Phoenix Honey Orchid 2024

SUMMARY

Type: Dancong Oolong Tea
Origin: Phoenix Village, Chaozhou, Guangdong province, China

Lychee, Honey, Vanilla

The area around Chaozhou city is famous for producing Dancong tea, a variety of Oolong that has approximately 18 different aroma sub-varieties, each with its own unique flavour and characteristics. Honey Orchid (Mi Lan Xiang) is the most popular type of Dancong Oolong tea.

TASTING NOTES

A sweet and floral fragrance with flavour notes of lychee, vanilla and honey. A smooth texture and satisfying mouth-fill with a lingering sweet after taste, if brewed correctly, there is little to no bitterness or astringency to this tea. Whilst the tea tastes great with a standard teapot steep, it really benefits from brewing Gong-Fu style, with each infusion highlighting a different characteristic of the tea. The first infusion highlights its floral fragrance; the second and third highlights the lychee and stone fruit flavours. Subsequent infusions show off the honey-like sweetness and oolong flavour of the tea.

PREPARATION NOTES

 Gong-Fu style (preferred method)

 5g per 60 – 100ml of water
 95 degrees Celsius
 10 secs per infusion* (up to 10 infusions)

*First infusion is a quick 3 – 5 sec rinse and isn't drunk.

 Teapot steep

 5g per 300ml of water
 95 degrees Celsius
 3mins

 Cold Brew

 5g per 500ml of water
 Cold water
 8hrs in the fridge

STORAGE

Proper tea storage is super important. Improper storage leads to flat, flavourless and potentially weird tasting tea. So as a rule of thumb, keep your tea leaves in an airtight container (the less air inside the better) and away from heat, light, moisture and strong odours.