I placed and order with Jing Tea Shop, on Mike's recommendation. I got a few young pu cakes which I intend to let sleep awhile, but I also got one or two oolongs. This one in particular is very fine. There's a floral, perfumed note, but it's not obtrusive. And a lovely peach-like note - reminds me a bit of the peachy flavor that some Taiwanese oolongs deliver, with a tough of vanilla. The leaves look like a Wuyi rock oolong - long and thin. Wonderful stuff.
What part of China does Fenghuang Dancong come from?
Dancong comes from an area of the Guangdong province called the Chaoshan; more specifically, the city Chaozhou. It's located in the Northeastern portion of Guangdong close to the Fujian and Jiangxi borders. The tea does resemble Wuyi tea, so it's possible that each of the two places influenced each other's tea making style.
Then again, Wuyi is on the other side of Fujian, not the South where it borders Guangdong, but the north. Southern Fujian makes rolled oolong instead.
It is indeed odd though that they look similar, although quite different in taste. Dancong is one of the least appreciated oolongs outside of China, and it is indeed mighty fine -- one of my favourites :)
You are right. Fujian Anxi only started to use the machine to roll the leaves in early-mid 90's. Prior to that the Anxi oolong (tie guan yin, se zhong, huang jin gui) looked very much like Wuyi Oolong and were more heavely baked.
The machine was created in Taiwan and so rolled taiwanese oolongs were available in the west prior to the early-mid 90's.
I think the rolling of leaves was a much earlier process in China. Wang Caotang mentioned this in his essay "Shuo Cha" (Talking about Tea) in 1717.
Traditionally, the South Fujian Oolong is shaped into curl that is called half-balled, it is only in the late 80s - 90s that it is shaped more like Taiwan oolong, into a balld shape.
Feng Huang Dancong began life in Chaozhou and were later introduced into Wuyi in the 1800s.
Sorry Seb, misread your post. I thought you meant rolling as in rolling the leaves, I think you meant rolling as in shaping into balled shapes...semi-balled shape is fairly traditional, tight balled shape is a method borrowed from Taiwan style of shaping.
Thanks, everyone, for responding. The tea I have is 'unfurled', and in my judgment is not heavily baked as it has a floral/fruity profile that I find gets lost (if it ever existed) in heavily baked oolongs. To my taste baking seems to make teas one-dimensional - this tea has a lot of nuance and complexity.
In fact, one of the more stable provincial borders is those of the southern, coastal provinces. Fujian and Guangdong as we know it now go pretty far back -- certainly predating any such varietal of teas.
I don't mean to say there's no possibility, just to point out that they are not exactly right next to each other. :)
Hi DPM, All dancongs to me are the wonder of china, the season of fall, the dried fruit in the cake,but continuing the fresh peach which dominates to the end.I am discovering as much about them as I can. They are differnt as you say from other oolongs esp TKY's and Taiwaneses, But what about other anxi's OOOH I just want them all. and WAnt to know as much as I can about them too. Jenn
Doing well thanks. Hope you are doing fine as well. Going to Guang Xi tonight and start to think about a little trip to Vietnam :)
I did mean rolling as in using a big bag with the leaves in it and then putting that bag into a machine that will shape the leaves into a huge
7kg ball of tea which once broke shows the tea leaves rolled into balls.
Thanks for the reference, I will ask Jing to look for that essay but if you know where to find a copy of it feel free to let me know about it :)
can you explain me a little bit more about your last comment: "Feng Huang Dancong began life in Chaozhou and were later introduced into Wuyi in the 1800s."
By Feng Huang Dancong you mean Shui Xian, right? I think that by that time (1800) the only plants in Chaozhou were Shui Xian. If the Shui Xian was taken to Wuyi, what tea was made with it?
Hey Seb, I hear from friends who vworked in Vietnam there's still a lot of lingering french culure there! Cross over to Laos if you have the time, where you can get a french baguette and pate for almost a song...
Regarding "说茶" by 王草堂 (Wang Cao Tang's Talking About Tea), it can be found usually in collections of old texts on tea. It can be found in this book "续茶经" under the chapter "茶之造", towards the end of the chapter. This book is currently repoduce beyond control in China, so it is not difficult for Jing to get hold of it. Let me know if you cant locate it...
I think it is a little melodramatic to say that Feng Huang Dancong began life in Chaozhou, but you are right that it is possibly the oldest cultivated tea from that region. I always thought Shuixian varietal, which is the backbone of the Feng Huang cultivars, came from Wuyi, since we were taught that Oolong as a tea was a process that began in Wuyi. I met up with a Chaozhou vendor friend recently and was told that it was the reverse. Oolong did began in Wuyi, but Shuixian came from Chaozhou.
The 2 better known tea from Northern Fujian Shuixian are the Wuyi Shuixian & Minbei Shuixian. Did I send you some samples of the former? Thought I did...can't remember what I sent you the last time...
Hey Seb, I hear from friends who vworked in Vietnam there's still a lot of lingering french culure there! Cross over to Laos if you have the time, where you can get a french baguette and pate for almost a song...
Regarding "说茶" by 王草堂 (Wang Cao Tang's Talking About Tea), it can be found usually in collections of old texts on tea. It can be found in this book "续茶经" under the chapter "茶之造", towards the end of the chapter. This book is currently repoduce beyond control in China, so it is not difficult for Jing to get hold of it. Let me know if you cant locate it...
I think it is a little melodramatic to say that Feng Huang Dancong began life in Chaozhou, but you are right that it is possibly the oldest cultivated tea from that region. I always thought Shuixian varietal, which is the backbone of the Feng Huang cultivars, came from Wuyi, since we were taught that Oolong as a tea was a process that began in Wuyi. I met up with a Chaozhou vendor friend recently and was told that it was the reverse. Oolong did began in Wuyi, but Shuixian came from Chaozhou.
The 2 better known tea from Northern Fujian Shuixian are the Wuyi Shuixian & Minbei Shuixian. Did I send you some samples of the former? Thought I did...can't remember what I sent you the last time...
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