Fall Orchid 2007

Two weeks passed since Imen from Teahabitat sent me the samples of Phoenix Dan Cong teas I ordered and today they finally arrived! I was pretty excited when I visited post office seeing the pretty big box - and it was really full. I would like to thank Imen for the additional samples.




So this evening I decided to try the 2007 Fall Orchid Dan Cong. I was really tempted to taste the 22 years old one, but I resisted the temptation. Mostly because I’m a bit tired and I do not want to waste that tea when I’m not fully concentrated.

Even if the 2007 Fall Orchid isn’t the highest grade of the Imens offering of Dan Congs, the leaves are nice and the tea is better, than most of the others available at western countries. Imen describes this tea as “sweet honey, floral aroma”.



I like the Dan Cong teas because of their unique fragrance – subtle but strong, playful but straight, long lasting and penetrating. In this tea I really found more flower aroma than fruits. I do not meet up many orchids in Slovakia, so I can easily believe, that the smell of orchids is like the fragrance of this tea.

As always, this tea is best at the first few brews, but it lasts lots of them. Nice everyday tea.

By the way, I'm not sure about the tea when brewing Dan Congs. I feel like using boiling water is too harsh treatment, but when I let the water cool down too much, the taste and aroma of the tea is just too weak. So mostly I just boil the water and then I let it rest a minute or two. Fortunately, the hot water does not damage the Dan Cong as it could damage green tea.