2022 Big Red Robe
Oolong Tea
Li Xiangxi – Wuyishan
Wuyishan’s Most Famous Oolong
Perfectly-balanced Wuyi oolong, crafted to be an outstanding introduction to everything the region is famous for: deep minerality, cooling aftertaste, and notes of caramel, nutmeg, lilac, and juicy pear.
Spring 2022 ♦ Wuyishan, Fujian
Wuyishan’s Most Famous Oolong
Perfectly-balanced Wuyi oolong, crafted to be an outstanding introduction to everything the region is famous for: deep minerality, cooling aftertaste, and notes of caramel, nutmeg, lilac, and juicy pear.
Spring 2022 ♦ Wuyishan, Fujian
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 2022
- Wuyishan Ecological PreserveWuyishan, Fujian
- ELEVATION600 METERS
- Qi DanTea Varietal
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.
- DATE OF PICKINGSpring 2022
Tasting Profile
- savory - toasted almond, caramel
- spice - nutmeg, eucalyptus
- floral - lilac
- fruit - tangerine, juicy pear
- texture - sweet minerality, cooling aftertaste
the Li Family also recommends:
- 2022 Rou Gui Wuyi OolongThe Li Family is becoming famous in Wuyishan for their Rou Gui. The combination of a biodiverse plot, full of wildflowers and natural forest cover, the volcanic rocky soil, mature root stock plants, and multiple twelve hour hand-firing processes spread over several months make their Rou Gui a true standout. Classically, Rou Gui is known for its cinnamon spice, but in the Li Family’s capable hands, the cinnamon spice is bolstered by tingling cooling undertones and deep minerality. This Rou Gui is Li Xiangxi’s focus in all her taste training courses at her family’s Yangxian Academy, served to students and visiting dignitaries as a classic representation of what the varietal is capable of.
- 2022 Special Grade Shui Jin GuiTo produce a Special Grade offering requires perfect weather, perfectly situated old-growth tea stock, shaded by mist through the spring, expert hand-picking and critically, an exhaustive production process of small batch hand yaoqing and five to six rounds of hand-firing. The Li Family is only able to produce a few kilos of this special tea every year. Li Xiangxi sets aside a small allotment for us because she loves Shui Jin Gui varieties so much that she wants to share what she thinks is one of the truest expressions of Wuyishan with interested tea lovers outside of China. Tasting notes can’t capture the critical tingling cooling sparkling sensation that is yun and the way that it lingers in the back of the throat, building with each sip and letting each steeping build on the potency of the one before.
- 2022 Gold Medal Rou GuiRou Gui is quickly becoming one of the most popular Wuyi Oolongs across China for its intense concentrated aroma, and the textural cooling tingling sensation called yun that it shows off at the highest levels. Li Xiangxi and her family’s Rou Gui has been winning gold and silver medals at competition for years due to their incredible skill at coaxing the best aroma from each leaf through slow subtle roasting. This year, they set aside enough of their award-winning harvest for us to share.
Steeping Instructions
Western
5 g.6-8
oz.use 208° watersteep 20 secondsresteep many times
add 10 sec. each infusionGongfu
7 g.6 ozuse 208° watersteep 5 seconds
add 3 sec. per steepingenjoy many steepingsIced/Cold
4 g.12
oz.use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
8 hoursadd ice & enjoy
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