Ju Duo Zai Dan Cong Oolong Tea * Spring 2016

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea Leaves
Flavors
Almond, Butter, Cherry, Cream, Floral, Geranium, Malt, Marshmallow, Mineral, Orchid, Plum, Sugar, Toast, Wood, Bitter, Toasted
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 oz / 86 ml

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6 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This tea was such a pain for me. First, it was one of those teas that I opened and then forgot about for a longer period of time than was appropriate (I noted a few small punctures at the top of...” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “Reviewing the Spring 2017 Ju Duo Zai. This tea is surprising in that in contradicts itself from beginning to end. When I opened the bag of this Ju Duo Zai, and saw that rather than being a very...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “Nose; Roasted chestnut, bananas foster, plantain, tangerine. Palate; roasted chestnut, baked yam, umami, slight tangerine, fullish feel, nice throat.” Read full tasting note
    89
  • “The dry leaves smell salty and umami, sort of like light kombu. I did two quick rinses of this tea. There is a super-light roasted scent to the wet leaves with that saltiness in the background. The...” Read full tasting note

From Yunnan Sourcing US

Ju Duo Zai is a rare varietal of Dan Cong Bush grown by just a few families in the Feng Huang (Phoenix) village area of Wu Dong Mountains. Ju Duo Zai is characterized by small-medium sized leaf, dark green appearance, with very large sawtooth edges. Ju Duo Zai is in fact the least grown varietal of Dan Cong.

After picking and processing into “mao cha” (lit. unfinished tea), the tea is roasted, stored and then roasted two more times at low temperature. This roasting is very gentle and you will notice that even though the dry tea leaves are black, when the tea is brewed the infused leaves are still mostly green in color. It is also called “Xing Ren Xiang” (Almond Aroma), although most Dan Cong processed into “Almond Aroma” style is not the Ju Duo Zai varietal.

The taste is sweet and fruity with a slight bitterness and no astringency. There is a slight roasted marshmallow sweetness and the tea lingers in the mouth and throat lubricating it even after you’ve completed your tea session.

Late April 2016 Harvest

About Yunnan Sourcing US View company

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6 Tasting Notes

81
1049 tasting notes

This tea was such a pain for me. First, it was one of those teas that I opened and then forgot about for a longer period of time than was appropriate (I noted a few small punctures at the top of the pouch, so I ended up sealing it in another pouch. That’s probably why I forgot about it). Second, I just never got to a point where I was comfortable brewing this one. I tried two different gongfu sessions, and one was pleasant, yet not exactly consistent, while the other just yielded exceedingly bland, boring tea. I then started brewing this tea Western and got much more desirable results compared to the second gongfu session. When this tea was good, I enjoyed it, but I never quite felt that I got it right.

[Note: Of the three preparations, the initial gongfu session was my favorite overall, so that is the one that will be described below.]

When it came to preparing this tea, I opted to gongfu 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water. After a quick rinse, I steeped the leaves for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 11 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 18 seconds, 22 seconds, 28 seconds, 35 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes. I know this was a weird way to do things, but it was rather late and I kept messing up my timing, so I had to keep making little adjustments until I got to the longer infusions.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves offered muted aromas of flowers, ripe plums, and sweetgrass. After the rinse, I picked up stronger floral scents (orchid, but there were other flowers there too. I kept thinking of both plumeria and geranium, but I wasn’t sure about either) and hints of roasted almond. The first infusion yielded no real difference on the nose as far as I could tell. In the mouth, the liquor offered delicate notes of roasted almond underscored by plum, sweetgrass, and orchid impressions. Subsequent infusions brought out a very smooth liquor without the expected dancong soapiness/slickness. I found emerging impressions of cream, butter, wood, and marshmallow joining stronger plum, sweetgrass, and orchid notes. There was definitely some geranium in there, and in places, I could find underlying impressions of minerals, rock sugar, cherry, malt, and toast. The later infusions were quick to wash out, offering very fleeting notes of minerals, cream, butter, and marshmallow with some distant, lingering hints of orchid, stone fruits, and sweetgrass.

I know most of the other reviewers rather liked this one, and while I did as well, I found it to be an odd tea. It was not exactly unpleasant, just rather different and difficult in my opinion. I know I should have gotten to it sooner after opening its pouch and then transferring it to a different storage vessel, but I still found a lot in this tea that held my interest. This intrigued me enough to want to give a fresher, more recent harvest a try.

Flavors: Almond, Butter, Cherry, Cream, Floral, Geranium, Malt, Marshmallow, Mineral, Orchid, Plum, Sugar, Toast, Wood

Preparation
6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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90
77 tasting notes

Reviewing the Spring 2017 Ju Duo Zai. This tea is surprising in that in contradicts itself from beginning to end. When I opened the bag of this Ju Duo Zai, and saw that rather than being a very dark, almost black-green like in the photo on the YS website, it was brown, I was happy and looking forward to the lightly roasted flavor. The leaves were very fine and rolled lengthwise. When I smelled the dry leaves, I was surprised. It didn’t smell like roast at all. The initial dry leaf aroma was more seaweed than roast. So, now I was expecting it to lean more like a green dan cong in flavor profile once brewed.

I did a rinse with near boiling water, and then steeped for 15 seconds for the first infusion. When I removed the lid of the gaiwan, the leaves had lost practically all of their brown color, and were olive green with some nice oxidation. I’m thinking to myself, ha!, I’ve got you now. You were green all along, and that explained the seaweed aroma. The wet leaves smelled like a young sheng pu-er.

One sip, and I had to chuckle. It didn’t taste green-leaning like I was expecting. Here we have a brown dry leaf that smells green, and once steeped, a green colored leaf that smells like a sheng pu-er, but tastes like a lightly roasted tea with even some fermented black tea notes in the first infusion.

I found this tea a very fun experience because of the constant surprises throughout the session. This would be a fun tea to have at a tea tasting with friends, and not tell the guests what it is, and have them try to guess at the various stages of preparation.

Addendum: I never experienced any bitterness in the Spring 2017 edition. It was smooth, sweet, and left a wet mouth feel.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 15 sec 2 g 1 OZ / 40 ML

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89
91 tasting notes

Nose; Roasted chestnut, bananas foster, plantain, tangerine.
Palate; roasted chestnut, baked yam, umami, slight tangerine, fullish feel, nice throat.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec

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358 tasting notes

The dry leaves smell salty and umami, sort of like light kombu.
I did two quick rinses of this tea.
There is a super-light roasted scent to the wet leaves with that saltiness in the background. The wet leaves are a dark green, and produce a fairly light-colored, light-scented liquor.
For me, each steep has a light-roasted taste. Slight bitterness. Thick and smooth coating left in the mouth.
I have read that dancong can be difficult to steep well, so I think I will need some more practice!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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