Journey to the legendary 400 year old Big Red Robe trees.

The scenery is breath-taking with mountain gorges, red mountains rising steeply into the sky and incredibly varied and lush plant life.

In May I went on a tea pilgrimage to see the first Big Red Robe tea trees which are now more than 400 years old. Big Red Robe is a unique cultivar of tea tree. Its leaves are almost always used to produce a moderate to high fired oolong tea. Its rich, complex and deliciously warming, nourishing flavour is extremely well liked in China.

The original Big Red Robe trees found their name after a Ming dynasty mandarin attributed his survival of a serious illness to their curative powers. He was travelling to Beijing via the Wuyi Mountains and fell ill. He rested in a small hut and was tended to by a Buddhist monk living in another hut a few feet away. The monk picked leaves from three tea trees growing above them on a cliff. He made tea from the leaves and the mandarin drank the restorative liquor daily and made what was considered to be a miraculous recovery. The Mandarin then returned to Beijing and related his experience to the Emperor.

The Emperor deeply loved and respected the Mandarin, and sent his imperial scarlet robe to be draped over the bushes. These same three trees still survive today. Leaves are picked from them every year and made into tea - perhaps only a few kilos depending on the weather conditions. Many consider these trees to be too old to produce good quality oolong tea but it is still amazing to visit these trees as a living part of history. The setting is stunning and countless Chinese tourists visit the trees and the local area every day.

In order to purcahse this year's stock of Big Red Robe, I paid a visit on Mr Song, an outstanding Wuyi Oolong tea producer, who processes all his oolong teas in the traditional way. The tea is picked from Big Red Robe tea trees located in the exceptional terrior of the Wuyi Mountains. After picking the leaves are allowed to wither before being turned in a bamboo drum. This bruises the leaves and encourages oxidation. After rolling, the tea is allowed to oxidise a little more before being fired. Finally, it is dried over warm, soothing charcoal fires. Perhaps most importantly, Mr Chen uses outstanding raw tea leaves and finishes the tea with gentle charcoal firing - these days charcoal is often substituted for the more simple-to-manage electric heat, which does not give the tea the well rounded and soothing flavour that chacoal fires impart.

Mr Song's Big Red Robe is one of the very best I have tasted and we list it in our new Finest and Rarest selection as 'Big Red Robe Supreme'. Anyone who tries it will be tasting a definitive and exceptional example of Big Red Robe and indeed Wuyi Oolong tea. Mr Song usually does not sell this tea - he produced only 15kg of this quality this year and usually keeps it for his own consumption and for offering to guests when they visit his home and tea factory. He kindly agreed though to sell me 5kg.

Mr Song also produces many of the other oolong teas in our Finest and Rarest section - we will be talking about each of these in future blogs.