Phoenix Dancong- Was It Love at First Sight After All

“You never tried Dancong? You should.”

“Bro, Dancong is a good choice to add to your lineup.”

These conversations incidentally happened as recent as this year while I was planning our product lines. Yup, I had never tasted Dancong until this year- at least so I thought- but for completeness’ sake I would naturally want to incorporate it into our product range.

Not exactly fireworks

To be honest I wasn’t impressed initially. I tried several offerings from more commercially popular sources and it was quite meh actually. There was a lychee like fragrance that was pleasant but the finish and the body seems lacking. It was like the sort of tea that appealed to flavored tea drinkers. In fact, by the fourth infusion, most of the fruit fragrance from these versions basically dissipated, arousing suspicions of additives.

Still, I wasn’t quite ready to give up on it. As it was about a month before my China trip, I needed to get a benchmark on it. I asked a source in China to help me get some samples from his friends and courier it to me.

When it came, I was overwhelmed with excitement. I brewed it with these parameters which I picked up from a book that called it authentic Chaozhou style:

i)   Boiling or near boiling water

ii)   Fill to 90% or more of the pot

iii)   Infuse for 1 minute
It was bitter. The type that you feel whenever you recall the occasion. A bitter taste that evolved into a permanent memory.

Okay, I used another set of parameter- what I used for the first lot- near boiling water, 5g to my 100ml gaiwan and 1 minute.

It was still bitter and astringent beyond what I felt had commercial appeal.

And then love walked through the door

A fortuitous encounter led to this sage advice from a friend:

“You know, the thing about dancong is that it’s hard to brew. Gotta watch the water temperature and steeping time- the Chaozhou people really like it bitter and made it that way. Most people can’t stand it”

So I researched further.

The clincher though was the water temperature- 85°C was the sweet spot- coupled with about 30 sec steeping time (anyway usually I use the nose test) and about 6-7 g to the 100ml gaiwan, I was in heaven.

It was Mi Lan Xiang or Honey Orchid Fragrance that I started with- by far the most popular one in South East Asia- and the lethal combination of mead and orchid fragrance, coupled with a powerful ‘kick’ that paired with a lingering ‘hui gan’, Dancong forged a permanent place in my heart.

When we finally went to China, we had a delightful time drinking literally hundreds brews of Dancong in a day and collected samples for further paring down of choices.

The story didn’t end there though.

When we returned to Singapore, I was brewing Dancong ever so often. One day, my mom asked what it was and I told her.

“Oh you didn’t remember, Grandma used to bring back lots of it from Chaozhou on her frequent visits. You loved it then.”

To be honest I couldn’t recall, I always thought I fell in love with Chinese tea more than 10 years ago, not 20 years ago but whatever the case, I am a Dancong addict now- (as with many oolongs).

Was it love at first sight after all?