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 jiang hua xiang (ginger fragrance) cultivar that are about 50 years old, the leaves have been roasted twice giving them a medium roast level. It’s highly aromatic and will last many infusions, it doesn’t get bitter nearly as easily as other dancong oolongs, and the taste really stands out above the rest, this is one of the nicest smelling teas I’ve ever tried, and is certainly my favourite dancong, I implore you to try some for yourself.

The traditional Chaozhou (a city near Fenghuang) way to brew dancongs 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.