This is a Fenghuang (phoenix) oolong tea of the dancong grade, the word dancong can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, however the most common interpretation is that a dancong tea comes from one specific grove or garden composed entirely of clones from one mother plant, resulting in a consistent flavour among all the leaves harvested.

This particular dancong is made with  tea trees of the the Bai Ye (white leaf) cultivar named after the appearance of the leaves. It was harvested in Ling Tou a mountain village near Chaozhou south-east of the Phoenix Mountains where this category of tea gets its name.

The leaves have a gorgeous multi-layered aroma that makes my mouth water. The tea starts off thick and thins out as the brews go on, it’s sweet and aromatic all the way.

The traditional Chaozhou (a city near Fenghuang) way to brew dancong involves stuffing a tiny teapot or gaiwan with as many leaves as you can physically fit in it and instantly pouring the tea out after adding boiling water. This method is quite fun, but the first few steepings will usually be quite strong and bitter, if you want to counter-act this you can use not quite as many leaves, or start off with cooler water. You can also just brew it like any other oolong, but you might not get as much power out of it as you could doing it the traditional way.