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Gold Medal Wuyi Rougui

from $18.00

A gorge-grown Zhengyan rock oolong from a new grower in the Wuyi Mountains — charcoal roasted by hand, gold medal winner in 2025.

O R I G I N — Wuyi Mountains, Fujian · Zhengyan core zone

T Y P E — Oolong · Wuyi rock tea · Rougui cultivar

H A R V E S T — Spring 2025

C A F F E I N E — Medium high

Wuyi tea is graded by where it grows. Zhengyan, the core cliffs inside the scenic reserve, is the top tier, and inside Zhengyan the most prized plots are the gorges — narrow cuts between rock walls where the tea sees little direct sun, the air stays damp, and weathered rock washes into the soil. This lot grows in one of those gorges; it is our first season with Chenqinyuan (宸沁苑), the family company that makes it.

The first cups lead with the roast — toffee and toasted bread — then the cinnamon comes through, and by the third or fourth steep the fruit shows: ripe peach, a little dried apricot. The body is full and slightly thick, with a gentle dryness on the roof of the mouth that turns sweet a few seconds later. The finish is where the gorge shows: a cool, mineral aftertaste that stays long after the cup is empty.

A R O M A — Cinnamon bark and toasted bread, with peach underneath

T A S T E — Full and smooth, cinnamon and ripe peach over toffee, a mineral finish that lasts for minutes

WHAT YOU GET — One brew is 0.2 oz (6 g) of tea in a 4 oz (115 ml) gaiwan, about 1 part tea to 19 parts water. Re-steep the same leaves eight to ten times: about 40 oz of tea from one brew.

2 brews · 0.4 oz (12 g) · about 80 oz of tea

4 brews · 0.85 oz (24 g) · about 160 oz of tea

6 brews · 1.3 oz (36 g) · about 240 oz of tea

Size:

A gorge-grown Zhengyan rock oolong from a new grower in the Wuyi Mountains — charcoal roasted by hand, gold medal winner in 2025.

O R I G I N — Wuyi Mountains, Fujian · Zhengyan core zone

T Y P E — Oolong · Wuyi rock tea · Rougui cultivar

H A R V E S T — Spring 2025

C A F F E I N E — Medium high

Wuyi tea is graded by where it grows. Zhengyan, the core cliffs inside the scenic reserve, is the top tier, and inside Zhengyan the most prized plots are the gorges — narrow cuts between rock walls where the tea sees little direct sun, the air stays damp, and weathered rock washes into the soil. This lot grows in one of those gorges; it is our first season with Chenqinyuan (宸沁苑), the family company that makes it.

The first cups lead with the roast — toffee and toasted bread — then the cinnamon comes through, and by the third or fourth steep the fruit shows: ripe peach, a little dried apricot. The body is full and slightly thick, with a gentle dryness on the roof of the mouth that turns sweet a few seconds later. The finish is where the gorge shows: a cool, mineral aftertaste that stays long after the cup is empty.

A R O M A — Cinnamon bark and toasted bread, with peach underneath

T A S T E — Full and smooth, cinnamon and ripe peach over toffee, a mineral finish that lasts for minutes

WHAT YOU GET — One brew is 0.2 oz (6 g) of tea in a 4 oz (115 ml) gaiwan, about 1 part tea to 19 parts water. Re-steep the same leaves eight to ten times: about 40 oz of tea from one brew.

2 brews · 0.4 oz (12 g) · about 80 oz of tea

4 brews · 0.85 oz (24 g) · about 160 oz of tea

6 brews · 1.3 oz (36 g) · about 240 oz of tea

How to brew

The award

GOLD MEDAL · ROCK TEA · AUGUST 2025

In August 2025 this tea won the gold medal for rock tea (岩茶金奖, 2025 Rougui) at the Cha Lu Chuan Cheng Tea Competition (茶录传承茶王大赛), organized by the Industrial Culture Development Center of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, with the county governments of Anxi and Xianyou.

Certificate no. CLCC20252787. The trophy is on the counter at the tea house — ask to see it.

How it's made, and keeping it

Hand-made · charcoal roasted · keeps a year or more

Picked in spring 2025, withered, shaken and oxidized by hand, then roasted over charcoal at low heat in several passes with rests in between. Slow roasting is what turns a good Rougui into a tea that keeps: the fire settles the aromatics into the leaf instead of leaving them on top.

Keep the tin sealed, away from light, heat and anything that smells. Charcoal-roasted rock tea does not fade for a year or more; most people find it rounder and sweeter after a few months.

Where it grows

Zhengyan · gorge-grown · first season with this grower

The Wuyi reserve covers about 27 square miles of red sandstone cliffs in northern Fujian. Tea from inside it is called Zhengyan; from the surrounding hills, Banyan; from the flat riverbank gardens, Zhoucha. The differences show in the cup: Zhengyan tea is heavier, more mineral, and holds over more steeps.

Inside Zhengyan, the gorges between the cliffs are the most sought-after plots. Short sun, high humidity, rock-fed soil. Tea grows slowly there, and slowly grown leaf carries more.

This lot grows in one of those gorges. We have not visited the plot ourselves yet — this is our first season with this grower, and we are listing it because the tea earned it.

Climb this mountain in Mountain Lord →