Tie Luo Han 鐵羅漢

Stout, woodsy and reserved, with a weighty, molten mouthfeel and a fine metallic texture. Tie Luo Han’s strength is grounded rather than perfumed, and its substantial finish lingers low and long.

Yan Cha tea is made with only the leaves, making it one of the latest teas to be harvested each year, with Ban Yan picking time around early to mid-April and Zheng Yan early May. After the teas are sufficiently wilted, they remain on bamboo trays for a few hours before being shaken or tumbled to manage enzyme activity. This step regulates how the water inside the leaves travels outward. The process is repeated every hour, 5-8 times throughout the evening and night until morning. Once the leaves reach the desired fermentation stage in the early morning, they undergo Sha Qing, applying high temperature to lock the tea at that stage. During Zuo Xing, or shape making, the leaves are rolled into string shape. The most tedious step in all Chinese tea making is the stem-picking step, which in Yan Cha’s case takes place for several months following the rough tea making. It is a step where undesired yellow leaves (old leaves) and stems are picked out by hand. The “cleaned” tea is then roasted on very dim charcoal ash for 8–12 hours, 1-3 times depending on the varietal, to make it a finished Yan Cha.

Tie Luo Han, “Iron Arhat,” is a historic Wu Yi Yan Cha Ming Cong and one of the cultivars that repeatedly appears in traditional short lists of the classic Famous Groves. Its restrained aroma, woodsy strength and weighty downward profile make it a benchmark for the more austere, structural side of rock tea.