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2024 Full Roast Big Red Robe

2024 Full Roast Big Red Robe

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Wuyi's Most Famous Tea
with a deep finish
The Li Family treats their reserve-level Big Red Robe to dozens of hours of meticulous hand-firing for a rich, intense complexity. Notes of mulling spice, whipped cream, plum, and vanilla.
Spring 2024 ♦ Wuyishan, Fujian
Wuyi's Most Famous Tea
with a deep finish
The Li Family treats their reserve-level Big Red Robe to dozens of hours of meticulous hand-firing for a rich, intense complexity. Notes of mulling spice, whipped cream, plum, and vanilla.
Spring 2024 ♦ Wuyishan, Fujian
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Crafted By the Li Family

Hand-picked and traditionally hand-finished within the true Wuyishan Ecological Preserve on forested biodiverse, rocky, mountainous land for distinct Wuyi minerality.
 
The Li Family is an award-winning, highly respected force for sustainability, hand-firing craft, rare varietal preservation, and tea education in Wuyishan.
    • DATE OF PICKINGSpring 2024
    • Wuyishan Ecological PreserveWuyishan, Fujian
    • ELEVATION600 METERS
    • Qi DanTea Varietal

    This Qidan varietal was picked by the Li Family on their hillside plot within the Wuyishan Ecological Preserve. After a 24 hour withering and oxidizing process, this tea was hand-fired over another 16 hours and allowed to rest a full month before release. The result is an incredibly sweet and dessert-like tea with buttery, sticky pudding qualities brought out by the caramelization of sugars. The sweetness reveals cinnamon spice and warm dark fruit. 

  • true
    85
    cinnamon, mulling spice
    true
    85
    pannetone, whipped cream
    true
    80
    vanilla
    true
    85
    plum
    true
    cooling, mineral-laden

    Tasting Profile

    • spice - cinnamon, mulling spice
    • savory - pannetone, whipped cream
    • floral - vanilla
    • fruit - plum
    • texture - cooling, mineral-laden

the Li Family also recommends:

  1. 2024 Big Red Robe
    2024 Big Red Robe
    Li Xiangxi's family grows this tea within the Wuyishan Ecological Preserve, hand picking every leaf and delicately roasting this tea in bamboo baskets over charcoal embers to bring out the natural minerality of the region. Li Xiangxi's eldest brother oversees the family's oolong teas, and believes strongly in standing against the modern trend to over-roast and cover the natural flavor of the tea. This makes the family's Big Red Robe unique among its peers. While Big Red Robe is named after five original bushes that still stand today in Wuyishan, modern Big Red Robe is made from Qidan varietal, which is known for its tremendous balance, and deep warmth. It is truly the archetypal tea of the region, and the place to start your exploration of Wuyi Oolongs as a grounding point of reference. The LI Family’s Big Red Robe consistently wins gold medals at Wuyi tea competitions.
  2. 2023 Dark Roast Shui Xian
    2023 Dark Roast Shui Xian

    Shui Xian is named after the Narcissus flower (or Daffodil), and the dark roast on this Shui Xian brings out beautiful florals in contrast with dark forest and wood notes. Mr. Li hand-fired this batch of Shui Xian to give its cooling texture even more sparkling, tingling intensity. Shui Xian varietal is known for its foresty woody flavors and deep lingering texture. The Li Family’s biodiverse forested tea gardens within the Wuyi Ecological Preserve help play up the varietals natural complexity.
  3. 2023 Dark Roast Ban Tian Yao
    2023 Dark Roast Ban Tian Yao
    After a 24 hour withering and oxidizing process, this tea was hand-fired over another 16 hours, rested, and re-fired five times, then allowed to rest a full month before release. Why does Mr. Li choose to invest so much hand labor into this tea? The weather for this Ban Tian Yao harvest came together so perfectly with the inherent fruity flavors of the varietal that he was confident that he could coax out deep spiced complexity to complement the fruity notes for a true reserve offering. The result is spectacular; not only is this the most nuanced harvest we have tasted, but the fig cake richness is actually tempered by a piney cooling yun sensation, rounding this out as a powerful and commanding tea.

  • 'The emperor sent the symbolic red robes of nobility to the farmer who saved his wife, granting him land and status. In gratitude, the farmer named the tea Big Red Robe, and continued to climb the cliff each year to pick tea for the empress to remind her of their shared home in the Wuyi Mountains.'

  • 5
    6-8
    208
    20 seconds
    10
    7
    6
    208
    5 seconds
    3
    4
    12
    room temp
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    5 g.6-8
    oz.    use 208° watersteep 20 secondsresteep many times
    add 10 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    7 g.6 ozuse 208° watersteep 5 seconds
    add 3 sec. per steeping    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

    4 g.12
    oz.    use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
    8 hours    add ice & enjoy

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