Marzipan Spring 2017 Xinrenxiang Dancong Oolong

“An Ode to Tea” Alphabet Challenge – X

Catching up again! This is the closest thing to an “X” tea that I have, so here we are. Dancong hasn’t historically been a favorite of mine, but this one came in a Bitterleaf sampler that I ordered a few years back, and I’m willing to give it a chance!

Used 5 grams for about 120ml of 190°F water, and steeped 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 30s or so.

I was surprised to find this not very floral at all. It actually reminded me of a Bai Hao, with sweet honey and syrupy dried fruit notes over a base of crisp autumn leaves. There was a bit of fig, apricot, and golden raisin all rolled into one. I also tasted brown sugar a couple of steeps in, and then it got more leafy and woody for the last few steeps. At one point there was a lovely spun sugar note at the end of the sip.

It was tasty! It lost a bit of complexity as the session went on, but this is also from 2017 so I’m sure it’s lost a lot of its subtleties at this point. I was just happy it wasn’t floral overload! :3

Gongfu!

Downside to a large tea stash is that sometimes samples get neglected; such is the case for this dancong that was a free tea sample with an order at one point. At the time, I just didn’t have an appreciation for dancong so I waited to try it, and then it wound up forgotten about until recently. The dry leaf is still stunning, and the liquor its producing in this session is enjoyable; more of a heady floral with very slight nutty and cherry undertones than marzipan/almond but I suppose cherry and almond are often a bit indistinguishable. Still, I can’t help but wonder what my experience would have been like when it was fresh…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAVodp9A5D7/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Rqe_kr99A

Not tasting Marzipan but I get the nutty and fruity flavour
And it smells sooooo good