Tie Luo Han

tiě luóhàn

铁罗汉

"Iron arhat" — often called the oldest named of the Wuyi rock teas, and one of the Four Great Bushes. A powerful, heavily roasted oolong with herb, dark fruit and a deep mineral backbone.

Region: Wuyi mountains, Fujian — 600–1000 m
Harvest: Late spring; roasted over the following months
Oxidation: Medium-high, heavily charcoal-roasted
Cultivar: Tie Luo Han (one of the Four Great Bushes)

In the cup

Roasted and herbal — dark dried fruit, toasted grain and a medicinal-herb depth over a strong wet-stone minerality.

What it gives

Warming and robust — a deep roast gives a soothing, grounding cup, traditionally drunk as a strong, restorative tea.

Tie Luo Han — iron arhat — is one of the Four Great Bushes of Wuyi and, by many accounts, the oldest named of all the rock teas, with a lineage that reaches back centuries in the cliffs of the Wuyi mountains. The name evokes a guardian Buddhist saint, and the tea has a reputation to match: strong, deep and restorative.

It is made in the full rock-tea manner — well oxidised and heavily charcoal-roasted — and tends toward a darker, more herbal and medicinal register than its sweeter siblings. Roasted grain, dark dried fruit and a herb-root depth sit over the Wuyi rock rhyme, yányùn.

In the cup

Rinse, then brew hot and short, gongfu style. The cup is powerful and roast-forward, opening into dark fruit and that distinctive herbal depth over a strong mineral backbone. It is forgiving of a long brew and gives many steeps; a seasoned clay pot smooths its considerable strength.

How to brew