Golden Sail Yunnan Tuocha?

DPMaaUUg.2421$6S2.1598@trndny0210/4/06 15: snipped-for-privacy@junk.com

This is further complicated by the fact that several gardens in Darjeeling, Gopaldhara chief among them, produce teas that they call "oolong,:" some of which are truly lovely in taste and style. I agree with your sentiment that Darjeeling can no longer be considered a "black" or "red" tea since many of the leaf bits are decidedly greenish. Who knows.

Michael

Dominic & Michael,

Coicidentally, I just finished writing my musings about this Nepalese "oolong" that I thought resembled more a 2nd flush Darjeeling.

Phyll

Michael Plant wrote:

As far as I know, Dancong is one of the most frustratingly ambiguous terms in tea parlance. Literally it means single bush, as you know. I think two meanings related to the literal meaning are in use:

- a small tea lot made from a single shrub; and

- tea grown from relatively big tea trees rather than small, pruned tea bushes, and consequently harder and more expensive to harvest.

Both of these meanings are used primarily with oolong tea from the Phoenix Mountain (Fenghuang Shan) area, and both of them are probably used more as marketing hype than as honest description - think of "monkey-picked" for comparison.

But there's a third meaning, too. Some people use Dancong to signify any Phoenix Mountain oolong, and regard Fenghuang Dancong as a specific cultivar within this class.

I'm sure some people will disagree with the above, and I could be wrong. It wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't love these teas!

/Lew