Tag: Phoenix Oolong

Mystery Tea: Laoximen Milan Xiang

Tea: Milan Xiang  （蜜兰香, Honey Orchid) is a type of fenghuang dancong wulong (single-tree phoenix oolong) from Guangdong Province. Though the Chinese name of the tea typically includes the “honey” character (蜜), sometimes sellers called it use the “rice” character (米) and still others use “secret” (密). As far as I can tell, they’re all the same tea. The Chinese names sound slightly different depending on the character, but it is always romanized to Milan Xiang or Mi Lan Xiang.  Milan Xiang is a subspecies of Shui Xian/ Shui Hsien (水仙), which originates from Fujian Province. Over time, the popularity of the tea caused sellers to grow it all over the place, including Guangdong Province.

 

Company: N/A, I bought the tea at Laoximen Tea City in Shanghai.

Price per Gram: 4 RMB/ ~60 cents per gram, bought “on sale” for 2 RMB/~30 cents per gram (based on current conversion rates)

 

Brewing Method: Normally, I prefer to brew Milan Xiang at 6-8 grams per 100 ml, but I’d had a light lunch when I tasted this, so I decided to brew 5 grams in 100 ml. Brewing it a little weak meant I wouldn’t get as sick from the caffeine. The first steep was for 30 seconds at about 95 degrees Celsius. Each subsequent brew was about 10 seconds longer.

Appearance & Smell of the Leaf:  After heating the teaware, I placed the leaves in the gaiwan and gave it a shake. The leaves smelled like ground coffee. There was a slight hint of dried Chinese bayberry.  As for the appearance, they were a long and twisted with dark chocolate brown color. There were broken bits as well, but those broken leaves most likely came from me shoving the bag of tea into my suitcase unprotected when I returned to my apartment.

Laoximen Milan Xiang Dry leaves
Laoximen Milan Xiang’s dry leaves

First Steep: The aroma transformed from dried coffee grounds to wet ones, and it took on a heavy fruity note. There was also a bit of sourness I find characteristic of Milan Xiang. You could probably compare it to artificial sour apple flavoring, but this fragrance was a bit less sweet. It you were to take sour apple and remove the sweetness, you would have the aroma of Milan Xiang. Although it may sound gross to some, I also detected a bit of a pickle juice smell. The sour apple note was stronger, but the pickle juice sourness was there.

 

The tea liquor was an pink-orange color that wasn’t too dark. When I tasted the tea, I realized it was more floral that fruity. It was much weaker than I’m used to but still satisfying.  There as a little bit of bitterness, but I imagine that came from the broken leaves.

 

Second Steep: The color of the tea was much more distinctly orange and the character started to come out. The roast came to life, giving a stronger coffee flavor. Aerating the tea brought a sweet flavor into the mix. I couldn’t for the life of me identify the floral note. I liked it so much that I wished this Milan Xiang could be a daily drinker, but it was too expensive and I had too little on hand. The huigan (aftertaste) kept rushing forward while I spoke into my phone to take audio notes. It was very intense. Milan Xiang had a medium mouth feel.

 

Third Steep: After the third steep, the leaves had started to open. They had lightened significantly from a deep, soil brown to a color similar to red clay. I also found some stems in the tea, which I was not too happy about. I picked them out and continued brewing. For some reason, the mouthfeel grew thicker rather than thinner. The third steep was almost syrupy in character and just as sweet. The roasted flavor became weaker and the floral/fruity notes became stronger. Basically, the overall flavor profile of the tea stayed the same but the balance shifted. When I played around with the tea in my mouth, it tasted rather soapy (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). I could see how someone new to tea would enjoy this one.

 

The conclusion: The hole-in-the-wall tea always seems to be the best. I loved this tea so much, and I always love the tea from this seller. The issue is that I can’t buy it often because it’s simply out of my budget. He has a pretty successful business though, and some fairly loyal customers. Clearly they also like his tea and his company. I ended my session after four brews, then I stored the leaves in the refrigerator so I could drink them later.

Wudong Tea: Yulan Xiang（玉兰香）

Tea: Yulan Xiang / Magnolia Fragrance is a type of fenghuang dancong (single tree phoenix oolong).

Company: Wudong Tea/ Chaozhou Tea Growers

Price per Gram: 30 to 34 cents ($15 – $17 per 50 gram packet).

 

Brewing Method: After my last brewing disaster, I decided to find new brewing instructions for the tea. I found something that said to use 2 – 5 grams of tea for 225 ml gaiwans. My gaiwans are typically about 100 ml, so I did some quick math and decided on 3 grams of tea and 95 degree water. I later found the brewing instructions on the seller’s website. They’re similar to the method I used, but they call for a slightly higher leaf-to-water ratio (5 – 8 grams for 120 – 150 ml, depending on preferred strength) and shorter brewing times.

 

yulan xiang dry leavesa

Appearance & Smell of the Leaf: The dry leaves were long and twisted, but not super thin. There were browns, dark moss-green leaves and spring greens. They were relatively unbroken when I received them.

 

I learned that Yulan Xian translates to “magnolia fragrance.” I have no idea what magnolias smell like (to be honest, my repertoire of flowers is super limited). The leaves smelled like artificial grape flavoring and dried apricot. I liked it a lot, and could definitely smell that it was a phoenix oolong.

 

First Steep: I started with a quick rinse. The liquor was light and left me skeptical. I tasted the rinse, just because I wanted to, and I was struck by how thin it was. After the rinse, I brewed the tea for about 1 minute. The wet leaf smelled like cranberry wensleydale cheese and was a lot brighter than the dry leaf. It smelled like my hair product (Kinky Curly Knot Today, which contains things like marshmallow root, slippery elm, mango  fruit extract and some fragrance). The tea liquor was a super pale yellow.

 

When I tasted the tea, I was unimpressed. I didn’t find the tea pleasant at all. It tasted like what I imagine furniture polish must taste like, with a strong baking soda after taste. I could taste notes similar to what I detect in certain tieguanyin (iron goddess) teas. It was very “green” in flavor, but not green enough to be classified a green tea.

 

Second Steep: I meant to add just 15 seconds to the brew, but I wound up adding 30 seconds. This time, the tea liquor was a little furry and was more the color of pale urine. It had more yellow in it than the previous brew. The flavor had not changed all that much. It was very light and I actually started to suspect my water. The flavor of the water came through more than the flavor of the tea.

 

yulan xiang tea liquor

I felt bad because I received these samples for free and I really wanted to like them but they weren’t doing anything for me. I figure that perhaps I just don’t like dancong’s that much. Maybe I can’t enjoy the complex flavors. Later brews were more pleasant than the first two brews, and stronger brews were definitely better.

 

Yulan Xiang was so thin it felt like water, despite the fuzziness. There was also a bit of astringency but not so much that the tea wasn’t refreshing. I guess you could compare the feeling of drinking Yulan Xiang to drinking fresh spring water. I’m drawn to oolongs because of their variety, and I’d love to be able to enjoy something more delicate than my typical cliff tea. One of these day’s I’ll get it, I’m sure. 🙂

 

Actually, I still had about 3.5 grams of Yulan Xiang left, so I brewed it just before writing this post. The larger amount of leaf definitely solved the thinness problem, and the liquor was darker, but my other observations remained pretty much the same. The second time around, however, I found myself better able to enjoy the tea. Perhaps it really is just a matter of getting your taste buds accustomed to the flavor.

 

Despite feeling tepid towards the tea itself, I loved the look of the wet leaves. They totally transformed and were unrecognizable from the shriveled dark leaves I started with. The wet leaves are bright green with some orange-red and brown-red leaves mixed in. They glisten in the relatively clear tea liquor. If anything, this tea is fun to take photos of.

 

Here’s the first tea I tried from Wudong Teas. My impression was not as positive as this one. Would I recommend Yulan Xiang? If you like dancong then yes, this is probably really good. If you’re on the fence about it, perhaps you should stick to more popular and readily available varietals. While some teas can be over hyped, there’s usually a reason one or two teas become more popular than the rest.

yulan xiang in filled gaiwan

 

Wudong Tea: “Dawuye” （大乌叶）

Tea: Dawuye is a a type of fenghuang dancong. In other words, it is a single tree phoenix oolong.

Company: Wudong Tea

Brewing Method: I debated whether to brew the tea Dawuye in Guangdong style (lots of leaf, with a long steep time) or Wuyi Style (lots of leaf, with unusually short brewing times). I ultimately decided to go with Guangdong style because I wanted to push this tea to the edge.

 

dawuye dry leavesDawuye’s leaves were beautiful. They were long, dark and twisted. They were mostly dark green with a few flecks of grass and hay-yellow leaves mixed in. The leaves reminded me of a higher grade Shou Mei (white tea). Before I heated the gaiwan, the leaves smelled like smoked dried plums or waxberry or similar dried fruit. After I heated the gaiwan, the leaves smelled green. I’d compare it to Fukamushi tea of Biluochun. Overall, the leaves smelled grassy and vegetal, a little like asparagus, but not overwhelmingly so. You could also compare the smell to cooked cabbage.

 

First Steep

For the first brew I steeped the tea for a full minute. Interestingly, the wet leaves smelled like macaroni and cheese and the leaves were even more gorgeous than before. The greens were glistening; they really popped. Dawuye’s tea liquor was very, very golden. Once again, it reminded me of the vibrancy of Japanese green tea. You could also compare the color to certain sheng (raw) puers. The liquor was surprisingly cloudy. There were a lot of particles and dust, even though I used a filter. I’m not sure whether the dust came from the shipping or whether it’s a feature of the tea, but if it’s a flaw I doubt it was the farmer’s fault.The leaves I received were, for the most part, quite long and unbroken.

 

Despite the beautiful leaves, the vibrant liquor and decent aroma, my first sip of the tea was unpleasant. It tasted like a bad Tieguanyin (Iron Goddess). The tea was extremely bitter with an after taste of baking soda. Though I like the flavor of baking soda, this particular tasting note offended me. I was unhappy drinking the tea, but I decided to take another sip. When I aerated the Dawuye liquor (by slurping it) and breathing out of my nose, I could sense a hint of a floral note, but it was unclear what that flower was. I eventually just poured the tea out. The empty fairness pitcher smelled exactly like the floral note I detected while drinking the tea. It faintly reminded me of Milan Xiang (Honey Orchid).

 

Second Steep

For the second brew, I decided to steep for 30 seconds. The liquor remained cloudy. I read somewhere on dawuye liquorthe internet that you can’t really start to fully appreciate phoenix oolong teas until the third steep, so I wasn’t about to give  up so soon. I hoped the second steep would be better than the first.

 

With the second brew, the initial bitterness had gone away. Because I changed the steeping parameters (I shortened the time, and the water had cooled down a bit), I’m guessing the milder flavor was a result of the combination of changes, rather than a result of a single change. After this experience, I would not recommend brewing tea Guangdong style. I’d suggest reducing the amount of tea or increasing the amount of water. I have gaiwans that are around 120 or 150 milliliters, which would be better for 8 grams of dancong. The brew had a medium mouthfeel. It wasn’t thin like water, but it wasn’t something you could chew on; Dawuye’s liquor was slightly viscous. I also detected a dry finishing note, which I enjoyed.

 

The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) flavor was still present. I guess that particular tasting note might have to do with the minerality of the tea and my water. For health reasons, I must use bottled water when in China, but I try to use water that still has some of the naturally occurring minerals in it. I use the same water for all of my tea.

 

The huigan (aftertaste) was highly floral. The vegetal notes were still present, but the floral aroma was the most prominent feature of this brew. Wudong Tea’s Dawuye was not bad; I just don’t think it was my style.

 

Third Steep

I added ten seconds to this and subsequent brews, which means the third steep was about 40 seconds long. The showed no signs of letting up; it was certainly a tea that I could brew for a long time if I chose to. It was stubbornly dark. On the third brew the bitterness calmed down even more while the dryness ticked up. The floral-ness became more apparent in the initial taste, but it still mostly lived in the aftertaste. Aerating the tea did almost nothing for the flavor, which is strange for a phoenix oolong. While I was slurping, I actually tasted more astringency in the back of my mouth.The tea tasted like bitter medicinal herbs. I could only describe the tea as ku (bitter).

 

Subsequent Steeps

The fourth and fifth brews of the tea were better than the first three, but I stopped drinking because I wasn’t enjoying it. I’m grateful for the samples Wudong Tea (Chaozhou Tea Grower) sent me but I had to give up on it. I’m excited to try the other samples they sent. Perhaps I’ll find something I like.

The Phoenix Failed to Take Flight

Tea is such a weird thing. Even just one type of tea has several subcategories and varieties. Besides pu’er, I think oolong is the most varied type of tea. Oolong tea has three subcategories: phoenix, cliff/rock, and tieguanyin/Iron Goddess. Of the three I prefer cliff teas, and I have equal preference for phoenix oolongs and Iron Goddess teas, though I really only like traditional-style Iron Goddess (the new-age stuff just doesn’t taste as good to me).

 

One of the teas Teasenz sent me was a phoenix oolong (凤凰单枞/fenghuang dancong). These days, most sellers in the west refer to all phoenix oolongs as simply “phoenix” or “dancong” which is frustrating because while “dancong” literally means something to the effect of “single tree/fir,” these days dancongs have just as much variety as other types of tea. There’s 蜜兰香/Milan Xiang (Honey Orchid) and 鸭屎香/Yashi Xiang (Duck Sh*t, it doesn’t taste like that I promise). There are probably others I haven’t heard of, but I’m not a huge dancong drinker so I have a lot of exploration left to do.

 

The tea I got from Teasenz was also labeled “Dan Cong.” I looked on the website to try to figure out which dancong it was, but I didn’t find any information. Teasenz does offer a dancong sampler with five different dancongs though, so I might try that out some day.

 

In Greek mythology, phoenixes are flying bird-like creatures that die in a plume of flames and are born again from the ashes of their predecessor. The volatile compounds of phoenix oolongs react with oxygen to create vivid and rapidly changing flavors and aromas. Taking in air by slurping the tea gives rise to a new flavor profile.

 

To brew Teasenz’s Dan Cong, I used 4 grams of tea and 100 degree water. I’m hoping to get a variable temperature electric kettle in the future, so I can control one more aspect of tea tasting. Dan Cong’s leaves were black, thin and slightly twisted. There were splashes of green mixed into the sea of black. The dry leaves smelled strongly of ripe nectarines with the slight pungency of mild cheddar cheese. I wouldn’t say the pungent odor was cheesy per se, but cheese is the closes approximation I can come up with. When I wet the leaf, they turned bright green and I smelled wilting roses.

Image of Dan Cong Dry leaves
Dan Cong Dry Leaves
Image of Dan Cong Liquor
Dan Cong Tea Liquor

The first brew of Dan Cong was a very clear yellow-white. It looked a bit like white wine and had a medium-thin mouth feel. For some reason, this Dan Cong tasted a bit like traditional Tieguanyin mixed with wet grass. Dan Cong’s aftertaste was surprisingly woody, though now that I think about it perhaps saw dust is a more accurate descriptor. The tea tasted like I was chewing on a mouthful of sunflower seeds with the shells on.

 

In the end though, I was disappointed by how one-note the tea was. Usually dancongs are vibrant and interesting. They usually smell and taste like fruits and flowers, and change just as you start to think you’re getting to know the tea. Even when I slurped this Dan Cong, the flavor remained the same. I did enjoy the lightness of the tea though. It was quite sweet, which is to be expected of dancong oolongs, but this one was extra sweet. Besides the sweetness,  however, Teasenz’s Dan Cong was rather bland.

 

If you’re willing to try this Dan Cong, you can find it on their website.

 

 

 

 

 

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