Imperial Mi Lan Xiang Dancong (Honey Orchid)

Thank you Dexter3657 for this sample.

The raw leaves are long, thin and dark brown with slight curl to them. They have a deep and dark roasted scent with hints of smoke and sweet flowers. A mixture of orchid and peony to be precise.

I’m brewing 8g in my 8oz gongfu teapot over three steeps.

First Steep – 1 minute – Colour is light tan with a sweet somewhat leathery yet floral scent. Flavour is light, smoky, toasty and sweet. It starts light and sweet which then grows darker and toasty with a hint of smoke before mellowing out into a dark green floral after taste. Very nice flavours overall considering it’s short steep time.

Second steep – 2 minutes – This steep is less toasty and smoky and much more sweet and honeyed. If anything it’s lighter than the first steep as there is less depth but the sweetness is rather rich and floral.

Third steep – 3 minutes – Not much left in this steep flavour wise other than sweet and very light floral tones. No flower specifically but perhaps something green…not quite grassy but almost.

Overall it’s a nice Oolong with medium levels of oxidisation but personally I prefer it either lighter or stronger instead of in the middle. It changed dramatically through each steep and it just lost more and more flavour which I have not experienced before. It was a nice sample and I would drink it again but it’s not something I would order.

I don’t have much experience yet with Dancongs, so I can’t compare this to anything, but I do think it’s really quite nice. Tealux has become one of my very favorite suppliers, they have yet to disappoint me. I’ll share with you my notes.

Dry leaf smell much like raisins and maybe sweet potato. While steeping it has a bean-like quality that is very much like a green tea mao feng.

Here’s the best way to describe this tea: Very much like a green tea up front, a malty-grain quality that reminds me of Laoshan Black, and a long smooth sweet honey finish. Yessir.

Having a challenging tea day at work. They turned the water off – doing repairs or something. I’m used to having instant hot water from a dispenser. Not today. I’m heating water in the microwave. Uggggg.
Anyway…… Having said that, I still really like this tea. I like this better than any other dancong I’ve tried. This is really nice. It’s woody – I like woody – it’s not metallic like some oolongs are. Maybe a touch of sweetness, it’s just really really nice.
This didn’t stand up to multiple infusions as well as some others, that could be my water issue though. I’m going to wait to give it a numerical rating until I’ve been able to drink it under better water conditions, but for right now this is definitely a 90 tea.

Very nice! Light with a sweet honey-raisin flavour.

I really like the fancy name of this tea even though I can’t pronounce it. I was expecting something amazing but it’s only okay.