Three
big Chinese characters Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) proclaim
themselves boldly from a rock on a steep and rugged crag near
Tianxin Cliff in the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian province. On a patch
of flat land before the rock grow a few clumps of three-foot-high
tea bushes with leaves a bit thicker than usual and slightly pinkish
buds.
Here the sun shines only in the morning. In the afternoon the shadow
of the rock keeps the hot sun off the bushes, so the buds remain
tender. The water from a small, slow stream of a nearby spring seeps
through the sandy soil to make this an ideal place for growing fine
tea. Legend says this is the location of the bushes whose leaves
became famous for their healing properties.
At some distant time, possibly the Ming dynasty, for this tea has
been known since then, the magistrate of Chong'an county had a
chronic illness, unidentified in the story about him. But after a
period of drinking tea from these bushes, reputed for their
medicinal qualities, he recovered. So grateful was he that he came
to burn incense at the spot. Then as a token of respect, he hung his
red magisterial robe on one of the bushes - and ever after that the
tea bore this name.
There are other versions of the name's origin.
One is that a Ming dynasty official supervising picking in the area
took off his robe and hung it up when he climbed a tree. If so, he
must have been an unusual official. The second, equally unlikely, is
that the monks of Tianxin Temple, who maintained the (then taller)
tea trees, trained monkeys to pick the high leaves, and because they
were doing it for the emperor, dressed them in red.
Whatever the
origin of the name, the belief in Dahongpao as an aid to health and
longevity remained constant. In old China, high officials and
wealthy people would rush for the tea as soon as it came in season,
and bid the price up, because it was in short supply and quickly
sold out. Now more is produced, from other bushes of the same type.
