Ao Fu Hou (Beyond the Road)

Dan Cong Wulong Tea 2024

Ao Fu Hou (Beyond the Road) is an unusually light and gentle Dan Cong wulong with a powerful, complex fragrance. Its airy, meadowy aromatics are layered with rich florals and sweet fresh grass that cling to the tongue. These bright notes overlay a fresh, juicy flavor like water chestnuts.

$29.00

Clear selection

Tea Origin
Wu Dong Mountain, Phoenix Mountain, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, China

Tea Bush
Ao Fu Hou (Beyond the Road)

Tea Maker
Chen Yangxi

Harvest Time
Mid-April

Plucking Standard
Zhong kai mian

Two people standing together in front of a large old tea tree half as tall again as they are, growing next to a mossy stone wall on a mountain slope.
Zhuping visiting tea maker Chen Yangxi in his diverse garden of old Dan Cong tea bushes in Wudong Mountain.

This tea is one of our favorites from tea maker Chen Yangxi’s extensive garden of old and unusual Dan Cong varieties. This treasure of a tea garden rests at about 700m (2,300 ft) in altitude in Wu Dong Mountain, the most famous source of wulong in the famed Phoenix Mountain region near Chaozhou in Guangdong Province.

Behind the Name “Beyond the Road”

Like most Dan Cong teas, this wulong was named after the individual tea plant it was propagated from. The name Ao Fu Hou describes where this original mother bush grew: a place below the level of a village road in Wu Dong Mountain, past a drainage ditch which provided it an excellent source of water. ­ The current pronunciation “Ao Fu Hou” is the result of multiple translations back and forth from the local Chaozhou Cantonese dialect and Mandarin Chinese.

It was a challenge finding an appropriate translation for an English name for this tea. We like to retain our tea’s original market names and make the original Chinese central on our packaging to deliver the most authentic and pure expression of that tea we possibly can. We do our best to offer a good translation of each name, too. A good translation doesn’t just convey a precise meaning, but it also gets at the spirit of the words, attempts to evoke the same emotions. So, Ao Fu Hou still goes by its market name “Ao Fu Hou,” but now also bears “Beyond the Road” as its English name.

Learn more about how Dan Cong wulong tea is made here.

Learn more about Dan Cong wulong’s history and Chaozhou tea culture here.

No chemical fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide was used in the production of this tea. Click here to read more about our promise to fair trade and the environment.

Ao Fu Hou (Beyond the Road) brewing guidelines

5 grams (2.5 Tb) tea

12 oz 100°C (212ºF) water

3 min. first infusion

At least 4 infusions: 3, 3, 5, 8 minutes