Tieguanyin vs Da Hong Pao: Which Oolong Is for You?

Tieguanyin and Da Hong Pao are both oolongs from Fujian, but they sit at opposite ends of the oolong spectrum. Tieguanyin, from Anxi in the south, is lightly oxidized and rolled into tight green balls: floral, creamy, orchid-like. Da Hong Pao, from the Wuyi Mountains in the north, is more oxidized and charcoal-roasted into dark twisted strips: mineral, toasty, deep. If you like green tea and fresh flowers, start with Tieguanyin. If you like coffee, whisky or dark chocolate, start with Da Hong Pao.

These two teas are the reason the word "oolong" is so confusing. Someone tries a Tieguanyin and decides oolong is a light, floral tea. Someone else tries a Da Hong Pao and decides oolong is dark and roasty. Both are right, and neither has tasted oolong.

I put them side by side every time a friend tells me they "don't like oolong". Nine times out of ten, they've only met one of the two, and the other one is exactly what they've been looking for. For me it was the other way around: Tieguanyin was the first oolong I loved, and Wuyi rock tea like Da Hong Pao is what I drink most now. Tastes move. That's the point of tasting both.

Tieguanyin vs Da Hong Pao at a glance#

Where each one comes from#

Tieguanyin: Anxi#

Tieguanyin is the signature tea of Anxi County in southern Fujian, made from the Tieguanyin cultivar itself. Legend credits a poor farmer named Wei who tended a neglected temple of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, and was rewarded in a dream with the tea plant. The "iron" part refers either to the heavy, dense leaf or to the iron statue in the temple, depending on who tells it.

The important thing to know is that Tieguanyin comes in two very different styles:

• Modern green style (qing xiang, 清香). Lightly oxidized, barely roasted, rolled tight and often vacuum-packed. Bright green leaf, pale liquor, intense orchid aroma. This is what most shops sell as Tieguanyin today and what most people picture.
• Traditional roasted style (nong xiang, 浓香). Higher oxidation and a real roast, the way Anxi made it before the 1990s. Darker leaf, amber liquor, honey and toasted grain over the orchid. Closer in spirit to a Wuyi tea, and my personal preference.

When this article says Tieguanyin, it means the green style unless it says otherwise, because that's what you'll meet first. My full guide is at Tieguanyin: green vs traditional roasted.

Da Hong Pao: Wuyi Mountains#

Da Hong Pao is the most famous of the Wuyi rock teas (yancha, 岩茶), grown among the cliffs and gorges of the Wuyi Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Fujian. "Rock tea" isn't poetry: the bushes grow in mineral-rich soil in the crevices of the cliffs, and the best of them carry a taste that drinkers call yan yun (岩韵), "rock rhyme": a mineral, almost stony depth with a cooling finish.

The best-known legend says a scholar cured by the monks' tea draped the bushes with his red official robe in thanks; other versions credit the cure of a Ming emperor's mother. Six of those mother bushes still cling to the cliff in the Jiulongke gorge. Picking from them has been banned since 2006, and the last auction lots, 20 g each, went for extraordinary sums.

So what's in the bag when you buy Da Hong Pao? Usually one of two things:

• A blended Da Hong Pao: a skilled mix of Wuyi cultivars (often Shui Xian, Rou Gui and others) roasted to a house style. This is the normal, legitimate product and can be excellent.
• A cultivar Da Hong Pao: tea from cuttings of the original bushes, propagated in the Wuyi area. Rarer and pricier.

Both are real Da Hong Pao in today's market. Neither is from the mother bushes. More on the whole family in Wuyi rock tea.

How each is made#

Both follow the oolong process: wither, shake to bruise the leaf edges and start oxidation, fire to stop it, roll, dry, roast. The difference is where each one stops.

That roasting difference explains almost everything about how they taste.

What they taste like#

Tieguanyin (green style) smells like a florist's shop: orchid, lilac, sometimes a hint of fresh butter. The liquor is pale, silky and refreshing, with a gentle sweetness and, in good examples, a creamy texture that coats the mouth. It's a spring tea in spirit. The risk is that cheap green Tieguanyin can be grassy and thin, more aroma than substance.

Traditional roasted Tieguanyin keeps the orchid underneath but wraps it in honey, toasted grain and dried fruit. It's warmer and rounder, and it ages well. If green Tieguanyin is a bit too perfumed for you, this is the bridge to Wuyi tea.

Da Hong Pao is a different mood entirely: roasted, warming, with dark fruit, cocoa, sometimes a hint of smoke, and underneath it all that mineral, stony depth that Wuyi drinkers chase. The finish goes on for a long time, and a good one leaves a cooling sweetness in the throat. The risk is the opposite of Tieguanyin's: over-roasted or cheap Da Hong Pao can taste of charcoal and little else.

My side-by-side tasting#

What the tasting showed, and what I see every time: Tieguanyin peaks early and beautifully, then fades; Da Hong Pao starts strong and keeps giving. One is a bouquet, the other is a fireplace.

How to brew each#

The two teas want different treatment, and using one method for both is the most common way people decide they don't like one of them.

Two things to remember. Tieguanyin's tight balls take a round or two to unfurl, so the first steep is longer and the second is often the best. Da Hong Pao's open strips give up flavour instantly, so keep early steeps short and never let hot water sit on them. For traditional roasted Tieguanyin, use boiling water and treat it like the Da Hong Pao column. All the numbers for every tea are in the gongfu brewing chart.

Price and what you're paying for#

Both teas span the whole range, from everyday prices to prices that make no sense for a drink. What moves the price:

• Tieguanyin: harvest season (spring and autumn are prized), grade, and whether it's competition-style tea from a named maker. Traditional roasted styles from good producers often cost more than green ones.
• Da Hong Pao: where the bushes grow. "Zheng yan" (正岩) tea from inside the core Wuyi scenic area costs several times more than "ban yan" (half-rock) or "wai shan" / "zhou cha" (river-flat) tea from the surrounding plains, and the mineral character follows the price.

For everyday drinking, a mid-priced tea of either kind gives you most of the experience. The famous-cliff Da Hong Pao and competition Tieguanyin are worth trying once you know what the everyday versions taste like, so you can tell what the extra money buys.

Watch out for#

• "Mother bush" Da Hong Pao. Nobody is selling it. If a label claims it, walk away.
• Very cheap, very green Tieguanyin. Often summer leaf, thin and grassy. Fine as an introduction, but don't judge the category by it.
• Charcoal-only Da Hong Pao. If all you taste is roast, the tea underneath was probably poor and the roast is hiding it. Good roasting reveals the tea; bad roasting replaces it.
• Flavoured "oolongs" sold under either name. Neither tea needs help from fruit oils.

Which one should you choose?#

My own answer changed over the years, from Tieguanyin to Wuyi tea, and it may change again. Buy 25 g of each from the same shop, brew them back to back, and you'll know in one session which direction to explore. The shops I use for both are in the best places to buy oolong.

Both teas are covered in depth in my oolong guide, the Tieguanyin guide and the Wuyi rock tea guide. If you like Da Hong Pao, Da Hong Pao: taste, price and brewing goes further.

Read next: where to buy Chinese tea online.