Wuyi Mountain features a typical Danxia landform. With clear waters and red cliffs, numerous strange peaks stand tall. The climate here is warm and humid. In most tea-growing areas, the soil consists of volcanic gravel, red sandstone and shale. The humus layer on the surface of the soil is relatively thick, rich in organic matter and fertile, providing a unique environment for the growth of tea trees. It is precisely this unique landscape that gives birth to the rock bone and floral fragrance of Wuyi Rock Tea.
Currently, the tea market is blooming with a rich variety. Wuyi Rock Tea, with different famous cultivars and different firing levels, can offer various styles to meet different tastes, just like the saying "One man's meat is another man's poison". However, looking at the market, about 99% of Wuyi Rock Tea is in the form of loose tea packed in bags, and only 1% is compressed tea which is little known. Today, Tongxin She Teahouse sincerely recommends a unique Niulan Keng Rougui tea brick for you. This tea brick is made by carefully pressing the coarse yellowish tea leaves and the tea powder sifted out during the charcoal baking process of Niulan Keng Rougui tea.
The compression process makes the tea leaves more compact and firm, and the fragrance becomes richer and more lasting. The whole tea brick weighs 10 grams. After rinsing the tea, you can either let it steep for a while or break it directly for brewing, and it will be easier to bring out the mellow flavor. By the sixth or seventh infusion, the taste of the tea soup becomes stable, showing an orange-yellow and clear color. At this time, you can also boil it for drinking. The tea soup will turn orange-red and bright, with a mellow, smooth taste and a prominent rock charm, leaving a lingering aftertaste that makes people want to drink more.
Tracing back the history of Wuyi Rock Tea in compressed form, its predecessor was the "Dragon-Phoenix Cake" in the Song Dynasty. As early as the Song Dynasty, Wuyi Mountain tea had already become an important part and a representative of the tribute tea. Su Shi's famous poem, which is widely recited in the circle of Wuyi Rock Tea, goes like this: "Don't you see the tiny buds by the Wuyi River? Ding and Cai successively caged them up. They vied to buy new ones to win favor, each showing their own ideas. This year, the finest teas are selected as official tributes..." The "Ding" and "Cai" mentioned in the poem were Ding Wei and Cai Xiang who served as the转运使 (transport commissioners) of Fujian successively at that time. They were responsible for supervising the production of the Dragon-Phoenix Cakes for tribute. There were only ten cakes, specially prepared for tribute. It can be seen that the prototype of Wuyi Rock Tea in compressed form already emerged more than 1,000 years ago.
The real appearance of Wuyi Rock Tea in the form of compressed tea was first created by Mr. Chen Dehua, known as the "Father of Dahongpao", between 1996 and 1997. He steamed and softened the finished loose tea and then compressed it, enabling Wuyi Rock Tea to appear in a new form of compressed tea on the tea stage, continuing the legend of Wuyi Rock Tea and also bringing a different tea-tasting experience to tea lovers.