Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: dark, long and somewhat twisted
Ingredients: oolong tea
Steep time: 15 seconds
Water Temperature: 200 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: golden amber
Dan Cong is definitely one of my favorite types of oolong. I love that there are so many varied tastes and aromas, even just within this family of teas. If you’d like to learn more about the different varieties, Derek from +Peony Tea S. wrote an excellent article. This particular one is known as almond fragrance. It can be a hard concept to understand because this tea did not necessarily taste like a mouth full of almonds. Tea is much more subtle than that. Try to imagine the aroma that would be in your sinuses after eating a bunch of almonds and that would be a bit more accurate. Floral undertones added complexity and a slight sweetness. The mouth-feel was fairly thick, another one of my favorite things about Dan Cong. I lost of how many infusions I did but it was likely to be around six or eight. This type of tea often develops an astringency once it is finished and that had not popped up yet so there were definitely a few rounds left.
Xing Ren Xiang sample provided by Peony Tea Shop.