It may come as no great surprise that China, a country where drinking tea is considered to be a form of art, boasts with having the world’s most expensive tea.

The club of those fortunate enough to have had a cup of any these three teas will, obviously, always remain highly exclusive.

It may come as no great surprise that China, a country where drinking tea is considered to be a form of art, boasts with having the world’s most expensive tea. What is astonishing, however, is how expensive the tea actually is: a whopping 30 times more expensive than its weight in gold.

  1. Da-Hong Pao Tea

If exhausted after a hard day’s work, many of us would “give anything for a cup of tea”, although this saying is normally not intended to be taken quite literally. That is, unless you are talking about a cup of Da-Hong Pao Tea. In fact, the leaves of this exclusive drink are worth around £ 850 000 per kilogram. This means that making a single pot of Da-Hong Pao should set you back around £ 8 000. It has been declared a national treasure by the Chinese government and is usually given as a very special gift to important individuals such as those highly honoured in Chinese society, A-class celebrities and highly important foreign visitors.

Part of the reason the tea is so incredibly expensive, is because the process of producing it remains a highly-valued Chinese secret and has always been kept as such. The main reason, however, is because the trees that produce the leaves are near-extinct. In fact, the harvesting of the leaves has been completely stopped since 2005. This means that the Da-Hong Pao leaves that have already been harvested has become an exclusive collector’s item, and is only likely to become increasingly expensive and rare as time goes by.

  1. PG Tips Diamond Tea Bag

Technically, there is one other tea that could give Da-Hong Pao Tea a run for its money in terms of its price, but this is only if you don’t care for fair play. Back in 2005, to celebrate its 75th birthday, PG Tips, through Boodles jewellers, created an exclusive tea bag worth £ 8 000. The reason for the bag’s exuberant price is, however, not primarily the actual Silver Tips Imperial it contains, but the fact that the bag boasts 280 diamonds on its outside, which includes 200 2.56 carat diamonds on the bag itself and 80 on its white gold string. And if that isn’t enough, each of these bags also come with another 100 diamonds on the inside.

  1. Panda Dung Tea

Third place (or is that second place?) goes to Panda Dung Tea, which goes for around £ 50 000 per kilo or around £ 150 per cup. But the tea isn’t actually produced from panda dung: the name derives from the fact that it is produced by a tea tree that is fertilized thereby.

Thus while most people can afford to drink tea daily, the club of those fortunate enough to have had a cup of any these three teas will, obviously, always remain highly exclusive.

About the Author

Paul russell

Paul Russell is co-founder of Luxury Academy London, a multi-national training company with offices in London, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. Luxury Academy London specialise exclusively in the luxury industry and deliver training in leadership, communication and business etiquette training for companies and private clients across the globe.

Prior to founding Luxury Academy London, Paul worked in senior leadership roles within luxury hospitality. A dynamic trainer and seminar leader, Paul has designed and taught courses, workshops and seminars worldwide on a wide variety of soft skills.