Last Updated :
23 September 2010 at 18:05 IST
Dahonpao, the Chinese tea that costs $30,000/kg
Commodity Online
Which is the hottest commodity now? Gold, silver, copper.. pepper? Your guess could be wrong. It is a tea variety, dahongpao whose prices have shot up to $30,000 per kg. Strangely its prices change on a day to day basis, according to a program aired on state-run CCTV in China. Not surprisingly, the a few tea producers of this rare tea are indeed minting money.
Since the middle of last year, the report says, prices of certain types of dahongpao have increased tenfold. According to one expert interviewed by CCTV, the wholesale price for mid-range varieties of the tea has risen from between 200 and 400 yuan to around 4,000 yuan per kilogram, with retail prices reaching 20,000 yuan or more. CCTV found one retail shop in the Fujian city of Xiamen that claimed to be selling one variety for 200,000 yuan, or roughly $30,000, per kilogram.
The attraction of dahongpao, a form of Oolong, is its rarity. Grown only in a small mountainous area in the Fujian interior, all genuine dahongpao is said to come from cuttings of a handful of trees originally planted to provide tea for the imperial family during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.).
The Origin The word Dahongpao means Big Red Robe. The original tea plant is found in the Nine Dragon Cave, where the Six Tea Bushes reside today.
The tea is prized for its health-enhancing property. According to a legend, a scholar fell ill on-route to Beijing to take the Imperial Examination. A monk cured him using the tea leaves plucked from the Six Tea Bushes. When he returned later, having passed his the Examination with flying colors, he offered a Red Robe as a gesture of gratitude
The Legends -Perched on a cliff, the Six Tea Bushes have lived for more than six hundreds years.
-It is said that during the Cultural Revolution, policy guards kept watch 24/7, to safeguard them from the marauding revolutionaries.
-When President Nixon visited, Chairman Mao presented him with 100 grams of tea leaves. When Nixon alluded to Mao's "stinginess", Premier Zhou explained such tiny quantity is worth half of Chinese Empire.
-Today, the Six Tea Bushes produce less than 100 grams of leaves each year, all of which is retained by the State government. Only a precious little is seen or heard in the real world.
The first medallist of the Beijing Olympic 2008 was awarded this tea. A 2002 State auction saw 20 grams sold for more than 30 thousands dollars to a restaurant in Guangzhou.
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