Mount Wuyi
My first destination after Hangzhou and West Lake was Wuyi-shan, or: Wuyi Mountains, another area listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for cultural, scenic, and biodiversity values. I blasted towards Wuyishan Shi (city) on a fast G-train via Fuzhou (福州市) in Fujian Province. Wuyishan Shi proved to be another city with electric scooters, electric buses and separated bicycle lanes. A pleasant and clean city.
I am fascinated by city planning and traffic. Possibly because Amsterdam is such a bicycle friendly city and a worldwide example. Still, Amsterdam never went as far as to abolish all motorised scooters in favour for electric scooters.
I booked a room at the Wuyishan Zaijia Guesthouse near the city centre. In the lobby of the hotel was a tea table. I was invited for tea tasting, and I was not alone, there was also a group of Russian travellers interested in, and knowledgable about, Chinese tea. The owner, her English name is Joy, turned out to be from a tea producers family. Chinese who interact with foreigners usually adopt an English name to make communication easier, hence the name Joy.
I spent close to three hours slurping tea. I asked Joy to reserve some hand rolled Wuyi oolong for me to buy. On the last day of my stay Joy packed my tea, 50 grams of each. These teas are expensive at roughly € 1000 per kilo. One is marked Keng Jian Rou Gui from 2018, Rou Gui 肉桂 (cassia/cinnamon) is a cultivar, Keng Jian is possibly a geographical area. The other tea I bought is Lao Cong Shui Xian (老欉水仙茶) from 2018: a Shui Xian cultivar made from old bushes that may be as old as 200 years. The taste and appearance will signify it as an even darker Oolong. The Lao Cong Shui Xian was significantly more expensive at ￥3500 per 500 gram.
I also tasted a Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, also called Lapsang souchong, which is a smoked black tea from Wuyishan. Smoking the leaves over pine wood greatly enhances the flavour. The tea smelled exactly like a complex Scottish peat whiskey, which makes sense since the damp malt, the barley grain, is smoked as well. It was hard to believe tea could smell so intens. She only had a small batch for private use and didn’t want to sell this tea. It probably would have been too expensive anyway.
Three kinds of Wuyi oolong tea, two hand rolled (left) and one machine rolled.
National Park Mount Wuyi
On the second day I hiked in the National Park Mount Wuyi. I entered through the East Gate where you have to buy an entrance ticket and an additional ticket to take the shuttle buses in the park. Despite the light rain I choose to walk. First stop was the Water Curtain Cave (水帘洞), which is more a waterfall than a cave. The cave played an important part in the development of neo-Confucianism.
The Hall of Three Sages. One of the sages is Zhu Xi, famous for his - at that time unorthodox- commentaries on the Four Books.
Da Hong Pao
From the Water Curtain Cave I took the hiking path to Da Hong Pao (大红袍, literally "Big Red Robe") valley. In this valley, surrounded by steep rocks, you can find some of the most expensive tea bushes of China. There is no specific Da Hong Pao cultivar, the name “Big Red Robe” refers to the legend in which the mother of a Ming dynasty emperor was cured of an illness by the tea of these bushes.
On a secret mission in 1849 British botanist Robert Fortune acquired seeds from the Da Hong Pao bushes. Britain at the time had a great trade deficit with China, and a thirst for tea. When the emperor banned opium, the trade deficit became even bigger. After the first Opium War Fortune was sent on his espionage mission, which was not entirely successful. Most seedlings perished but he brought over technology and knowledge, which helped the Indian tea industry.
The original 300 year old tea bushes are still growing on Tianxin Yongle temple land, most agree there are just 6 bushes. These bushes have not been harvested after 2005. In 2002, a wealthy purchaser paid ￥180,000 for just 20 gram of Da Hong Pao tea from those ancient bushes. The original bushes are said to be of Qi Dan (奇丹) cultivar and this cultivar has since been propagated. However there are few Qi Dan tea bushes so true Da Hong Pao is hard to find. Blends of different cultivars are usually used to make Da Hong Pao.
The tea harvest from the valley is transported by foot.
You will find many shrines in Wuyishan tucked away in cave-like small buildings.