Dan Cong Phoenix

Thanks to Teasenz sending me these samples!

I’ve been sick the last couple weeks, unable to smell or taste properly and that was horrible, that was the first time since I got really really into tea that I couldn’t appreciate tea and it was very unsettling, but finally I got my sense of smell back today, I have a whole bunch of new teas I couldn’t even sniff for weeks!!

The dry leaf here has a very earthy and woody aroma, the leaves look quite nice, maybe a tiny bit of breakage, but quite beautiful.
I filled the gaiwan maybe halfway, maybe a bit more. After sitting in the heated gaiwan, I got thick fruity notes of mango, pineapple, strawberry and hints of peppermint.
After the rinse, it has a nice earthy, woody, pine tree aroma with hints of mint and .. Can you smell bitterness? I’m temped to say that it smells bitter, sort of like plant stems as well. It’s a nice dancongy aroma
In the first steep, I can’t help but feel that there’s something .. missing. the mouthfeel is very flat, I mean it’s thick and creamy and smooth, but it’s like the mouthfeel is very separate from the taste, it feels almost one-dimensional in a way, it’s not dancing on my palate like Verdant’s did. Well, anyways, the flavours are actually very nice, lovely mango and earth/wood.
The second steep is a bit more alive, it’s creamier, with a pleasant bitterness that I’m quite enjoying. More mango with honey and flowers. The flavours linger for several minutes along with an increasing dryness in the tongue and roof of the mouth.
Some smokiness develops in the aroma with time, and the body unfortunately wound up thinning with each successive steep after number 2.
Dancongs for me are so calming and warming, very comforting, and this totally has all of that, and I’m actually really enjoying this, but around steep 6 or 7 the thinness that had developed became unpleasant and the body wound up putting me off more than I expected it to.
I think this is a really solid dancong for the price point ($0.13/g). I’ll get another session out of the sample which I’ll drink happily :) I am curious what cultivar this is, it doesn’t say anywhere.
I’d say it’s a nice entry level/daily drinker dancong

Sipdown. 3min, 8oz, 212F
Not a whole lot to say. Honey and a note I couldn’t place that I didn’t like much. I’ll let the previous rating stand.

From the Lewis & CLark TTB

This was a small sample, so I had to prepare it Western-style.

This is only my second Dan Cong; I really enjoyed the first so was looking forward to this one. It has a dark, spicy flavor, and long rich finish. Behind the spice, I can detect a sweet fruitiness, but also some bitterness in the finish.

Lewis & Clark Traveling Teabox – Tea #24
Another twisty dark oolong! I like this one more than the other, the Red Robe, because this has plenty of peach flavor.. it’s odd that it tastes like that, but I know these dan cong oolongs tend to do that. The Red Robe is mostly charcoal to me while this one still has hints of charcoal, but also PEACH. A little smokiness but I guess that naturally occurs with the charcoal. The second steep lost most of the peach and was sadly charcoal. When Teasenz was offering to send me samples, they sent over a new Dan Cong not in stock currently, a green one that is REALLY good. It’s like a Wen Shan Bao Zhong. So keep an eye out for it if you place an order at Teasenz!
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

From the Lewis and Clark TTB. No rating because this is my second Dancong Phoenix (the first I had was well more than a year ago).

Brewed Western-style. Steeping times: 2 min, 4, 8.

Grapes dominate the dry leaf aroma. The wet leaf aroma is floral as well as fruity, more evocative of mid/late-summer flowers rather than spring flowers. The peach-colored liquor is medium-bodied, clear, and muted bright. My brain is confused – it thinks the tea is heated juice! It really does taste like pure juice. Incredibly fruity and sweet, with notes of cherries, apricot, grapes, and starfruit.

Because of the flavor profile, this tea seems like it should be drunk during cool summer mornings or throughout autumn days.

This tea sample was provided for free in exchange for review. You can find it here: http://www.teasenz.com/feng-huang-dan-cong-phoenix-oolong-tea#.U-pCB_ldXX8

I have little experience with oxidized oolongs in general, but I always seem drawn to them when browsing. So I decided to choose both this tea and the Da Hong Pao as two of my free samples from teasenz. The leaves of this tea are dark, long, and twisty, similar to some black teas. They smell of autumn leaves with a tart fruitiness and some honey. I brewed about a teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half for 4 minutes.

The brewed tea smells very roasty with a lot of autumn leaf. I can also smell fruit and a bit of honey. I’m not sure if “autumn leaves” is a good descriptor for this flavor, but that’s really what I reminds me of! There’s a definite roasted characteristic to this tea, and it’s quite lovely. The main flavor is definitely that “autumn leaf” taste, though. There is a rather strong stonefruit note, reminding me most of apricots or tart plums, and it’s present throughout the sip. I definitely get some floral as well, although I couldn’t tell you what kind. On their website they list lotus as one of the flavors, so maybe that’s it? It’s not heady at all. The only complaint I have about this tea is the way it leaves my mouth feeling. I wouldn’t quite call it astringent, but it’s almost dusty-feeling? I’m not sure how to describe it. Anyway, a small price to pay for taste! :P