Tie Luo Han

Luohan is the Chinese word for arhat, a Buddhist monk who has reached the end of the path. Tie Luo Han is the iron one. It's the oldest named of the four famous bushes, older than Da Hong Pao by most accounts, and for a long stretch of its history people in Wuyi drank it when they were unwell rather than when they wanted something pleasant. That reputation is still in the tea. It has a herbal edge that the other three don't.

Tightly rolled leaf, greenish brown with a low shine. The liquor comes out golden orange and heavier than you expect from the colour. Orchid on top, something green and cool underneath it closer to bamboo, and then the body arrives: thick, round, sweet, and slow to leave. The rock rhyme here is the loud kind.