Phoenix Black Tea

Here is another tea review from the backlog. I think I finished my one ounce pouch of this tea around the middle of June. This is the third Dancong black tea I have tried to this point in the year, and so far, I have come away with the impression that such teas are not and likely never will be for me. I have found each of the ones I have tried to be too sweet for my liking.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of pine, blood orange, lychee, and nectarine. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of malt and honey coming from the tea leaves. The first infusion introduced aromas of butter and toast. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, lychee, nectarine, honey, and toast that were balanced by impressions of cream. Subsequent infusions saw hints of cream, violet, and cherry come out on the nose. Stronger cream notes and new flavors of cherry, roasted almond, pear, violet, roasted walnut, and minerals appeared in the mouth along with belatedly emerging notes of butter, nectarine, pine, and blood orange. I also noticed some subtle hints of brown sugar, cocoa, and nutmeg in the aftertaste on several of these infusions. The final infusions emphasized lingering mineral, butter, cream, and toast notes that were offset by sometimes vague impressions of pine, pear, and violet.

I know that some people like Dancong black teas quite a bit, but each of the ones I have tried has been too rich and sweet for me. To be fair, however, I am pretty sure that each of the Dancong black teas I have tried have been produced from the Mi Lan cultivar, so maybe I just need to try some Dancong black teas produced from other cultivars. With this tea, I quickly grew tired of the overwhelming fruity and creamy/buttery qualities. That being said, I do not think this was a bad tea. It displayed nice depth and complexity and respectable longevity, especially for a tea at this price point. In the end, I just don’t think that this is a sort of tea for me.