2007 Pomelo Flower You Hua Xiang

The summer finally arrived. The temperatures reach 35 degrees of Celsius, the sky is cloudless, and the sun burns as in hell. And sometimes after the sunset arrive wild thunderstorms. Just two days ago lightning hit the temple across the street – fortunately the clergy installed lightning rod instead of just pure belief, so only the lightning went out.



In these hot days I still drink tea, lot of tea. But instead of powerful ones I choose something more delicate. Today I tried a sample of Pomelo Fragrance Phoenix Dan Cong I got from Imen last time. The sample was quite small, 3 grams only so I decided to prepare it not in yixing but in my smaller gaiwan instead.

The leaves were large and uniform, very dark green with some lighter colours. This tea is different from other Dan Cong oolongs I got from Imen. It lacks the typical fruitness, the prevailing taste is spicy and fruity. Cinnamon, touch of pomelo, orchids, honey.

Unlike some of the oolong or Dan Cong teas, this tea performs well both in means of smell and taste. The taste is sweet, calming, and soft. It’s a nice tea ready to be enjoyed in hot evening. That's why I like Pohenix Dan Congs.

Dan Cong Godzilla

Today was very warm and sunny out there, so I wanted to welcome the spring with adequate tea. The one I decided to try is the 2007 Winter FengHuang WuDong Old Bush DanCong "Huang Jing" brought to us by HouDe.



The leaves catch the eyes first. They are totally different from standard Dan Cong oolong – colorful, huge and strong. The reminded me the sight of autumn forest - some trees still green, some yellow, others red and brown. Ok, there weren't red leaves, but green, yellow and brown were there in all shades.



Also the leaves were huge, so large that they didn’t fit my rather big yixing teapot. I had to soften the leaves with hot water of first infusion and only then I was able to cover the teapot with lid. The maker of this tea used mature leaves instead of young and fresh ones. Also, the leaves weren’t rolled into long stripes, so their overall look suggested heap of fallen fall leaves.



I believe that the smell of Dan Cong teas is mostly better then the taste. But it's not just attribute of Dan Congs, many oolongs prove like that.

This one smelled of grapes and raisins, very sweet but still fresh and with touch of spices. This was more powerful aroma than most of Dan Congs posses. Fortunately, the taste was very good, too – thick, long lasting, tickling the tongue and dancing in the throat.

I have to admit that this Dan Cong is excellent – it’s different from other oolongs, but follows their footsteps in means of aroma and taste. Very good tea.

Old tea at the morning

Today I wake up pretty early to watch Formula 1. The Australian race proved to be very exciting, only third of the cards was able to complete it. Fortunately, the weather is sunny, so I took few pictures from my window.



I like the contrast of centuries old catholic church I see to my left and the socialistic blocks of flat which were built in the seventies to my right. Well, the builders had to complete thousands of cheap lodgings, so they did what they could, in the lazy socialistic style.



Most Slovaks live in houses like that. I live in house like that. Houses too dry to age pu-erh properly. Well, I will see what they will do with my pu-erh stash in next decades.

Since the first race of F1 was a good moment to try some decent tea, I decided to drink aged Dan Cong. The 1986 aged Dan Cong from Imen is the oldest tea she has – well, I dated girls younger than this tea! Ok, one girl :-)



The dry leaves are small, of uniform dark color. Since they smelled pretty aged, I decided not to use my yixing teapot dedicated to fragrant Dan Cong oolongs and I prepared the tea in thick-walled yixing instead. Also, I used nearly boiling water, not 90C (195F) as I would use with fresh Dan Congs.

The brew came out dark showing the age of tea leaves. The color was like of aged sheng pu-erh with smell and taste close to it, too. Leaves are small, much smaller, than the current premium-quality Dan Congs. They are uniformly dark.



This tea is much more aged then Dan Cong. The flower, honey, orchid fragrances are long gone leaving wood, bark and cellar taste.

Still, it’s an interesting tea with OK price tag that lasts enough infusions. Maybe not as complex as aged pu-erh could be, nor as fragrant as young Dan Cong is, the nice and round with lingering aftertaste make this tea worth at least to try.

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.

Mystery Dan Cong

When I look at my teas, most of the time I remember, when I purchased the tea, from whom and what was it name. And in the case of pu-erh I have evidence with names, producers, photos of wrapper and so, because my memory is much shorter, than my pu-erh stash.

When I purchase some tea, mostly, when I’m back home I put it into corresponding jar to keep the tea fresh. And because my jars aren’t labeled, sometimes I know what tea is inside, sometimes not.

Today my memory does not worked too well, so I had mystery tea. I got 50 grams of this Dan Cong oolong from local vendor Longfeng.cz. I know, that it’s his top single bush Dan Cong – unfortunately, it’s out of stock right now, so I cannot check on his web, what it is exactly. But since he gets his teas from JingTeaShop, I checked it there and I believe that it’s Single Bush Ba Xian Dancong. Or it isn’t. Who knows…?



The dry leaves emit beautiful fragrance, come gentle spices mixed with orchids and citrus fruits. Even if most of the Dan Cong oolongs smell and taste beautiful, this one is especially calm, and ideal tea for silent afternoon. Even the color of dry leaves – some are darker, some are very bright green – calms the stressed mind.

The most amazing on this tea is its smell. I believe this is the tea you should enjoy with a Wenxiangbei. The aroma contains tea, spices and orchids. And by tea I mean the smell of the tea I used to drink while I was a young boy. Lovely mix.

But even if the tea is calm, the leaves are quiet powerful, they last lots of infusions without loosing the taste. Even if some find the Dan Cong oolongs boring and uninteresting, because they lack the ability to change in subsequent infusions, I like them being a tasty and inspiring companion.

Update: I discovered, that the tea really is Single Bush Ba Xian Dan Cong.

Hidden fruits

Today I decided to try something lighter, the "tasty tea". Since I'm big fan of Dan Cong oolongs and today I ordered lot of samples from Imen, the Dan Cong is the way I want to go.



I got this particular tea from a local vendor, owner of Cha Dao, a tea house in Prague. I got four different Dan Cong oolongs from him, this is Yu Lang Xiang. You may also notice, that in Czech transcription the Dan Cong is written as Tan Chung.

What says the website about this tea?
Next example of 'Single Tree Phoenix' is one with the smell of Jade Orchid (Yu Lang). The tea is full of citrus undertones; the taste is full, straight with a bit of grassy tones. Also, you can find in the taste honey, nectar and sweet flowers.

And how performed the tea in the reality?
I prepared the tea in my 50 years old zhu ni teapot I use with Dan Cong oolongs with a traditional gong fu style, starting with very short steeping times and nearly boiling water. The taste was very pleasant, mix of flowers and fruits. To my biggest surprise, instead of usual citrus fruits I found in this tea a smell of... banana? Just a hint of banana. But... this taste is something I really like!

Certainly, the tea isn't pure banana, it is a mix of banana, exotic summer flowers, orange, honey.

The tea lasts long, 10 infusions at minimum. The taste does not change in such complex way as the pu-erh does, it remains pleasant all the time.



Please notice, how huge these leaves are! I put one of the unfurled leaves on top of my teapot - the leaf is nearly longer than the whole pot. And this isn't the smallest pot I got! Also, you may notice how the leaf was processed - it's still green with some brown edges. And how I chose leaf that big? I just reached into pot and took the first one.

Just for curiosity, 50 grams of this extraordinary tea (a bit less than 2oz) costs approximately $10. Good price! Only problem is, that the vendor sells tea only in Czech Republic. Fortunately, I visit Prague nearly each month, so maybe I can get a bit more of this tea to age in my next visit. Or I can wait until I tried the other samples - maybe some of them are even better.