Wuyi Rock Tea (Da Hong Pao) Making Technique

Mount Wuyi is the birthplace of both black and oolong tea, and the Wuyi rock tea (Da Hong Pao) craft took shape in the late Ming and matured in the early Qing, rooted in the mountain's Danxia landform and cliff-side gardens. It entered the first national ICH list in May 2006 (item Ⅷ-63) and, as part of "Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China," was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022.

The traditional process runs through more than a dozen steps—withering, zuoqing (leaf-rolling oxidation), kill-green, rolling and baking—each link inseparable from the next; zuoqing and the double stir-fry-and-roll are decisive for the "rock-bone and floral fragrance," governed wholly by the master's eye for sky and leaf and the wisdom of his hands.

The craft is the living source of Chinese oolong technique, carrying a thousand years of Wuyishan tea culture and its Zen-inflected spirit; its 2022 inscription on the UNESCO list makes it one of the chief emblems through which China tells the story of tea to the world.

The technique and its tasting can be experienced at the Wuyi Tea Expo Garden and the rock-tea houses around Sangu Resort.