Charcoal roasted for 15 hours at 3 separate times, the Yue family's Tie Luo Han is a more robust, classic medium roast style rock oolong with rich minerality and deep floral aromas.  While the tea leaves were plucked in mid-May, the roasting isn't complete until August.  Additional resting time of several months allows the roast to settle and become integrate into the profile.

Iron Arhat or 铁罗汉 Tie Luo Han originated in the mid-late 1700s, thus considered the oldest of the 4 great bushes of Wuyi, the 四大名丛 si da ming cong.  Taste this one and the other teas of the si da ming cong in the THEA BOHEA collection.

chaozhou style with a gushu studios pot, why not?

The Maillard Reaction

This robust medium roast varietal is an ideal example of a tea that has been transformed by the Maillard reaction.  We experience the Maillard reaction as a kind of caramelization; the transformation of flavor through the exposure of heat.  Amino acids, sugars, and proteins are transformed in this process also known as non-enzymatic browning (enzymatic browning is another name for oxidation, 发酵 fā jiào).

Teas that start out having brighter, vegetal and floral tones take on nuttier, meatier, more sweeter tastes and darker tones that meld together once the leaves have been properly exposed to heat and transformed by the Maillard reaction.  Many of our favorite foods and beverages (coffee, ghee, breads, chocolate, and much more) are enjoyed only after they've been transformed by the Maillard reaction.  It can be useful to think of these roasted rock oolongs as iterations in this culinary tradition, just hailing from the specific cultural context of northern Fujian, with the utility of refined charcoal roasting as its medium.

The Yue Family

The Yue family produces well-crafted outside-the-park rock oolong west of Wuyi city, near Shankou, on the way to Wusandi. From what I've gathered, it seems like a lot of their buyers are retailers that try to pass the teas off with a more prestigious name.  I met Yue Jun and her daughter on a train back in 2019, and she became my very first Wuyi contact.

When asked about the specifics of their location and its terroir, they respond:

We are located at an altitude of 457 meters in 山口自然村 Shānkǒu Natural Village, with Wu San Di to the west, located on the windward slope of the Wuyi Mountains, with sufficient precipitation, coupled with dense vegetation, sufficient evaporation, and high humidity. Heavy, readily forming clouds with mist create a warm and humid semi-shady environment with more scattered light suitable for the growth of tea trees. In addition, the soil in the mountain pass is weathered gravel suitable for the growth of tea trees. The soil has good permeability and high mineral content, which makes the growth of tea trees reach an ideal level.

In an industry fraught with newcomers claiming mastery of marketable + popular styles after just a handful of years, the Yue family has been honing their yancha craft for 3 generations. Jun’s grandmother was the first to begin growing and processing tea in the township of  Yangzhuang. It was her who planted their original Qidan Da Hong Pao bushes, their Old Bush Shui Xian, as well as others.