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Rare tea cost £8.50 a cup

8/ 1/2006

A RARE Chinese green tea which is 300 times more expensive than a standard cuppa goes on sale this month.

Costing £1,700 per kg - roughly £8.50 per cup - the Tieguanyin tea is thought to be the most expensive ever sold in Britain.

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

It is nearly treble the price of the most expensive tea currently sold at the 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 has got a beautiful perfume. Very, very floral. It is like sitting in a garden on a hot summer's day when all the flowers are really heady," he said.

Tieguanyin will be the most expensive tea to go on sale at Harrods in the store's 156 year history when it hits shelves later this month.

Its name comes from the Buddhist deity Guan Yin and has been translated as Iron Goddess of Mercy.

Its price compares to just £1.27 for a 250g pack of PG Tips sold at Sainsbury's.

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