Dahongpao is produced on the high cliff of Tianxinyan Jiulong. The rock walls on both sides stand upright, the sunshine time is not long, and the temperature changes little. Even better, there are sweet springs dripping from the rock valley all year round, nourishing the tea fields and making Dahongpao extraordinary and unique.
About the origin of "Dahongpao", one is that when tea buds germinate in early spring, the whole tree looks as red as fire from a distance, as if wearing a red robe, hence the name "Dahongpao".
Another way of saying it is legend. According to legend, the monk of Tianxin Temple cured a juren who was in Beijing to take the exam with divine tea. After Juren was admitted to the top scholar, in order to thank Shencha for saving his life, he returned to Wuyishan to take off his red robe and put it on the sacred tree, hence the name "Dahongpao".
In modern times, there are many legends about Dahongpao. When Nixon visited China, Mao Zedong gave him four Liang Dahongpao. Privately, Nixon accused Mao Zedong of being stingy. Zhou Enlai smiled and said to Nixon, "The chairman has given away half the country." Nixon was awed by this allusion.
Dahongpao is so precious because its output is very small. From generation to generation, it has been handed down to this day. Now there are six tea trees, with an annual output of seven or eight taels of tea. Give half a catty to the central government and the remaining two or three ounces to the province. One said it was dedicated to the Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People, and the other said it was dedicated to receiving foreign presidents.
Making Dahongpao, from nursing to tea picking, tea making and tea delivery, has a set of strict responsibility mechanism, strict workflow and strict time limit. Armed police should participate in the supervision and guarantee of the whole process of collection, production and delivery of Dahongpao. Dahongpao, the guardian, keeps watch all the year round and is responsible for keeping tea, offering tea and picking tea. Tea picking must be carried out by the provincial and municipal governments, tea research institutes, tea guards and other responsible persons, with certain ceremonies, inspections and signatures. At that time, the armed police will guard the canyon and put the ladder; Under the escort and supervision of the armed police, the tea guards climbed the ladder to pick tea in full view of the provinces, cities and tea research institutes. After the tea was collected, it was handed over to the armed police and got off the ladder empty-handed. The ladder was taken away by the armed police. A bunch of people left the canyon and ran to the tea factory. Under the supervision of several parties, people from the Tea Research Institute stir-fry tea and make tea, and immediately hand it over to people from provinces and cities for inspection and subcontracting; Geng, a person from the province, boarded a special plane accompanied by the armed police and sent them to Beijing.
At the 2002 Guangzhou Tea Expo, 20 grams of "Dahongpao" auctioned by the Wuyishan Municipal Government of Fujian was bought by Nanhai Fishing Village, a famous restaurant in Guangzhou, at a price of 1.8 million yuan. The buyer said that they would treasure 20 grams of tea in the restaurant as the treasure of the town store.
The most familiar is Dahongpao. There are only six real first-generation tea trees in existence, which are protected by the state at the first level. Tea production is less than one kilogram per year, and it is only used for research. It is impossible to flow out of the market. Dahongpao bought in the market has been grafted for more than ten generations, and the price is not cheap. And there is a lot of confusion in the market. Any rock tea can also be called Dahongpao, which is hard to distinguish between true and false. The second generation grafted Dahongpao, the market price is about 500 yuan 1000100g. As for the taste, there are different likes and dislikes! Wuyi rock tea has a unique process, especially the production process of Dahongpao is complicated and takes a long time. The traditional technology has more than ten processes, such as pouring (also called drying), drying, shaking, shaking, touching, frying, kneading, primary drying, winnowing, picking, reheating, screening, stacking and blending. The key to making tea is to be able to "look green" and "look green at the sky", which is difficult for computers to do. Therefore, its craft has been included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list and is being declared as the world intangible cultural heritage.
With the development of industrialization and intensification, most Wuyishan tea factories have switched to machine-made tea, but its mechanism and principle still conform to the traditional technology.
Drinking Wuyi Rock Tea Dahongpao is more about kung fu. Dahongpao is a typical and traditional treasure of Wuyi oolong tea, and its brewing method is Kung Fu tea art, which has rich cultural connotation and ornamental artistic value. In this regard, Wuyi tea art has been excavated and sorted out. When tasting tea, Dahongpao, like other Wuyi rock teas, "focuses on draught", "takes flavor" and "pays attention to rock rhyme", so it is necessary to be careful, calm and focused. All these have further improved the quality of Dahongpao and enriched its cultural connotation. Dahongpao, which is common in the market, is a kind of grafted tea. Known as the second generation of Dahongpao, also known as the little red robe, it is divided into several grades. Don't worry about fake, tea is only graded, there is no difference between true and false.
Wuyi rock tea has a meaningful fragrance. For example, the fragrance of orchids is deep and lasting, the tea soup is amber, bright and transparent, the tea tastes mellow, the saliva is sweet, and the drink is strong but not bitter, which is beneficial to the fragrance. The famous rock tea has the so-called four famous gardens:
First, Dahongpao;
Second, the iron arhat;
Third, white cockscomb;
Fourth, the water turtle. Dahongpao: Literally, it is a Dahongpao, which is generally used as a metaphor and pronoun for red plants. The most famous is Wuyi Dahongpao, which is produced in Wuyi Rock Tea in Fujian, and its quality is excellent. In addition, there is a leguminous plant "Gleditsia sinensis" with the same name as Dahongpao; The main citrus varieties planted in Yuhang, Zhejiang Province: the traditional repertoire of Peking Opera; Trademarks with the same name, such as the famous pepper in dongxiang county, Gansu; Virtual characters in puppet shows.
On the origin of the name of Dahongpao. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a juren who went to Beijing to take the exam. When he passed Wuyishan, he suddenly fell ill and had unbearable abdominal pain. He met a monk by chance and gave him Dahongpao tea to drink, and he recovered. After winning the first prize, he came to thank the monk and took Dahongpao back to Beijing with a tin can. After the champion returned to Korea, it happened that the queen was ill and all the doctors failed, so he took out the pot of tea and presented it. The queen was healthy after drinking, and the emperor was overjoyed. He gave the champion a red robe and told him to go to Kowloon and put it on a tea tree to show his kindness. At the same time, he sent someone to take care of it, and all the tea leaves were stored and not allowed to hide. Since then, Wuyi Rock Tea Dahongpao has become the exclusive tribute tea of the royal family.
Legend has it that every year, officials sent by the imperial court put on Dahongpao, took off their robes and hung them on tribute tea trees, so they were called Dahongpao. A more widespread saying is that when picking tea, you should burn incense to worship heaven, and then let the monkeys put on red vests and climb to the cliff above the tea trees to pick tea. Therefore, in Cantonese, this kind of monkey tea picking is called horse tea picking (Cantonese calls monkeys horse tea picking). It is precisely because of scarcity and difficulty in picking that this kind of tea is a precious treasure in the market.