Saturday, February 23, 2008

2007 Feng Huang Dan Cong

Description taken from Tea Spring:

Dan Cong is a very old tea which history dates back to 900 years ago. The tea plants are believed to be a specimen of the Shui Xian strain, carefully selected to breed as Dan Cong's tree, which is a single trunk tree that rises tall and straight up, and with branches that open out like an umbrella. Feng Huang Dan Cong was also an Imperial tribute tea during the Song dynasty.

True to their word, the aroma does smell lighter, less oxidized, than the dan cong classic. It has a fruity aroma, peach-ish, but something else as well.

The first infusion is buoyant, sweet, and fruity, with a soft finish, It tastes like spring in the South. I try to avoid "poetry" in my descriptions, but I think it fits. I sip this, and I think of longer evenings, old porches with chipped paint and backyards, sweet tea and catching fireflies in mason jars. I can hear dogs barking and see an orange, setting sun through tree leaves.

The second infusion and I'm home again.

2 comments:

Cap & Kettle said...

Ooh, sounds like a lovely tea. I've been looking for peach flavors in my black teas lately, but to no avail.

Also, the texturing on the leaf in the top most photo looks very "bubbly". Is that the camera's effect, or was the leaf really fuzzy?

Space Samurai said...

Must be a camera effect or something.