Wuyi cliff tea, or yancha, is oolong grown among the rock cliffs and gorges of the Wuyi mountains in northern Fujian. It is partly oxidised, then traditionally roasted over charcoal, and it is known for a dense, mineral quality drinkers call rock rhyme. The most sought-after cliff tea, zhengyan, comes from inside the protected Wuyi scenic area.
What does zhengyan mean?
Zhengyan means true cliff. It is tea grown inside the Wuyi scenic area, a protected park of about 70 square kilometres, and historically inside a smaller core of gorges and streams within it, known as the three pits and two streams. Tea from the hills at the park's edge is called ban yan, half cliff. Tea from the flat land by the river is zhou cha, and tea from outside the park is wai shan. Most tea sold as Wuyi oolong comes from those outer areas.
The lines are not clean. Some gardens just outside the park grow better tea than poor gardens inside it. Around 2016 the local authorities also redrew the boundary so that some former ban yan could be sold as zhengyan. A zhengyan label tells you the location. It does not guarantee the quality.
Why does growing among cliffs change the tea?
Soil, water and a steady climate. The rock is part volcanic and part sandstone, and it breaks down into loose, gravelly, mineral-rich soil. The soil is so loose that gardens sit on stone terraces to stop it washing away. Roots go deep.
Water runs down the cliff faces, carrying minerals to the bushes and keeping the soil drained. The cliff walls take in sun during the day and give it back at night, so the narrow gardens between them stay at an even temperature and humidity through the growing season. Fog is common, around a hundred days a year.
Drinkers taste all this as yan yun, rock rhyme: a mineral depth and a long, sweet finish that sit underneath the roast and the fruit. It is easier to taste than to describe. Drink a zhengyan beside a cheap Wuyi oolong and it becomes obvious.
What are the main cliff tea varieties?
Wuyi has hundreds of named varieties, but most drinkers meet a handful.
- Shui xian (water sprite): a tall, old variety, often left unpruned so the bushes reach two metres. Lao cong shui xian means old-bush shui xian, from trees many decades old, and is valued for depth over perfume.
- Rou gui (cassia): a Qing dynasty variety named for its spice, which some compare to cassia bark and others to cinnamon. With shui xian, it is one of the two cliff teas you will see most. Brew it lighter to find the spice.
- Da hong pao: strictly, the six old mother bushes at Jiu Long Keng, which are almost never harvested. In practice the name covers clones of those bushes and, very often, any blended, heavily roasted Wuyi tea. Bei dou yi hao comes from cuttings taken from the mother bushes in the 1970s and planted at Bei Dou, and is about as close to the original as most of us will get.
- The famous bushes (ming cong): distinctive named varieties, traditionally led by the four big names: da hong pao, tie luo han, shui jin gui and bai ji guan.
- Tie luo han (iron arhat): the oldest recorded Wuyi name, going back to the Song dynasty. Sweet and thick, with a note often compared to roasted bamboo.
- Bai ji guan (white cockscomb): a pale-leafed variety whose young leaves and buds look yellow-white on the bush. Often lychee-like, with a crisp, dry feel in the mouth.
- Bu zhi chun (does not know spring): named because it buds in late May, weeks after the rest of the park has been picked. Ours is on the bu zhi chun page.
What is the difference between handmade and half-handmade cliff tea?
It depends on which steps are done by hand. In half-handmade tea, the leaf is picked and withered by hand, then shaken, fired and rolled by machine. The final roast can still be done over charcoal. In handmade tea, every step is done by hand, including the shaking that bruises the leaf edges, the firing in a hot wok and the rolling.
You can often see the difference in the dry leaf. Machine rolling gives uniform twists, all much the same shape. Hand rolling gives leaves of varied size and twist, because each handful is worked separately.
Handmade is usually better when the maker is skilled. Hands respond to each batch in a way machines cannot, particularly during shaking, which is judged by feel and smell. Location sets the ceiling; processing decides how close the tea gets to it. A careful half-handmade tea from good gardens still beats a machine tea from outside the park.
Why does handmade cliff tea cost more?
Labour, skill and volume. Hand processing is slow and the harvest window is short. During the season, makers work through the night and sleep little. One skilled maker can only handle so much leaf in a day. As most of Wuyi mechanised, our grower, a family that has farmed inside the scenic area for generations, went the other way and increased its handmade production.
On our shelf, the handmade Hua Xiang rou gui costs about a quarter more than the half-handmade rou gui. The handmade lao cong shui xian costs about 30 percent more than the half-handmade shui xian, though its older bushes account for part of that. The famous-bush teas cost more again, because those bushes yield little. The handmade bei dou yi hao, from mother-bush cuttings, sits at the top. The price tracks the scarcity of the leaf and the hours spent on it.
Why is cliff tea rested after roasting?
Fresh roast needs time to settle. Traditionally, most cliff tea was stored for six months to a year, often until Chinese New Year after the harvest, so the harsh edge of the roast faded and the character of the leaf came forward. Much is now sold in the autumn of the harvest year, straight from the roaster.
This matters because heavy or fresh roast is the most common fault in cliff tea. If your rou gui, shui xian and bai ji guan all taste the same, of char and roast, you are tasting the fire, not the leaf. Heavy roasting is also used to hide poor or mixed leaf, which is why so much generic da hong pao tastes of little else. A good roast supports the leaf without announcing itself.
If a new cliff tea tastes too roasty, seal it in a jar and leave it for a few months. It usually improves. Brew cliff tea hot, in a small pot, with short infusions; our guide to gong fu brewing gives starting amounts. Then try a rou gui and a shui xian side by side. The contrast teaches more than any description. The full range is in the Wuyi cliff tea collection.