Tea!?

A Most Expensive Brew

Updated: 08:40, Sunday January 08, 2006

A type of tea believed to be the most expensive ever seen in Britain goes on sale later this month.


Drink it slowly

The rare Chinese green tea costs 300 times more than the usual household brew.

The Tieguanyin tea costs £1,700 a kilo, which equates to around £8.50 a cup.

The loose oolong leaves, grown in China's central Fujian province, can be re-brewed up to seven times, according to a Harrods spokesman.

It is nearly three times the price of the most expensive tea currently sold at the prestigious London store.

Harrods food spokesman Andre Dang said the premium tea did not lose its flavour when re-brewed - making it less expensive than it first appeared.

"It's got a beautiful perfume. Very, very floral. It's like sitting in a garden on a hot summer's day when all the flowers are really heady," he said.

The tea's name refers to the Buddhist deity Guan Yin and has been translated as Iron Goddess of Mercy.