An aroma like no other - this is a MIGHTY Dan Cong Oolong with a fragrance and taste that is gushing with pomelo zestiness, honey sweetness and exotic floral exuberance.
We all love Dan Cong (Fenghuang) Oolongs for their potent aromatics, in fact, it is very hard to find one that does not smell delicious. But, as with everything in tea sourcing, the experience is often a letdown - superficial and meh.
Finding a truly masterful Dan Cong takes time, contacts and patience.
This Pomelo Flower Honey was a happy day in our sourcing year - it shone out from first sniff to last sip as a very special tea. Boldly aromatic with a unique character which persists throughout the tea experience.
This Fenghuang Oolong (Phoenix Oolong) is made from the You Zi cultivar and is often called Pomelo Flower. We have tasted quite a few of these over the years from the same village but have never selected any so my hopes were not particularly high when this landed on my tea sampling table.
Wow! The first sniff transported me to a Pomelo orchard with ripe and zesty fruits, redolent with sweet honeyed and flowery indulgence. It is a totally unique smell (even in the incredibly varied aromatics of Dan Cong tea) - sharp and focused with a near-overwhelming intensity.
The fragrance translates perfectly to a refreshing liquor which coats the mouth with a long and rich taste of herbal honey, lime flower, and, of course, the ever-present pomelo.
A special batch of Dan Cong which is already on regular rotation at our house.
Pomelo Flower Honey is one of Don and Celine's favourite teas of the year:
Learn more about Dan Congs
Join us in Wudong mountain to learn about the making of Dan Cong tea.
Dan Cong means 'Single Bush'. But not all Phoenix Oolong is actually a Dan Cong, in fact, most tea buyers will buy garden bush tea which is being sold as single bush. Similarly, any tea tree that is grown from seed could be called Dan Cong so this name is a bit erroneous.
Whatever the details of the name, one thing is for sure, the flavour difference between garden Phoenix Oolong and true Dan Cong Phoenix Oolong is remarkable. This is because of a few factors:
1. Garden tea is younger
The best tea comes from leaves that have high mineral content. The younger the tea bush the smaller the roots which means that they cannot absorb many minerals from the soil. Because the garden tea is cultivated together, each plant is competing with many neighbouring tea plants for the same minerals so they just can't get as much.
2. Variety of vegetation
Garden tea has almost no variety of vegetation. Semi wild Dan Cong however has plenty of vegetation and rocks around it. As the plant leaves fall or the rain filters through the rocks the soil is enriched with more variety of nutrients for the tea to absorb.
3. Harsher environment
The semi-wild Dan Cong Phoenix Oolong grows on steep and rocky mountains. This puts the plant under stress which means that the tea grows slowly. The slower the growth the richer the mineral content in the leaves making a more powerful and fragrant drink.
