Tea: Phoenix Mountain Dancong
A Dancong Oolong from Octavia Tea
Brand: | Octavia Tea |
Style: | Dancong Oolong |
Region: | Guangdong, China |
Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
Loose? | Loose |
# Ratings: | 1 View All |
Product page: | Phoenix Mountain Dancong |
Reviewer: Alex Zorach
✓ 1453 teas reviewed
✓ 8 of Dancong Oolong
✓ 143 of Oolong Tea
✓ 40 of Octavia Tea
✓ 6 from Guangdong, China
✓ 382 from China
Review of Phoenix Mountain Dancong
February 6th, 2014
Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
8 of 10 | 4 of 5 | 3 of 5 | 77 of 100 |
Excellent | Good | Reasonable |
A dark, spicy, evolving dancong that resembled a black tea more than any other oolong I've tried. It would be top-notch, except that the flavor gave out after 2 steepings.
This is the second Dancong I've sampled from Octavia recently. I was curious if it would be similar to the first--but it's completely different, but tastes oddly familiar. One of the reviewers on the Octavia site says this is similar to black tea, and I agree.
Brews up a dark brown color. Pungent aroma that is very familiar, but hard to describe. There's a pungent quality to the aroma, a sort of dark spicy quality, which I normally only encounter in black teas. There's also a lemony tang, and a fairly astringent finish. It smells very old...a pleasant old, like the old book smell, or being in an old library. There's also a hint of wood.
The second cup is like cinnamon, nutmeg, and dried basil. There's also a hint of anise in there.
The spent leaves have a wonderful aroma of stone fruit, like peach or apricot. But upon brewing, the third cup was a bit thin and watery. I steeped 3, 5, and 8 minutes for these results, and used a very generous amount of leaf.
This tea is significantly pricier (well over twice the price in bulk) than the Eight Immortals Dancong, and I think I actually preferred that tea to this one. I have a feeling that this tea may be one of those ones that grows on me more, or perhaps where I can develop more skill at brewing it to satisfaction, but the way I approached it the first time, it didn't deliver as consistent flavor as the other Dancong from Octavia.