Dan Cong

I have had this sample for at least a year, and it made me think of Quiltguppy and how much I miss her here on Steepster. This is a sip down, the end of a generous sample that had gotten pushed to the back of a drawer with some others that I am trying to finish up.

Kashyap mentioned in his review of this that a tea’s profile is likely to change over time. I think that happened with this one.

Opening the packet for the first time in a year, the aroma of the dry leaf is nut. Nut, nut, and more nut. Specifically walnut I think, but it could be pecan. Steeped, however, the nut aroma is way in back and a fruitiness has come to the front. It reminds me of the sharp scent of scuppernong grapes. There is so much in this cup of tea!

This is so fruity, with a hint of astringency, that it is reminding me of a Darjeeling today. The aftertaste is of apricot. I feel as though I have eaten an apricot dumpling, swimming in syrup and topped with chopped walnuts. Delicious!

The 3rd sipdown of the day! (315)
The aroma of this tea is so nice & fruity, like stone fruit mostly, but also with a raspberry essence. There is also a really nice dark chocolate aspect, as well as hazelnut, especially in some of the middle steepings. Near the end it takes on more of a woods & rock kind of flavor. There are still plenty of steeps in these leaves, but I’m going to put them in a jar of water in the frig & let them brew there for awhile, as I think this will be tasty cold!

Sipdown, 148. I’ve had this tea before but I’m glad Sil sent me a sample because I haven’t had it in a long time. Plus I can get a reminder of kind of a base-level dancong before trying some of the reserve dancongs that came in the last Verdant reserve club shipment.

At one point I’m pretty sure thepuriTea’s description for this tea said that it was actually scented with osmanthus, or at least a previous incarnation of it was. Anyway, it was either mistaken or the tea has changed, because now it is definitely just a dancong oolong. Ah! I found it using the internet wayback machine! In November of 2010 their description included the line “Our Dan Cong has been naturally infused with natural osmanthus flowers.” But that has been removed.

The tea smells roasty, a bit woody, fruity, and a bit of crisp mineral-ness. Flavor-wise, the fruitiness really comes to the forefront. Very much a note of sweet stone fruits, but combined with a woody/barky background profile. There’s also a bit of bitterness/astringency to this one, and I’m thinking maybe I should have gone with a lower temp. I do think this is less floral than when I originally tried it, although it is hard to say from two years ago. This is one of those teas that is fine, but not really up my alley. That woodiness is just too much and really takes away from my enjoyment of the other flavors. Interested to see how the other dancongs I have will compare, but this one is (still) not for me.

My 200th tasting note!

Before bed last night I did a quick 2nd steep of the leaves (at 8 minutes, doubling the length of time for the first steep) and set it in the fridge to enjoy with lunch today.

The flavor of this steeping is lighter (as is the liquor) and more floral, but the apricot/fruit taste is also more prominent throughout the sip, instead of just in the after taste. Despite such a long steeping time, there was no bitterness whatsoever. In fact, it’s quite refreshing like this – I would love having it iced in the summer, for sure.

I love this oolong, hands down, and definitely want to try more Dan Cong varietals. Does anyone have any recommendations?

My Breville tea maker finally arrived last night! This morning, I decided that the perfect tea to christen my beloved happiness maker with was Dan Cong. How wonderful is it that I can now brew a beautiful oolong exactly right. It really is so exciting!

What a treat! Dan Cong is simply gorgeous. I’m finding it hard to separate all of the flavors in this tea. I get a floral, fruity, roasted, and a slightly nutty taste. It’s as if these flavors rush in almost all at once, swirl around my taste buds, and then melt away. I’m just enjoying the experience.

A big thank you to the wonderful QuiltGuppy for sharing this amazing tea with me. I feel so fortunate today :)

Dry – this smells like a combo of Raspberry, Peach, and Apricot trying to hide underneath the Dan Cong Oolong! Natural notes, of course!

OH!!! Almost forgot…special thanks to my Sororitea Sister LiberTeas for this one!

Post infusion – this smells like various fruits, nuts, and woodsy and peppery notes.

My first sip was a slightly bitter-wood, pepper, pecans, and a VERY dark spinach leaf type taste combo!

After my taste-sensors adjusted to this intense flavor I could pick up on Hazelnuts and a hint of nectarine or peach…but the bitter-peppery-wood flavor is certainly in the forefront.

This is much more intense than I thought it would be…which is a nice surprise considering all of the mellower oolongs I have had the last several days but I think a more toned down woodsy flavor and more of that natural fruit notes and cocoa mentioned in the description is what I have been longing for in this one.

It’s a powerful oolong and it’s pretty good but I am feeling like I missed something in this…perhaps in the 2nd or 3rd infusion those notes will pop thru.

Sipdown! Can’t let Terri catch up! haha

This was one of the teas my lovely tea sister sent me, that i have apparently been drinking but not recording. Oopsy.

Those who know me, know that most oolongs i can live without. I really only dislike most green ones, but even the roasty dark ones sometimes have that distinctive taste that i’m not a fan of. This one borders being delicious and being a dark oolong that i’m less a fan of. There’s a touch of astringency but not enough to be a bad thing. There’s a sweetness to this as well, though i can feel a bit of floral hanging out in the back. Overall though, it’s been a decent cuppa to drink!

This sample is probably from Sil. Thanks, Sil! :)

I have two other teas waiting for second-and-third steeps, but I decided to have something different. I’m contrary like that. :)

The result is… no. It’s way too roasty-toasty for me.

Sorry, thepuriTea. It’s me, not you.

I am on an oolong kick this week! Barely had anything else at all than oolongs. This one has been lying around for a while, I think it came from QuiltGuppy

Unfortunately it has been lying next to some fig flavoured stuff, which I haven’t dared try yet, and I thought I detected a vague trace of something figgy or date-y in the aroma of the dry leaves. The dry aroma was not generally very strong though. I had to search for it a bit in order to be able to identify it, but when I did I found it mostly wood-y and slightly cocoa-y. Perhaps just a smidge spicy too, but I can’t really agree with myself on that.

After steeping the aroma is all cocoa. Wall to wall chocolate! With nuts in. It makes me crave Toblerone, really. I’ve never been very experimenting with my Toblerone, but I’ve seen that there is a dark chocolate one, and that’s the one I want now. (Does it still have that honey almondy stuff in it when it’s not milk chocolate?) If I’m hard pressed, I can also find some woodsy undertones to the aroma, but thankfully none of that figgy business.

Flavour is a bit weak here on the first cup. I used rather a lot of leaf, and so the first steep was very short. Probably too short, as I can now tell. Mercuryhime gave me some good advice the other day of the sort that you would have thought I ought to have realised myself many years ago. Why make a whole pot each time? Why not just do a half? That way I can go through a lot more steeps without having to run to the bathroom constantly and also with growing bored with the tea and start wanting something else. The one I use when it’s just myself is one of those tea-for-one sized pots, so half of that pot makes about 250 ml. Suitable amount, I should say. Also gives me a chance to use the cup and saucer that came with the pot. :)

Anyway, as I was saying, the first steep was probably too short because the flavour is not very strong. To my disappointment it’s not so stuffed full of dark chocolate (although I still want some!) as the aroma was, but rather more wooden and earthy. The cocoa is still there, but now it’s taken a back seat to the strong wood note. It’s so wooden that it’s actually giving me a prickly feeling on the tip of the tongue. As the cup cools it becomes increasingly astringent too.

I should hope on further steepings this woodenness will calm down a bit. There is really no call for such aggression. At this point I am not super impressed.

Second steep is much like the first, only with a fuller flavour experience. As there is no real difference to be found, I shan’t document it further.

Mmmmm, 2nd steeping! I am really excited about that!

This tea just gets better and better.

(after note) The tea has cooled considerably, and there is a definable sweet note to the liquor and I thought I smelled apricots?!

I can*not* wait to take this up island this weekend and share it with my Mum!!