China

肉桂手工特制 · China: Cassia (Cinnamon) Rou Gui Shou Gong Te Zhi 2025

Rou Gui (肉桂) takes its name from its aroma, which recalls Chinese cassia (cinnamon). It is one of the boldest and most expressive cultivars of the Wuyi Mountains, and it takes on the character of wherever it grows, so the site and the maker’s hand show clearly in every cup.

This shou gong te zhi (手工特制), “specially handcrafted,” Rou Gui is a private commission from an apprentice of Master Ye Qitong (叶启桐), a national-level Intangible Cultural Heritage inheritor of Wuyi Yancha craftsmanship. Trained by the Ye family since his teens, he has spent nearly two decades perfecting his craft and today is one of the lead tea makers in their workshop. Outside that role, he makes only a small amount of tea under his own hand each year. His entire 2025 Rou Gui totaled just 20 jin (10 kg), and he set aside half of it for us. It is made entirely by hand, carrying the traditions of his teachers in a style that is his own. Rou Gui runs deep in this lineage: the Ye family’s patriarch, Ye Xianshun (叶先顺), championed its planting at the Chong’an Tea Farm.

Picked and made in 2025 from bushes around thirty years old, mature for Rou Gui, in the Zhengyan core of the Wuyi Mountains, the leaves were roasted just twice over lychee-wood charcoal from Zhangzhou: a first roast of about twenty hours, then a second of about twelve, before the tea was sealed away to rest. The result is textbook Rou Gui, with a pure, unmistakable cassia-bark aroma. When we asked whether he had entered it in competition, its maker admitted he hadn’t. He couldn’t bear to part with it.

Origin:

Zhengyan, Wuyishan, Fujian, China

Cultivar:

Rou Gui – 30-year-old bushes

Harvest:

2025

Roast:

Two charcoal roasts over Zhangzhou lychee wood (approx. 20 hours, then 12 hours)

Flavor Profile:

Pure cassia-bark spice on the nose; a mellow warmth and long-lasting creaminess from the long, slow roast; mineral depth and a lingering, sweetly spiced finish

Production:

20 jin (10 kg) total; 10 jin (5 kg) allocated to Tea Dealers

Servings:

3 x 8g

Net weight:

25g