hong Pao and a Qi Dan; what DHP really is

Qi Dan

Da Hong Pao (blended version)

Some of you might be thinking, that's strange, Qi Dan sort of is Da Hong Pao.  It's the cultivar used to make it (the main one; the story isn't that simple).  I went through all that awhile back in this post.

The short version:  Qi Dan and Bei Dou cultivars are derived from those original DHP plants (the legendary but real ones, the plants that might have worn red jackets--the "red robe" part, but probably didn't).  Seems not that complicated, when you put it that way.  But different people mean different things by Da Hong Pao, and it's can also be a style or generic branding name, which I'll say more about after the review part.

As for what the two teas are (both from Cindy Chen, made by her family; see website for details); one is a Wuyi Yancha (Wuyishan area "rock oolong") made from the Qi Dan cultivar, and the other is identified as a blend, a mix of tea-plant types to produce a version of "Da Hong Pao."

The teas have a nice look to them, typical for the general type.  The Da Hong Pao smells a bit heavier on the roast, more dark toffee and earthiness, and the Qi Dan is a little lighter in color and smells more aromatic.  There's lots going on in the scents, and in the brewed tea leaves scents, but I'll take up reviewing with the brewed teas.

Qi Dan left, brewed lightly

The Da Hong Pao is complex, well-roasted for sure, still maybe only upper-medium though.  Dark woody tones are pronounced.  It has so much complexity one could go on and on, but it would be hard to completely capture it.  It's in that typical range:  dark wood, a touch of toffee, char effect (not burned, well integrated), underlying mineral, perhaps aged leather, extending a little into spice, towards cinnamon.

The Qi Dan is a lot more aromatic.  If I'm using that term right--it's from a Chinese description, not as common in Western tea circles, but surely some end up saying it--that aspect range comes across as a perfume or liquor-like trait, which doesn't really resemble perfume or liquor in flavor.  It's a flavor that comes across a certain way, resembling a smell, hence the "aroma" root.  It's also a bit woody, just in a different sense, a much lighter wood.

There's an interesting aspect I interpret as being close to a root spice, just not something I can specify further, which comes across as "round," if that helps.  Of course there is some underlying mineral too.  I won't make a lot of that in further description, but the typical, type-defining, base range of minerals is present.  The whole aspects range is more subtle than the Da Hong Pao, lighter, with a clean effect.  The Da Hong Pao wasn't unclean, not murky in any way, but a lot more forward, with a heavier roast driving a different range of flavors.

Might as well get this subjective judgement part out of the way:  these are good teas.  Typically it seems to not be my place to place teas on a quality scale, and this isn't a claim that I really know this general range so well I can pass an absolute judgment, but it seems to me that any part of a complete description should mention some of that personal take, for these teas in particular.  There was a time when teas this complex, and clean flavored, with this sort of aspect range would have seemed really exceptional, but after being spoiled by Cindy's teas I just come to expect it.  There must be range of even better teas out there, since that's always how that goes, but these are pretty good.

Qi Dan left, brewed stronger

This is nothing like that random-find Chinatown shop Da Hong Pao that you hope is nice and interesting; this is like the version where the owner goes out of his or her way to tell you what it is.  More than that, it's the type of version some Chinese shop owners won't even bring up unless they think you know your teas well enough to appreciate what it is.  Funny how that works out in those places; even someone that knows nothing about teas might well buy a more expensive tea if told it is really good, but for some reason there is part of a Chinese tradition of not "casting pearls before swine," even to upsell.  There's a story about a person not appreciating a horse that's difficult to manage that is suppose to explain that, but that story only makes it more complicated, once you sort through parallel structure aspects, figuring out what the analogy is or isn't covering.

On the next infusion things change a little.  The Da Hong Pao picks up even more complexity.  That dark wood shifts into a woody range that might instead be how a collection of different woods would come across.  The clean effect and sweetness really makes it work, and the way that integrates with the mineral base.  There's plenty of dark toffee sweetness and richness to connect the range of aspects.  It leans a little towards spice in effect but others might describe the mineral as more pronounced.  To me it's more an underlying context in this tea, but definitely there either way.  The tea tastes like rocks, in a good way.

The Qi Dan gets even richer, also more complex.  There's an interesting way it's not completely flavor intensive, also aromatic, but it's all so intense that at the middle of drinking and tasting it the tea almost overloads your palate.  It's not strong-flavored, in a sense, not as intense as the DHP, but there's a lot going on.  The effect impacts your whole tongue, and the rear sides of your mouth, and it almost seems like the top of your mouth is tasting the tea as well.  Of course scent also carries the taste.

There's one aspect in particular that's hard to describe.  "Floral" would be a good approximation, and maybe it is exactly like some sort of flower, but that doesn't clearly capture it.  Maybe just a little like cognac, without alcohol.  I'll continue to try to pin it down better.

They're completely different teas; that makes it interesting.  Often more similarity can help with a comparison tasting, to highlight the minor differences that do occur, but in this case it's about appreciating lots of aspects and character elements both don't share.  On a second tasting I tried to focus on aftertaste, to see if there is anything unique or interesting to that part, but to me the same flavors just trail for awhile.  I don't notice any odd sensation lingering anywhere, but then I'm not so into such things, and others might notice that.

Da Hong Pao brewed leaves (blended tea)

The Da Hong Pao might be tapering off just a little, only three infusions in, but still in the same range, still very nice.  It would be possible to stretch that process by brewing the tea a lot wispier, even without giving up range, but I've not been preparing these lightly to emphasize the aspects for description.  In a second tasting--with these notes based on the first, this sequencing--I tried them brewed a lot lighter, and that probably works better for appreciating what is going on versus noticing it better, if that makes sense.  Factors like infusion strength always come down to preference, and one person's "light" could be another's strong, or vice versa.


Back to that first tasting setting, the Qi Dan is not really transitioning.  I might mention this is pretty close to a Bei Dou I tried before, a really exceptional tea, with those two plant types supposedly closely related (more on that in the next section).  I was amazed by how aromatic that tea had been, but this time I'm more impressed by how that effect is balanced, how it doesn't give up flavors range, and how the different aspects integrate well into an overall effect.  I must admit, I'm absolutely not doing the effect of this tea justice in this description.  I tried a Qi Lan from Cindy not so long ago and I said the aromatic component seemed too pronounced versus typical flavor range for my preference, versus how others came across, but this Qi Dan strikes a really nice balance.

Qi Dan brewed leaves

After trying brewing the teas very lightly (in the first tasting, but also in the second) both teas worked really well on the wispy side.  Tapering off in intensity doesn't detract from either much.  That one effect I can't describe well in the Qi Dan is also present in a really light version, an aromatic quality, a roundness, or a complexity, a je ne sais quoi.  I think it might be as much how the aspects balance as anything, or a combination of the nice aromatic effect with an interesting flavor range.  Or maybe it's just a floral aspect, and I'm making it sound more complicated than it is.


On the next infusion both really are starting to fade (a half-dozen steeps in?).  The teas still have a few nice infusions to offer by lengthening the brew time, and per past experience mineral related aspects will pick up a lot due to doing that.

Cindy!

On plant types and what Da Hong Pao is, the background

I thought I had this settled in this earlier post.  Da Hong Pao is both a tea plant type, or more than one related genetically similar tea plant, and a final tea version, or at least that’s where I left it there.  DHP was supposed to be Qi Dan and Bei Dou (cultivars), with Qi Dan as the closest to the original version, and Bei Dou directly derived from closely related cuttings, second generation plants.

That legendary origin story traced back to a few specific plants, with all later related plants derived from these.  These plants weren’t said to be a gift from a god or angel, and no statues came to life, so it was basic enough stuff.  The Wikipedia version:


According to legend, the mother of a Ming dynasty emperor was cured of an illness by a certain tea, and that emperor sent great red robes to clothe the four bushes from which that tea originated. Six of these original bushes,[not in citation given] growing on a rock on the Wuyi Mountains and reportedly dating back to the Song dynasty, still survive today and are highly venerated.


That leads to considerations about genetic diversity and what plants existed prior to those few that I won't get into here.  A citation from Tea:  A Users Guide, a nice reference book by Tony Gebely, transitions this to the core concern:


Wu Yi Da Hong Pao;  (武夷 大红袍, wŭ yí dà hóng páo);  Wu Yi Big Red Robe
This style of tea is one of the two wulongs (Tie Guan Yin is the other) that make it to the list of top ten famous Chinese teas (see appendix). Big Red Robe is the most famous and widely produced of the Si Da Ming Cong teas. There is no specific Da Hong Pao cultivar; either Qi Dan (奇丹) or Bei Dou (北斗) are used or a blend is made from many different cultivars with the goal of creating a tea that best exemplifies Yan Yun (岩韵) or rock rhyme, the distinctive aftertaste of Wu Yi Yan Chas.


In that earlier post I had interpreted types based on unrelated cultivars as not being “real” Da Hong Pao, but if the actual common practice is that Da Hong Pao is a tea style, often a blend, then there are really two different and conflicting conventions to consider, as he says.  This would explain why a Bangkok Chinatown shop sold me a Bei Dou as Bei Dou (reviewed here), coupled with the claim that it is a version of real Da Hong Pao.


Those two teas, this Qi Dan and that Bei Dou, were very similar, but not much at all like other versions of Da Hong Pao I’ve tried, or this one.  I mean these two teas I just reviewed are similar to the extent Wuyi Yancha in general spans a common range, but quite different within that range.  Processing as an input further complicates things.  Roasted more this Qi Dan might have resembled a typical Da Hong Pao profile more.

Cindy, roasting tea

An interesting Global Tea Hut publication goes into what they identify as characteristic DHP (along with lots more background on types and the local growing area), based on assuming the tea type is from that limited set of genetically similar plants, not a blend:


The tea is full-bodied and has the fragrance of osmanthus flowers.  It is especially famous for the sensations (cha yun) it brings, especially to the upper palate, and a rich, long-lasting aftertaste (hui gan).  True Da Hong Pao is said to taste and smell of the citrus spray that flies off an orange as it is peeled).


So there's all that.  I didn't notice citrus in this Qi Dan or remember doing so in that Bei Dou but some of that general effect may match.

Cindy mentioned a bit about blending, about their approach.  None of that would be considered a standard, but the end aspects range does seem somewhat consistent, based on versions I've tried (aside from lots of quality variation):


About the blended DHP:  all family material included (versions) are different; you can choose any material you want to use.  My family includes some shuixian with very good aroma, that is not deep in the energy, some rougui with strong energy but not good aroma, mixed.  Of course you also need to include some Pinzhong like qilan or huang meigui (high aroma cultivars) to enhance the aroma.  For blending all of the material needs to be roasted to the same level, so their brewed leavs can be same color, it won't work if some is lightly roasted and some highly roasted. 


Her English is actually pretty good; that's not edited for grammar much at all.  Their website does mention that DHP version is a blend, and a little background on that.  That citation makes it sound like wine blending, doesn't it, the role different grape inputs play in the  Bordeaux blend?  The "energy" part is what you'd expect that to refer to, the cha qi / tea effect idea.


A friend once mentioned tea-type blending is only carried out to cover flaws in some or all of the teas used but as with Bordeaux that may not be a completely fair assessment.  Then again, it would have been a shame to mix that Qi Dan with anything else, so to a limited extent there could be something to that.


All this didn't head towards a conclusion, really, but at least the broad picture is a bit clearer.  For those that see Da Hong Pao as a closely related set of tea plant types it's clear enough what that means; the broader definition meaning might be vague.  It could also just be a nicer sounding way to sell Shui Xian, a re-branding.  That's a plant type often used as restaurant tea, generally lower quality examples, which can be made into very nice tea in better versions.

The Real Da Hong Pao

originally published as "http://www.tching.com/2015/12/the-real-da-hong-pao/"

tea shop owner (one of them)

Awhile back I tried a really nice version of a Da Hong Pao, from a Bangkok Chinatown tea shop, Jip Eu.  It came up in discussion that different teas are actually sold as Da Hong Pao, and according to them the one I tried was an authentic version, a Bei Dou cultivar (actually Pei Tou, but based on research the other transliteration seems more conventional).

So what is Da Hong Pao, really?  Of course it's a Wuyi Yancha or “rock oolong” type, the best known one.  These are roasted oolong teas from Fujian province, China, with production centered around Wuyishan.  The flavor profile has earth and mineral elements, with leaves prepared as long and twisted versus the rolled styles.  The most distinctive elements of the best versions are a bit hard to describe.  Some say they relate to an unusual mouth-feel of the tea, others to a taste comparable to citrus, or even alcohol, and the aromatic elements remind me a little of perfume, in a sense I can’t completely describe.

 

the typical look, long, dark, twisted leaves

The part I'll focus on here is the cultivar / tea plant type issue.  This also came up related to a World of Tea cultivar database, with a related cultivars overview page linked from there.  This is a great reference, which will keep getting better with more details filled in.  Da Hong Pao wasn’t listed there.  Per online discussion with Tony Gebely, the World of Tea reference author, there is a possible short answer related to the plant type it's made from, and a likely complication:

Da Hong Pao is made from a cultivar called  Qi Dan 奇丹... [but] many times there are multiple correct answers [to such questions].

Right away this conflicts with the common understanding that Da Hong Pao is both a cultivar (plant-type version) and a prepared tea leaf type, but then the full story being more complicated than the conventional take isn’t that surprising.  The distinction between plant type, cultivar, and hybrid can be a bit unclear in different references, but for this discussion it works to use these as one thing, as possible "basic, starting point" plant types, and also as cross-bred variations of those.

How to resolve this then, since online references are most often vendor materials, short descriptions directly written for advertising products, or as summary reference articles that are not intended as full descriptions?  

I tried asking two people who might know.  One was my friend Cindy Chen, a Wuyishan tea producer, who suggested those two cultivars as both right answers was correct.  The other was the owner of that Bangkok shop, Jip Eu, named Kittichai (a common Thai name, but then it is a Thai-Chinese shop).  He said his family had been selling tea from that shop in Bangkok for 90 years, but that he still travelled back to Wuyishan to help produce teas there with other related family.  And he showed some interesting pictures of there, one of him at a small tea factory that was torn down when Chinese officials turned that tea area into a restricted park decades ago.

So two cultivars stand forward as main ones used to make the tea, but any number of others are sold as such, and it would be hard to say for sure which plant type really should be, or if there is even a grounds for such a "should."

brewed leaves; oxidation and roast affects color, looks about right

Or maybe the real answer could seem different after getting more expert input, as suggested by Tony Gebeley:   

I have 10-15 answers to many of my tea questions.  The correct answers usually fit into context and show themselves.

Tony cited one reference supporting Qi Dan as the single right answer is a Baidu.com article on Qi Dan / Da Hong Pao, essentially the Chinese version of Wikipedia.  Of course this is only one of many sources and authority inputs he had reviewed, and of course anyone that doesn't read Chinese would need to use automatic translation to read that.

Better references dig a little deeper.  A Global Tea Hut tea reference describes Da Hong Pao as a plant type, which it gives a detailed description of, and seems to describe Bei Dou as a first generation derivative plant type, with the name related to plants grown in a very limited area (with most details on page 19 of this reference).

A Tea Spring vendor reference cites some intriguing background that is hard to verify elsewhere, although this same content is referred to in other places:

In the early 1950s, Mr. Yao Yue Ming started a Da Hong Pao research laboratory. Using a few stems from the original 800 years old Da Hong Pao tea bushes, he successfully created two new tea varieties. However, Mr. Yao's laboratory was later closed down and his research was destroyed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Yet, he continued his research in secrecy and through his dedication and determination; he finally perfected his creation. He named this tea, Beidou No. 1.

Another Seven Cups vendor reference offers an interesting suggestion:

When you travel to Wu Yi Mountain, the birthplace of wulong (or oolong) tea, tea enthusiasts always visit Big Red Robe Park. Guides take visitors to the famous five bushes, perched on a cliff face inscribed with the characters for Big Red Robe. These bushes are estimated to be more than 300 years old – much older than is common for a tea bush… Researchers say of these five bushes, there are three distinct varieties. One of them is named Qi Dan.

So maybe one more name and plant type fills in the set?  It’s interesting to hear this complex story unfold.  Stepping back and thinking through plant genetics seems to help place all this.  A vendor reference about a completely different type of oolong from a different region, Dan Cong oolong from the Guangdong Province, provides a broader perspective, relevant even in the limited the context of discussing tea originated from only five plants:

In modern days, tea can be propagated by cutting. With this method, all tea trees carry the same genetic trait. In old days, tea was propagated from seed. Therefore, each tea tree grown from the seed carries unique and identical trait. As a result, each tree shows differences in terms of the leaf size, intensity of bitterness, flavor, taste and even the color of leaf. It is just like us, human. Although our face and character can be very resemble with our parent, we are not identical with our parent.  In a way, different tree carries different identity, especially in flavor and quality.