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“Thank you LP! I really enjoyed this Yan Cha. Orange blossom, a little bit of citrus, floral, nutty, almond, and woodsy. This was gong fu. Only thing was I got four solid steeps-30, 55, 60, 2 min,...” Read full tasting note
“I’m starting to feel like dan cong oolongs are not really my “thing” or maybe I just like my oolongs on the sweet and fruity side, which is why I like the Honey Orchid but seem to have problem...” Read full tasting note
“I haven’t been catching up on reading tasting notes as much as I’d like lately. Hopefully everyone is doing okay! From a teabox a WHILE back. Speaking of which, the Here’s Hoping teabox has been...” Read full tasting note
Huang Zhi Xiang is one of our most elegant Phoenix Oolong teas. Its name loosely translates to “Orange Blossom Fragrance” because of the hint of citrus oil in the tea’s natural aroma. Grown at over 900 meters above sea level on Wudong Mountain, Phoenix Range, our Huang Zhi Xiang was gathered in April 2013 from 100+ year old trees, originally propagated from 600+ year old Phoenix Shui Xian mother tree. Combined production from this grove for the Spring harvest is only about 30 kilograms, from which we were able to acquire 10 kilograms.
The tea is finished somewhere between a “Qing” and “Nong Xiang” at an oxidation rate of about 25%. The result is a preservation of the brighter citrus oil character of the varietal while delivering a rounder, honey-like quality to the tea. We selected this tea over another more brilliantly floral character because of its thicker, smoother character and more pronounced and persistent finish, an indication of the age and lineage of this tea.
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Thank you LP! I really enjoyed this Yan Cha. Orange blossom, a little bit of citrus, floral, nutty, almond, and woodsy. This was gong fu. Only thing was I got four solid steeps-30, 55, 60, 2 min, and finally four-five min as a weaker, light floral cup. I’d recommend it for Dan Cong lovers as something to enjoy. For me, it was sweeter-but that’s psychological. Citrus for me=sweeter. And I’ve had Da Hong Pao’s that weren’t as sweet or floral.
I’m starting to feel like dan cong oolongs are not really my “thing” or maybe I just like my oolongs on the sweet and fruity side, which is why I like the Honey Orchid but seem to have problem getting into some of these other varietals.
So, I tried this in the store and I figured the Red Blossom folks would be the ones to show me how to brew this stuff properly. They used a gaiwan with about 2mg of tea in it and water around 190 F (but told me you can also use boiling water with this tea). We did a quick rinse of the tea and then short steeps. I found this to be on the light side with definite citrus-y orange notes that are subtle and build up on your palette over time.
Mostly we did 30 second steeps but also did one steep that was around 1.5 minutes. I was told if you steep it longer it can become astringent and drying but that’s how the local people like it.
I thought it was “just okay” and definitely wasn’t compelled to buy it. Maybe a dan cong connoisseur would appreciate this, but I might just give up on my experiments with them for a while. I just don’t get the appeal, but that’s ok. There are plenty of other teas out there for me. :)
Flavors: Orange Blossom
I haven’t been catching up on reading tasting notes as much as I’d like lately. Hopefully everyone is doing okay!
From a teabox a WHILE back. Speaking of which, the Here’s Hoping teabox has been with the same person for a while… I hope it will eventually move on. Anyway, I used quite a bit of these long and twisty leaves. I have no idea what parameters to use for this tea.. I tried looking at a bunch of Steepster pages for similar teas. Didn’t really find any suggestions. Twenty minutes after boiling seemed to work. The flavor is so floral it seems hard to believe that it’s natural orange blossom. It’s actually like flowers, like perfume was sprayed on the leaves. Hopefully not… hopefully these leaves were just harvested around fragrant orange trees or something. I’m not really accustomed to “orange blossom” but there are definite citrus notes as well as the natural honey flavor of the oolong. The second steep somehow had just as much of the flavor as the first cup, so maybe it is in the leaves itself. The leaves also didn’t seem oversteeped — I thought they might be with just boiled water. I prefer green oolongs, but this isn’t bad.
Steep #1 // 20 min after boiling // less than 2 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 2-3 min
