Lao Cha Wang

lǎo chá wáng

老茶王

“Old tea king” — not a variety but a grade, an aged oolong whose age is measured in years and decades. Repeated roasting and long storage give a thick, oily body and a deep cup of dried fruit, caramel and spice.

Region: Taiwan (Nantou, Lugu, Alishan) and Fujian (Anxi, Wuyi)
Harvest: Re-roasted and stored over years and decades
Oxidation: Semi-oxidised, repeatedly roasted, long-aged
Cultivar: Various aged Taiwanese and Fujian oolongs

In the cup

Dried fruit, caramel and chocolate over old wood and spice — a noble bitterness yielding to a long sweetness, the astringency dissolved away over the years.

What it gives

Warming and digestive — long taken in Southeast Asia after rich meals; deeply settling and good for a slow, meditative session.

Lao Cha Wang — old tea king — is a title rather than a single tea: a grade of elite aged oolongs from Taiwan and Fujian whose age is reckoned in years and decades. The tradition of aging oolong is strong in both places, and the Taiwanese lao cha school especially so — there are family collections kept for three and four generations.

The making is patience. A good oolong is re-roasted lightly every year or two and stored dry; over time the fire and the leaf marry, the astringency of youth dissolves, and the cup turns deep and round. What emerges is dried fruit, caramel, chocolate, old wood and spice over a thick, oily body — a tea often called mature, wise, deep.

In the cup

Brew it gongfu in a seasoned clay pot, near boiling and short, for many steeps; or, in the oldest manner, simmer it gently the way Lu Yu described in the Classic of Tea. After a rich meal it is, across much of Southeast Asia, the natural close.

How to brew