I'm reviewing a Dan Cong sample passed on by Peter, the owner of Tea Mania, on his visit here not so long ago. I expected this tea version to be pretty good but it exceeded my expectations. It's this:
Da Wu Ye, 2020, $28 for 50 grams
Da Wu Ye is a little known Dan Cong oolong from Fenghuang. That’s too bad because Da Wu Ye is one of our favorites. It is characterized by its particularly fruity aroma which is underlaid with a subtle fragrance of flowers. This type of oolong is also called Phoenix Dan Cong and can be infused several times.
Dan Cong Oolong is grown on the slopes of the Pheonix mountains around the city Fenghuang together with other crops and is partly wild. Through this high biodiversity are pest naturaly controlled and the use of pesticides is unnecessary. The Phoenix Mountain range extends between a height of 300 and up to 1500m. The climate with an average temperature of 22°C is considered mild.
Tea production in Chaozhou has a thousand year old tradition and the historical knowledge of the art of tea is passed on from generation to generation. 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: Spring 2020
Taste: fruity and flowery-fresh
Oxidation: approx. 50%
Origin: Tianzhukeng in Fenghuang, Chaozhou, China
I don't go into detail on it in the review, indirectly mentioning it, but producers will sometimes age oolong versions with a slightly higher roast level, because that can fade in a more optimum way over time. Not for 5 or 10 years, nothing like a sheng pu'er transition; the teas settle over a few years. I think that's one part of why the balance of this version seems pretty close to ideal right now.
Review:
First infusion: just wonderful, fruity, intense, smooth, refined, with great depth. And this is just the first round. Dan Cong is a special category range to me, and good Dan Cong is almost a different kind of thing than just decent Dan Cong.
Floral range is strong; this has that perfume-like quality that marks out better Dan Cong versions. It also leans towards the flavor of a very ripe peach. Astringency input is quite moderate. That may be due in part to this being four years old, to aging a bit, but then the harsh astringency that people sometimes associate with Dan Cong has more to do with average or below average quality versions. My guess is that lower elevation, higher production versions are pushed a bit for output, requiring use of more chemical fertilizer input, which doesn't help the overall character. But I really don't know.
Oxidation level and roast input are so well balanced in this that it's hard to even notice those parts. It couldn't integrate any better than it does; it also couldn't express more refinement or depth. It makes you wonder just how good this is, on the scale of all that's out there. I couldn't say, but I'd guess that it's pretty far up that scale. Sweetness is perfect, feel is rich, a pleasant fruit and warm floral range hangs around after you drink the tea. It's complex but it comes across as simple, because it's all so integrated.
#2: Intensity picks up, even though I brewed this quickly. It's odd not having negative character aspects to brew around, but flavor intensity itself potentially being higher than optimum, needing to adjust brewing time to limit it related to that. Floral range is something else this round. It's complex floral scope; the right person could list a few flower types that go into it. I would guess that orchids and lavender stand out, but taste-memory of floral tones isn't one of my strengths.
So why don't I drink more Dan Cong? I don't buy tea that costs over 50 cents a gram, due to budget limitations, and this really should run a good bit higher than that [later edit: it's right about that; a pretty good deal, for as good as this is]. I can get more moderate quality versions here in my favorite Chinatown shop (Jip Eu) at pretty standard specialty tea pricing, maybe $15 for 100 grams.
Also sheng pu'er ruins me for oolong experience. I think it's due to the intensity being dialed up for that type in a different way; flavor hits hard, feel is intense, sweetness and bitterness balance each other, and there might even be a cha qi / body feel theme that I tend to discount, but probably really do appreciate, on some level.
This Dan Cong experience is probably more amazing because it's been awhile since I've had Dan Cong, probably longer since I've had a really good version of it. But if I drank this a half dozen times I'd probably crave that other intensity. It's like anything else, that if a little is good more is better; the rush from intense exercise, food experience going further and further, movie taste turning to more and more intense characters, more developed stories and action.
It's probably all a bad habit, on some level, always wanting more. Varying forms of resets could offset developed tolerance, that causes this pattern. I do keep food experience simple; there's that. I'm concerned about maintaining my body, so I eat a plain but balanced input of fruits, vegetables, grains, limited meat, dairy, eggs, and some nuts and seeds. But then even trying to be healthier and healthier could get a little out of control.
Infusion 3: brewed faster, under 10 seconds this time, even though this must be about 6 or 7 grams, it's also pleasant lighter. Floral and fruit range is still intense. That would offset astringency input, if there was more of that. It's down to rich feel, which works. Aftertaste still comes out, even brewed light.
It's hard for me to imagine anyone not loving this. For lots of tea versions I get a bit tripped up explaining how I either do or don't like an aspects set and overall experience, but others may or may not. I guess if someone acclimated to a limited, heavier, more challenging range maybe they just couldn't relate. If they mostly drank shou pu'er maybe it would be too light, and too sweet. Who would mostly drink shou pu'er? It can be fine as a main preference but not as a main basis for a tea habit.
Again oxidation and roast inputs are so well balanced in this that they're invisible. Of course it should balance exactly like this. I wonder how it would've been different 4 years ago? Maybe it included a touch more edge, and forward intensity stood out, now swapped out for that plus depth?
#4: I'll brew this a little longer and let note taking go. The point of these posts is to tell the main story, not all of the story. It could transition a little but I doubt that's a main theme for this tea version. For sure the quality level will hold up, and it will be worth it to keep stretching rounds as long as they keep up.
Stronger flavors are drawn out brewing it stronger (approaching 20 seconds). Not just more intensity, but depth of warm mineral and richer aromatic spice range extract, and feel gains some structure, maybe even a limited edge. For a sheng drinker not much edge, but it gives it a different form of balance.
I've spoken in the past about a liqueur-like quality that some better twisted style oolongs express, along the lines of cognac, and this exhibits that. I see it as a "quality marker." All the aspects in this are quality markers; it falls into a great balance, with good intensity in all the right spots. I could write a few poetic sentences on aftertaste experience alone, but it's hard to capture, even using symbolic language.
As I walk out in the driveway here, filled with walls of plants, and fragrant flowering tropical vines, at certain times of the day, when rain input is right, the scent is so strong that you almost feel it in addition to smelling it. It's a bit like that. My mother-in-law, the owner and creator of these gardens, after her earlier family started them generations ago, sees that sweet floral intensity as too strong, as unpleasant for being too much. I really don't; the plants have their own reasons for expressing themselves with so much intensity, and that's a marvel to me.
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you can't see it in this but the plant in the front-center is loaded with chili peppers |
In conclusion the tea is great.
It's odd saying it but for about 50 cents a gram this tea is also a great value, or so it seems to me. You could probably buy plenty of other versions from curator vendors, going on and on about how special, complex, refined, and rare their Dan Cong versions were, and not experience tea this good. Some aspect in it could be dialed up just a little, here or there, but the refinement, complexity, depth, and balance are really something.
To play the devil's advocate, to turn that around and consider possible limitations, no individual aspects are all that unusual in this, and it's not that far off normal Mi Lan Xiang character, so I could imagine someone seeing this as better than average but still ordinary. In a sense I would even agree. It's how it all balances that really makes the experience, how every part is really nice, and they combine well together.
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