Middle Mountain "Rose Aroma" Dan Cong Oolong Tea * Spring 2018

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea Leaves
Flavors
Almond, Bread, Candy, Citrus, Coriander, Cream, Custard, Dandelion, Grapefruit, Grass, Green Apple, Herbaceous, Lemon Zest, Lychee, Mineral, Orange, Pear, Pepper, Plum, Rose, Sugarcane, Vegetal, Violet, Blood Orange, Butter, Char, Floral, Flowers, Honey, Mushrooms, Perfume, Popcorn, Salt, Salty, Stonefruit, Thick, Peach, Apricot, Orchid, Sweet
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 oz / 113 ml

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From Our Community

7 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This was one of my last sipdowns of 2019. I had been curious about this tea for some time, and after a conversation about the lifespan of teas in storage with a fellow Steepsterite in which this...” Read full tasting note
    91
  • “An evening tea choice fell on this sample from tperez and I used all of it, because why the hell not. As others have mentioned the tea does indeed remind one of roses. In fact, I think I like this...” Read full tasting note
    83
  • “Gongfu! I slept away basically my entire morning – which I guess is good because it was less time overall where I was just sweating like a pig; but I usually use my Saturday mornings to catch up on...” Read full tasting note
  • “I brewed this western style 1st infusion: 1 minute @ 208F. This has a pale green color with a faint smell of nuts, roses followed by a rich, sweet scent. It tastes of delicate rose with a delicate...” Read full tasting note
    84

From Yunnan Sourcing

Rose Aroma (玫瑰香) is a unique Phoenix Dan Cong varietal, that has distinct rose aroma and sweet floral taste. The tea soup is a deep viscous golden color. Leaves are light to moderately oxidated, and hold up well to multiple brewings.

This particular tea grows in Tian Zhu Keng village at an altitude of about 800 meters, and is grown by the same family who grows our “Hou Zhong” Dan Cong. The year round cool temperatures combined with fog and mist gives this middle mountain Dan Cong a strong character. The tea trees that produced this tea are 40 years old and growing naturally (not pruned).

This is an interesting varietal with unique character but without a high price tag.

Late April 2018 Harvest

Roast Level: Light-Medium

Elevation: 800 meters

About Yunnan Sourcing View company

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7 Tasting Notes

91
1048 tasting notes

This was one of my last sipdowns of 2019. I had been curious about this tea for some time, and after a conversation about the lifespan of teas in storage with a fellow Steepsterite in which this tea was mentioned as being one that didn’t hold up, I decided to break it out and give it a try. Leafhopper, I know I promised you I would post a review of this tea nearly a month ago or something like that. Sorry about the wait. Anyway, here are my thoughts on this tea’s vitality after nearly two years of storage: I could not tell that what I had of it had faded at all. It was a little more mellow than a super fresh Dancong oolong, but I could not pick up any signs of deterioration. As a matter of fact, I greatly enjoyed this tea. I found it to be a great Dancong oolong. I went into my review session expecting to end up kicking myself over waiting too long to try it, but by the time I wrapped the session up, all I could think about was how spectacular this tea struck me as being.

Now, with all of the above being said, I could very well be the outlier here. My experience may not reflect that of others in any way. To be sure, there will be differences in perception from person to person. The amounts of tea that different people will receive from the same batch may be of different quality. There will be differences in a tea’s lifespan in storage based on individual storage practices and differences in environment. Certain pouches of tea can even be sealed improperly, resulting in contamination and/or deterioration prior to shipment. So many things can happen that can lead different people to have totally differing opinions of the same tea, and that’s before you can consider things like differences in equipment used, water type and quality, brewing methods, the overall condition, attention span, and experience level of the person doing the tasting, etc. It’s very, very rare that two opinions will be identical, and it may very well not happen at all as every palate is different.

Anyway, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of rose, cream, butter, custard, pear, lychee, tangerine, and sugarcane. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond and grass. The first infusion saw the rose aroma intensify and a subtle coriander scent appear. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of rose, grass, butter, cream, and sugarcane that were balanced by subtler notes of lemon zest, cracked pepper, coriander, pear, custard, and green apple. The subsequent infusions teased out aromas of lemon zest, orange candy, cracked pepper, grapefruit, green apple, dandelion, basil, and baked bread. Stronger and more immediately apparent impressions of green apple, pear, coriander, lemon zest, and cracked pepper appeared in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging lychee and tangerine notes and impressions of orange candy, minerals, dandelion, dandelion greens, and yellow plum. I also noted hints of basil, violet, baked bread, grapefruit, and roasted almond. Each swallow left a lingering herbal coolness and a pleasant aftertaste of rose and green apple. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, green apple, grass, pear, dandelion greens, lemon zest, coriander, cream, butter, and sugarcane as well as suddenly amplified impressions of roasted almond. Subtler notes of rose, dandelion, custard, tangerine, and basil lingered in the background.

This was a very challenging and unique tea, but it was also very enjoyable. It was very tightly layered and demonstrated a good deal of complexity. This tea also displayed a number of aroma and flavor components that I do not often get out of Dancong oolongs. Overall, I did not have a problem with this one, though I do have to admit that I think I may have gotten a bit lucky with it. Teas that are very tightly composed and have tons of little intricacies can produce a liquor that seems totally dead on the nose and in the mouth if you have recently had anything to eat or drink or if you are having any sort of sinus and allergy issues. I have chronic sinusitis and terrible seasonal allergies. I normally get infection after infection over the winter months, but I have been fortunate so far this winter and tried this tea on a warm, clear day when I was not having any issues and had not consumed anything else prior to my drinking session. I think that’s why I got as much out of this tea as I did. And who knows? I also may have gotten lucky with the amount of tea I had in the sense that it may have just held up better in storage for me. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing. But yeah, I did enjoy this tea and found it to be an excellent offering overall.

Flavors: Almond, Bread, Candy, Citrus, Coriander, Cream, Custard, Dandelion, Grapefruit, Grass, Green Apple, Herbaceous, Lemon Zest, Lychee, Mineral, Orange, Pear, Pepper, Plum, Rose, Sugarcane, Vegetal, Violet

Preparation
6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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83
940 tasting notes

An evening tea choice fell on this sample from tperez and I used all of it, because why the hell not. As others have mentioned the tea does indeed remind one of roses. In fact, I think I like this rose aroma more than most of actual roses, whose scent I tend to find overwhelming. Another very distinctive characteristic is a string minerality and a vegetal nature that comes to the fore towards the end of the session in particular.

In the dry leaves, I can also smell charcoal, blood orange, and stonefruits apart from the florals. The mix of floral and ash reminds me a bit of light to medium roasted TGY. When wet, I get further notes of mushrooms, popcorn, rock salt and various vegetal ones. The taste starts off floral and mineral with a mild banana sweetness and a sour finish followed by a very mineral (almost salty) and buttery aftertaste. Later on, flavours of honey and grass emerge and the aftertaste turns more perfumy. Throughout the session, the mouthfeel is quite thick, but not particularly interesting.

Overall, a nice Dan Cong, but not one I am dying to have in my stash.

Flavors: Blood Orange, Butter, Char, Floral, Flowers, Grass, Honey, Mineral, Mushrooms, Perfume, Popcorn, Rose, Salt, Salty, Stonefruit, Thick, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
TJ Elite

Last year I ordered this one, walnut fragrance, Xiong Di Zai small patch and cinnamon aroma. The cinnamon aroma was one of the best dancongs I’ve ever had, albeit not cheap either. The Xiong Di Zai was also excellent. The rose aroma was good, but the greenest of the bunch and the most astringent. It was nice the first time around, but less interesting upon revisiting.

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15545 tasting notes

Gongfu!

I slept away basically my entire morning – which I guess is good because it was less time overall where I was just sweating like a pig; but I usually use my Saturday mornings to catch up on tasting notes from the week, so I feel like I’ve lost some time…

Anyway; this was something I drank Gongfu during my staycation – I think I drank it on the hottest afternoon of the week!? I was basically in my room surrounded by fans, with all of the lights off in my underwear trying not to die of heat exhaustion. It’s terrible; I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a summer this hot before – not a fan!

The tea was weird; I was drawn to it because of the rose aroma element and I was pleased that came through – but I was getting some strange notes too. After eight infusions I just really wasn’t sure at all whether or not I actually liked the tea and that’s a strange way to end a session. Here’s what I wrote on instagram to sum it up:

I feel like this Rose Aroma Dancong is giving me flavour whiplash; starts off with a beautifully aromatic, lightly sweet floral rose note – medium bodied, fresh & heady. Sort of the perfect rose note, tbh. However, the body of the sip is aggressively astringent and the finish has a mineral note and salinity that I’m not vibing with today…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzTok1JghQw/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1VfNUjzQ_0

Kittenna

I can’t imagine not having a/c. The only thing keeping me going when I’m out and about and hot/sweaty is that I’m coming home to a house that’s about 24 degrees, with vents blowing cold air and ceiling fans for extra cooling power when needed.

Roswell Strange

So jealous of that!

Kittenna

It’s great. You’d be less jealous of the price tag for replacing it last year, though! Yikes. Thankfully, our furnace died in the winter when it wasn’t super cold out, so we replaced the a/c at the same time before we were into hot weather. The previous summer, it had struggled mightily to keep the house liveable (but I didn’t live here at the time), so odds were good it was going to kick the bucket entirely. Being pregnant, that would have reaaaallly sucked.

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84
60 tasting notes

I brewed this western style

1st infusion: 1 minute @ 208F. This has a pale green color with a faint smell of nuts, roses followed by a rich, sweet scent. It tastes of delicate rose with a delicate fruit (peach?) and notes of cream. It finishes extremely smooth.

2nd infusion: 2 minutes: The color is a light green with heavier scents of roses and cream(!!). It tastes of peaches followed by roses with still that light creamy finish.

3rd infusion: 2 minutes. The color is a light amber with scents of cream. it has medium notes of cream and roses with an extremely clean finish.

I plan on trying this GongFu style to see if it changes.

Flavors: Cream, Peach, Rose

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C

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85
412 tasting notes

As someone who loves teas with natural rose notes, when I saw this Dan Cong on Yunnan Sourcing’s website, I immediately added 50 g to my shopping cart. Then I sat on it for a month because I didn’t want to be the first to review it. However, since there seems to be some curiosity about this tea, I decided to go ahead. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

In the bag, this tea smells like generic florals and grass. But in the first steep, it lives up to its name, with rose, grass, cream, and other florals. (The grassiness becomes very prominent when it cools, so it’s best to drink this tea hot.) The rose is stronger in the next steep, but so is the grassy background note. I think there are some orchids and other flowers in there as well, but the rose is the most apparent, especially in the aftertaste.

By steep three, this tea has come into its rosy glory, but that astringent grassiness is still in the background. It’s kind of like a spicy pink tea rose—or maybe that’s just the power of suggestion. There are hints of cream, honey, and gentle apricot in the later steeps, but really, it’s all about the rose. The rose lasts well into the ninth steep, after which the tea returns to grass and florals.

A complicated tea this is not, but it does deliver on its promise. I kind of wish there was more to it, though. I gave it such a high rating because the rose is lovely, but I can see people getting bored with it.

Flavors: Apricot, Cream, Floral, Grass, Honey, Orchid, Rose, Sweet, Vegetal

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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