12 Expensive and Rare Teas of the World
Alexandria Wyckoff
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Most teas you can find at a grocery store for a reasonable price and good taste. But there are also rare teas in the world, made from hard-to-harvest ingredients that often increase prices. If you are an avid tea drinker like me, you might want to add these rare teas to your dream shopping list.
12. “Taiwanese Black Dragon”
Our first rare tea is known as the “Taiwanese Black Dragon.” Grown in the mountain regions of Thailand, the tea contains large amounts of tannins, microelements, and vitamins, making it a perfect drink to help cleanse your body.
The legend behind the Black Dragon tea is the best part though. While harvesting tea leaves, a local farmer was frightened by a black dragon, dropping a fresh basket of tea leaves. When he returned the next day the leaves had oxidized and had a fragrant taste, leading the farmer to name the tea after the mythical creature.
11. Tien Chi Flower
The Tien Chi flower tea is next on our list, coming from Yunnan, China. When brewed the flowers create a yellow emerald tea that has a distinctive taste. The greenish buds of the flower look similar to miniature dried broccoli florets, due to farmers extracting the flower petals. They are used throughout Asia for traditional pain-relieving and healing and can help in retaining fluid levels.
10. Ceremonial-grade Matcha
If you have ever drank tea, then you have heard of matcha. One of the more popular teas, there is a difference between “common” matcha and “ceremonial” matcha. Ceremonial matcha is a superior grade of matcha used in the tea ceremony (chanoyu) and has a full-bodied, creamy flavor. This exclusive type of matcha is grown in the hills of Uji in the city of Kyoto, Japan.
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9. Vintage Narcissus Wuyi Oolong
The next tea on our list is the vintage Narcissus Wuyi Oolong tea, which even though the name has “narcissus” in it, there are no flowers in this tea. It is one of the rarest oolong teas from Fujian Province, with a deep flavor. The smoky notes in the tea come from the withering of the tea leaves on coal.
Similar to the Black Dragon tea, there is an interesting story connected with the Wuyi tea. For 50 years a box of the oolong has traveled from China to Singapore and back. The first owner sold the box to the second, and with neither of them drinking the tea, it was passed along to a third buyer. The box of oolong is still being sold around to this day.
8. “Poo Poo Pu-Erh”
Produced since the 18th century, this tea does have a connection to excrement similar to the name Poo Poo Pu-Erh. The tea was first presented as a gift to Emperor Qianlong, with a nontraditional production method. The tea is made up of excrement from the larvae of grain moths fed on tea leaves, and farm workers must carefully clean the twisted leaves before further processing. Mainly produced in the Yunnan Province, you can now find Poo Poo Pu-Erh in Taiwan too.
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7. “Panda Dung Tea”
Following a similar name theme, the Panda Dung tea is not what you think it is. Pandas only eat bamboo, but 70% of their food cannot be absorbed into the body, leaving excrement. It is this excrement that is used to fertilize tea plants in the Sichuan Province, which is rich in beneficial ingredients and holds a unique taste.
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6. PG Tips Tea with Diamonds
If you live in Britain, you have probably had a cup of PG Tips tea before. This tea company makes the list of rare teas purely due to their tea packaging, rather than the leaves itself. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the company, they combined their tea with the jewelry company “Boodles.” In the limited tea series produced in 2005, each sachet was decorated with 280 diamonds. All of the proceeds were donated to a children’s hospital in Manchester.
5. Bai Hao Yinzhen (Silver Needle)
Our fifth selection for our rare teas list is partially so rare for the nights it is harvested. Bai Hao Yinzhen, also known as the Silver Needle tea, is only harvested by expert pickers on full moon nights at the Makaibari Tea Estate in Darjeeling. The buds allude to the silver needle name and have a subtle fruity aroma. It is one of the most expensive teas in India due to its rarity.
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4. Yellow Gold Tea Buds
Similar to the PG Tips tea, there is a reason why the Yellow Gold tea is so rare and costs so much. Only one region in China grows these tea bushes, and are harvested on one day a year. The strange part is that the first few petals are cut with golden scissors, and are later painted with 24-carat gold. The presence of gold is due to the belief that gold can benefit the body if ingested, which is what you do with the leaves after drinking the tea. This tea is only sold in Singapore.
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3. Gyokuro
There are many names for Gyokuro, including jewel dew, jade dew, and pearl dew. Grown in the Uji region in Japan, Gyokuro tea only accounts for 1% of the total tea production in the country. It is similar to matcha in that the shrubs remain in the shade for around twenty days before harvest. This helps the plant produce more chlorophyll to change the ratio of sugars, amino acids, and caffeine in the leaves.
2. Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy)
One of the most famous Chinese oolong teas is called Tieguanyin, or the Iron Goddess of Mercy. Second on our rare teas list, its history traces back to the Tang Dynasty during the 7th through 9th centuries. It is grown in the mountains of the Fujian Province in Anxi County. There is several legends about this tea and its origins.
The most popular legend centers on a poor farmer from Anxi who discovers an abandoned Buddhist temple worshipping the goddess of mercy Guan-yin. As he devoted himself to cleaning and repairing the temple, the goddess came to his dreams and showed him where he could receive a reward. The location was where a tea bush grew, and the farmer never suffered from hunger again.
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1. Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe)
The last selection on our rare teas list is called Da Hong Pao, also known as Big Red Robe. According to legend, this tea helped save the mother of an emperor during the Ming dynasty from a serious illness over 350 years ago. As a token of gratitude, the emperor ordered the area of tea bushes to be covered with a red robe, hence where its name comes from.
It is believed that the first trees that Da Hong Pao were made from still exist, but today they no longer are harvested. This means that the prices of Da Hong Pao are both the highest and rarest on our list, earning its spot at number one.