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Tea Mania Dan Cong, Lao Cong left, 1988 version right |
Editing note: I had missed the correct Tea Mania listing for one of these; I'll change this around, to include reference to both what I thought it was and what it is.
I'm reviewing a couple of interesting looking Dan Cong; different, since I've been off that page for awhile. They are samples provided for review from Tea Mania; many thanks for that.
I originally only saw this version of Mi Lan Xiang, thinking it was the first younger version, but it's not:
Xue Mi Lan Xiang
...This tea is grown by the family Cha Xiang Si Hai from Fenghuang and thanks to a centuries-old knowledge processed to a superior oolong. The whole family is involved in the harvest and also in the entire tea production. The tea is still traditionally processed like in times of Lu Yu: The leaves are withered and dried in bamboo trays and then roasted over charcoal fire.
Through the high oxidation and the strong roasting is this Dan Cong good storable and particularly interesting for connoisseurs who like to mature vintage teas.
Harvest: Winter 2013
Taste: Honey-sweety with a hint of Orchid.
Oxidation: appx. 30%
Origin: Fenghuang, Chaozhou, China.
I had concluded "If that is what this is that pricing looks too low ($15 per 50 grams); this is a way above average quality version, even as good versions go, based on already reviewing it." It was really something else, this:
...Tea made of leaves from old tea bushes have a very complex and intense aroma with mineralic notes. The tea is still traditionally processed like in times of Lu Yu: The leaves are withered and dried in bamboo trays and then roasted over charcoal fire.
Through the high oxidation and the strong roasting is this Lao Cong Dan Cong suitable for long storage and particularly interesting for connoisseurs who like to mature vintage teas.
Harvest: Spring 2016
Taste: Honey-sweet with a hint of orchids.
Oxidation: appx. 55%
Origin: Family operated farm in Tian Lao Po in Wudong, Fenghuang, Chaozhou, China.
It lists for about $50 for 50 grams; unfortunately that is a more standard price for much better Dan Cong. If it's any consolation it drinks much better than $1/gram standard gushu sheng, although aging potential complicates things; taking that into account who knows.
The slightly higher level of oxidation (listed at appx. 55% instead of 30) matches this review description, but I didn't frame interpretation in relation to that in comments about aspects. When I mention that often Dan Cong versions have a touch more astringency, and come across as more intense across the higher notes, that relates to this cause. Aging also softens a tea, and gives it more complexity and depth but rounds off higher notes slightly, even over the course of "only" 4 years (this was a 2016 version).
There is no current listing for the 1988 version, but I did look up a price using the Internet Archive Wayback machine; it had sold for $35 per 50 grams as of January 2019. There's no easy way to put any standard retail value on tea that rare but that sounds more than fair. It's a little rough edged related to aging effect but that's not an experience that everyone is ever going to go through to place.
Review
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Lao Cong left (in all photos); I forgot to take this photo before drinking that one |
Lao Cong Mi Lan Xiang [a 2016 version, it finally turned out]: I let this brew a little long, not focused in right away (maybe 20 seconds or just over versus half that being more typical). It's fine anyway, the astringency just stands out a little more than it would have brewed faster. There's a general early-round trade-off to be had in brewing tea types in general, since the first round will often be quite light, and stretching that by extending time (as I've just did, just not completely intentionally), won't give the same results as accepting a first light round and brewing a better one the second time. Onto how it is in more detail.
Floral and fruit tones stand out; this is as it should be. Sometimes Mi Lan Xiang versions will be relatively straight ripe peach, and sometimes more floral (as the name suggests, honey orchid), and this is floral, clean with good intensity. I'll fill in more next round, which I'll brew fast.
1988 version: it's interesting tasting age on a Dan Cong. This is musty, but I get the sense that will clear up over the next round, and won't be around as much in the third. It's not exactly right saying it's a clean version of musty but that's sort of what I mean. It's odd how this is that slate / blackboard mineral aged aspect that stands out a lot in Liu Bao, which I wouldn't interpret as only from aging input in those, instead as part of that tea character. Maybe I was always wrong about that?
I won't be able to tell much more about this beyond that given how much that is standing out. It's interesting how going a bit long on infusion time may have made perfect sense.
Second infusion
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the aged version is much, much darker |
Lao Cong: this is brewed quite fast; our cat opened the kitchen door, and it's not supposed to be in there, so I rushed process to shoo it. She and the neighbor cat went in there to look around not long ago; she's not clear on the guest cat house policy.
It's good. Floral tone is still most pronounced, a warm, rich, deep flavor range. It trails into heavy mineral that could be interpreted as a start on roasted almonds. Or maybe it's my associations that are mixing, but either way the complexity extends towards roasted almond flavor. That does span a rich, heavy nutty flavor range and a deeper mineral tone, not completely unrelated to the slate / blackboard range in the other version, but completely different in effect.
There's a perfume-like character to this that comes out in better tea versions across a broad range. It ties to the floral tone, in a sense, but it's really as much an aromatic range that matches up with an effect from some liqueurs, like cognac, just much more subtle. Fruit tone probably picks up a little this round too; it's really complex, across flavor range and other. Astringency is almost non-existent brewed at this infusion strength.
Dan Cong works well brewed lighter in general, it seems to me, because flavor and feel intensity don't give up much brewed very fast but the astringency component of feel largely drops out. How much there is of that to start with varies with tea quality, and per some mixed hearsay perhaps with elevation range of plant growth, and due to other complex factors. However that goes this works; there isn't much astringency edge, as can occur in medium quality versions.
1988 version: this does seem to be right in the middle of that mustiness dropping out, just not there yet. It has shifted in effect a lot, now spanning half the experience range versus taking it over. This is definitely old tea; that part isn't wrong. It probably won't "go clear" even next round, given how even the balance is between a mustiness that has now transitioned to something else. Instead of chalkboard / basement flavor range now it's closer to very old barn smell, dry wood that's been around forever. That's not completely unpleasant, I just don't think it represents what this tea really has to offer for experience yet.
I suppose this is a good place to add that I've not tried that much aged oolong. I compared two quite old rolled versions in one post (21 and 30 years old at that point), and reviewed a relatively old Oriental Beauty ("only" 11 years old) not that long ago, so exceptions come up, but not that many. People tend to extrapolate from what they've tried regardless of sample size, but when you are around a half dozen for count that doesn't work very well. If you can somehow know that a single version is completely type-typical and of good quality a single experience can go a long way, but it also doesn't really work to take someone else's word on that background applying.
To reduce my own prior experience to a short version rolled oolongs tend to just get plummy (tasting like plum), losing brighter intensity and picking up depth, and depending on storage conditions out around the 20 year mark they might be quite musty, I guess possibly even completely ruined. Even if the first 3 or 4 infusions is too musty to pick up much beyond that it is possible that other flavor range could hang in there, and it might work to brew past that. That post comparing two older rolled oolong versions works as a good related account of how that might go; one of those was probably a little rougher than this one.
Third infusion
Lao Cong: richness picked up a good bit in this, and it already had a thick feel and lots of complexity going on before. This is a really good quality example of this tea. It's not impossible to find versions with a lot of great flavor, and flavor complexity, and even positive feel aspects beyond that, but not typically on this level. The balance is exceptional, the way the aspects I've listed out over the last two rounds work together. It's a little heavier on underlying mineral than some are, and the rich flavor leaning towards roasted almond (tied to that) isn't completely typical, but it works really well, all signs of this tea being better than most versions by a good bit.
Of course personal preference doesn't drop out, with some objective quality level assessment entirely superseding that; if someone liked a more conventional Mi Lan Xiang better they wouldn't be wrong. They're often brighter in character, often fruity in peach range versus floral. Sweetness can be slightly stronger, and it's typical for a characteristic astringency to stand out a little more. This covers a lot of much deeper range, in terms of flavor, and the feel is richer and thicker. Aftertaste is significant, that sweetness and mineral range trails over, but it stands out more for the feel than for that.
1988: it's working better; old furniture flavor has replaced the old barn wood effect. Aged oolongs can often taste more like this, even for versions that are only a few years old. Hints of what lies beyond now show up more, a deeper fruit richness, centered on heavy dried fruit range. Next round the shift might continue enough to pick up more about that part. I'm stopping short of saying this tea has been too negatively impacted by aging effect but without other positive experience coming after this, in the following rounds, concluding that would work.
Fourth infusion
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the pictures get redundant right about here |
I went a bit over 10 seconds, versus just under, to see how these work out brewed slightly stronger. At a really high proportion (or what would be more normal for how I brew a lot of teas, up around 8 or 9 grams per a 90-100 ml gaiwan versus 5 instead, as I'm preparing these) the only infusion time to use would be really fast, at or under 5 seconds. Dropping the proportion just a little gives you some leeway. That and it's all I had for a sample size.
I don't weigh teas, to be clear; maybe I'm off on proportions in general, or on what these samples weighed. It's probably strange that I'm an engineer and much prefer loose process, but then for people clear on the difference between engineering and research science maybe that's exactly what they would expect. Engineers often tend to get things to work and then shift back to replicating that, even though in theory that's not how things should go.
Lao Cong: the perfume-like character is much stronger brewed slightly stronger. This is still mainly in that sweet, rich, floral range. I've not said much for "what flower;" for as rich as this is it leans a little towards lavender. It's also still in a typical orchid range, and I can't break that down to different orchid versions. The sweet range within the floral tone isn't so different than plumeria (that one flower associated with Hawaii, at least in my mind, but all over the place in Bangkok too). It's just that the rest is richer, even still within the floral range. It's hard to be clear on what I mean by warm mineral underlying that, and how I see the flavor richness as hinting towards a roasted almond, in relation to how those aspects balance, the relative input of all of it. So it goes with describing flavors.
1988: this tea is the best it has been every round; that continues. The aged furniture effect finally is giving way to a perfume-like aspect, not completely different than in the other tea version, just a bit different in form, and how it works out in relation to the rest. This still tastes like aged furniture, but picking up a floral oriented perfume / liqueur like additional range balances that, with both fairly even in proportion in this round.
To be clear when I say "aged furniture" I intend that as describing the effect from smelling very old hardwoods, along with aromatic oils typically used to preserve those, with both shifted in aspect range due to long aging. I tend to go into storage rooms in local Bangkok Buddhist temples that house old religious artifacts and varying furniture; like that smells. Some people's homes here tend to look like museums, rooms with wood paneled walls, filled with tropical wood furniture, old photos, and artifacts of all kinds, and those can acquire a similar smell.
I do like the tea at this stage. It's a novel experience; it's almost more about that experience of novelty than a match to conventional likes in aspects. It works across both but novelty stands out more.
Fifth infusion
It won't do the 1988 version justice but I'll probably let note-taking go after this round. It just gets to be a bit much, spending two full hours writing a tea review, with the other messing around that comes up. A second full page of text also seems like overkill, and it doesn't work well to just write about the changes, although that is possible.
Lao Cong: perfume-like rich floral character keeps increasing. Or maybe this pegged on maximum related to that and it just takes me by surprise every round. It's more straight floral now, in proportion, with the underlying mineral and other rich flavor range giving way just a little, with intensity of that floral range seeming to pick up as a result. This version of this type is so good that it's uncharacteristic, even though I interpret this as a likely perfectly type-typical example of a higher quality version. Is that clear? I mean that it's not like a normal Mi Lan Xiang, but instead of this not being how they're supposed to be it may well be the case that this is, and a standard example isn't.
Never mind if that intention isn't clear; the whole point is a bit philosophical. I expected this tea to be good, because Peter's teas often are, but not like this, redefining potential range a little. I wonder what he says about it, but then this post will have included that in the first section, if conventional form holds [editing note: I'll get back to that in conclusions].
1988: again the best it's been. I often say that aged oolongs tend to lose flavor intensity across some range, get "plummy" (at least rolled versions, not so much for twisted styles), and pick up depth, but it's hard to describe what that depth relates to in this. It has it.
I can't say that mustiness has completely cleared but in the conventional sense that category would apply it has, completely. There's a base slate-mineral layer, and a faint aged wood layer, and more prominent aged furniture scope, and beyond that light but notable floral tone, in perfume-like range, between liqueur and the solvents used to carry perfume scents. That's a lot going on, with some "deeper layers" grounding all the rest. Oddly it doesn't come across as complex or intense in flavor at all; it lands on a simple, clean character, which completely contradicts what is implied in that complex description.
So there you have it. I'm bored with this review process, at least related to taking notes, but I'll drink another 4 or 5 rounds of these.
Two rounds later, now extending infusion times to a bit over 15 seconds to compensate, results are what you would expect. The Lao Cong version is thinning but still really good. The other won't "clean up" or change in profile beyond this, but it's pleasant, interesting, layered, and complex as it stands now. I probably wouldn't want to pay a market value to have this kind of experience but it's really novel [it's out of stock, off the market, but pricing level hadn't been as high as I expected].
Conclusions
All the old conclusions no longer apply related to the Lao Cong version, since I was trying to make sense of why it's that good. Now the review description matches the listing, related to quality level, what one would expect out of a version a few years old (4, this spring), and the pleasant rich feel, complex flavors, and pronounced underlying mineral.
Some people say that once you try much better tea versions then it's hard to go back to more standard teas. I don't share that experience; I can drink much better teas once in awhile, recognize and appreciate what they are, and then go right back to drinking more conventional range versions, or lots of interesting teas that still aren't at that level. I stop short of still enjoying Lipton tea bag tea or CTC Assam but not that much short of that, and if push comes to shove it's novel to drink those with milk and sugar once in a long while.
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I drank Lipton in April 2019, doing a caffeine detox on a trip; this was a maintenance dose |
The 1988 version was good, in the sense of it being really interesting trying aged teas. It took four rounds for the storage effect to clear up, so it didn't retain as much of it's potential as it could have, but the rest was certainly novel and complex.
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