Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Mi Lan Dancong Oolong and Laoshan Black are two of our favorite teas in existence. Little did we know that out there was a tea whose flavor profile perfectly combined the best elements of each. At least, until we found this Mi Lan Dancong Black.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wowza! This Mi Lan Dancong Black Tea from Verdant Tea is seriously awesome!
It’s been a little while since I’ve had a tea from Verdant (at least a couple of weeks!) and when I don’t have one of their teas for a while like this has been, I sometimes lose sight of just how amazing their teas really are! If you haven’t tried tea from Verdant Tea, you really are missing out. Their teas are spectacular, some of the very best that I’ve ever tried (and I’ve tried a few teas!)
The brewed tea has a lovely fragrance that reminds me of a dark Oolong with its notes of sweet honey, and then there are elements to the aroma that also remind me of a black tea like a subtle note of wood and spice. It’s really a pleasant experience to deeply inhale before taking a sip of this tea, it really enhances the overall sip by allowing the olfactory nerves to first experience the tea before the flavors wash over the palate.
As I sip, I notice a slight vegetative tone that is kind of unexpected. I don’t usually experience vegetal notes with black teas … but here, I do. The tasting notes on Verdant Tea’s website suggest notes of avocado, and being a California girl, I have to disagree somewhat (I know my avocados!) but, I do see where the comparison can be made. This is more savory than the avocados I grew up with (my grandparents had an avocado tree in their backyard!) but, there is a certain creamy element to this that is vaguely avocado-esque. There is also a slightly sour note … reminding me of an avocado that has been sliced and then doused with lemon juice to maintain its color. So … yes, I do see the comparison.
I love all the contrasting flavors within this cup. The aforementioned sour and savory tones unite with the thinned honey-esque notes that sweeten the cup. And then there are the amazing floral tones that dance on the palate! Such a beautiful tea, very satisfying afternoon cuppa!
Mi Lan Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Mi Lan Xiang, literally “Honey Orchid Fragrance” is a real understatement for this tea. The aroma is absolutely heady and enveloping, like walking into a temple burning sandalwood incense with lotus flowers strewn about, and a faint whiff of pine sap and honeydew melon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t know why I am sitting here in utter amazement. You’d think that by now, I’d come to expect an exceptional tea from Verdant, and really, I do expect just that, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that such an expectation would render me not so surprised when the tea is indeed exceptional.
But here I sit, astonished and really, quite bowled over at how good this tea is.
The aroma of the dry leaf should have tipped me off. It smells incredible, and is quite like it’s described in the above “Tea Description.” I smell notes of burning incense, flowers and melon. I also smell something not mentioned in the aforementioned tea description: freshly baked goods. My mouth began watering as I stood there, in a daze by the smell of such a delectable fragrance.
I steeped this the way I would normally steep a quality Oolong tea – in my gaiwan, using short steeps following a quick rinse, combining the results of two infusions in one cup and savoring the mixture.
The first cup offered notes of spice and wood. In my first couple of sips, I did not taste a “lotus” like flavor, but as I continued to sip, the lotus flavor developed. I found this first cup to be more savory with hints of a honey-esque sweetness underneath, rather than the other way around. Many times, with Oolong tea it tends to be quite sweet with notes of savory to contrast the sweetness, here it’s the other way around with more savory tones and the occasional sweet note to contrast the savory qualities. The sip finishes dry with a mineral-y kind of taste, and the aftertaste starts out clean, with more of a melon-like sweetness developing in the aftertaste as I continue to sip.
The second cup is smoother, with more fruit tones. Citrus-y, with a tangy astringency at the tail. The description on the website suggests a grapefruit-like taste and I’d agree with that assessment. I am experiencing less mineral at the finish this time, and the finish is less dry … in fact, I’d describe it as almost juicy. The sweetness is less like honey this time, with the sweetness focused more on the fruit notes. I am finding the woody tones developing, and the floral notes becoming softer in this cup.
With my third and final cup, I noticed the flavors becoming a bit softer and smoother, and yet … somehow richer. The fruit notes are well-pronounced now, and the spice tones have become more significant. The floral notes are not completely gone, but I find that I notice them primarily at the finish and in the aftertaste, and not so much during the sip, which seems to have become mostly about the fruit notes, a hint of wood and earth, and a lovely set of spices.
A lovely, complex cup. Definitely a tea I’d recommend to all who enjoy a good cup of Oolong. It is worth the effort to infuse it multiple times, as each cup produced becomes an adventure.
Tong Tian Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
This Dancong offers a full and engaging tasting experience. In early steepings, a crisp mineral or stone quality dominates the texture with a rosewood quality on the sides of the palate. Soon, a mouth-watering juicy note of apricot makes an entrance and continues to build up a thicker body for the tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have tried Dancong teas in the past, but I don’t think I’ve tasted one quite like this one.
The first two steepings produced a flavor that is very mineral-y, I can almost feel the minerals on my tongue! This experience was a little jarring – ok, quite jarring – because I found myself having very little to say about those early sips except for the taste and texture of mineral. As I continue to sip, I notice fruit tones – yes, apricot, just as the description suggests.
These first steepings are thinner than I expected from an Oolong, but that is not meant to sound like a bad thing, because I find the texture to be quite interesting, especially the almost grain-y kind of feel on the tongue. The flavor is light but it teases the palate with flavors to come: more sweet, juicy apricot, hints of wood, and a honey-esque sweetness that slowly develops in the background and then begins to wash over the palate with every sip.
With the third and fourth steepings, the mineral texture and taste remained, but it had softened somewhat, allowing for the apricot notes to shine through more distinctly. The sip starts off soft, almost silky, and soon develops a mouthfeel that reminds me a little bit of a Darjeeling tea with its light, crisp quality and dry, somewhat astringent finish. Even with the astringency, I find these steepings to be remarkably soothing, especially at the start with its silky soft (it’s almost fluffy!) presentation.
Later infusions become softer in texture. The mineral-y taste and texture is but a memory, and now I have a tea that is much more like an “Oolong.” That is, much more like what I might expect from an Oolong. The flavor is sweet and slightly creamy. I notice hints of spice and wood which meld together in a taste that I want to describe as “wilderness” – it is as if I can actually taste the “wild” in this wild-picked tea.
Quite remarkable, really, this tea. But really, as Verdant has proven itself to offer nothing but the best, I expected nothing less!
Lingtou Dancong Oolong from Qing Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Qing Tea
Product Description:
Fenghuang Dancong wulong tea has a history of about 900 years. Nowadays there are still about 3000 tea bushes left of this kind that range from 200 up to 400 years old. Fenghuang Dancong wulong tea is named after a mountain in the northeast of Guangdong province. Like supreme tea plantations elsewhere, Fenghuang mountain also possesses all aspects necessary for producing great tea such as: high altitude, abundant rainfall, short periods of sunshine and diffused light.
Fenghuang Dancong is a typical Guangdong wulong tea, with a high degree of oxidation and a taste that resembles lychee fruit. This tea bears resemblances with Wuyi tea, yet Guangdong wulong tea has become a style of tea cherished by tea lovers all over the world.
Taster’s Review:
This Oolong is delightful!
As the description suggests, it does have a taste that is somewhat reminiscent of lychee fruit. There are also distant notes of smoke and a front note of flower. Such a beautifully complex tea, this Lingtou Dancong!
While the aroma of this tea is a bit lighter than some Oolong teas I’ve encountered, there is no lacking for flavor here. The palate is immediately greeted with a floral note (Orchid, perhaps?) which is followed up with the lychee note I previously mentioned. The smoky taste weaves throughout the sip, never making itself dominate within the taste, rather it merely hints at its presence.
The flavor is sweet with a distinct sour note with a suggestion of savory bitterness toward mid-sip. The mouthfeel is not as well-defined with this Oolong as it is with other Oolong teas. That is neither good nor bad in my eyes, simply different. There is some astringency to this cup, but it is not a pucker-y or an overly drying astringency.
I suggest resteeping the leaves several times – with each subsequent infusion, the flavor changes only slightly, but I notice different flavors with each. In the third and fourth infusions, the flavor is slightly sweeter and smoother than in the first two. By the fifth and sixth infusions, I notice very little of the smoky essence while the overall taste becomes almost seamless.This tea is top-notch, and I highly recommend it to all Oolong lovers out there!