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Pressing dancong oolong tea into a portable, storable tea cake has been a long-term dream for us. We always enjoy finding dancong oolong teas we have unintentionally aged a year or two due to our poor cataloging and general disorganization. After a year of storage, something interesting happens to dancong oolong, the roast and bitter edges of the tea soften into sweetness, sometimes a dancong oolong with a year of age on it tastes nothing like its fresh counterpart.
Our dreams of pressing dancong were realized with a little help from Wen Zitong doing a surprise Autumn harvest of some of his younger tea bushes up on Wudong Mountain and our good old friend Wu wo presses our tea flower white tea biscuits, with the beautiful artwork done by SeriouslyFrances in America's PNW. Through the cooperation of these three friends, we were able to press our first batch of dancong oolong teas and we are extremely thrilled with them.
The bundle includes three cakes made from the most commonly produced Dancong Oolong cultivars in the Phoenix Mountains: Milan Xiang, Yashi Xiang, and Dawu Ye. These autumn dancong oolongs are friendly to new drinkers who want an affordable first sip of the Dancong universe, and also make good fodder for veterans who want to store, save, and experiment with aging oolongs.
The bundle includes one 100 gram cake of the following teas:
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Bee Balm | Milan Xiang Maocha
- A large of leaf, thick of stem dancong oolong that is fragrant, spicy and full of floral and sugary flavors.
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Duck Butter | Yashi Xiang
- A lightly roasted dancong oolong that is full of vegetation, sweet cut grass, spring violets, and of course butter.
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Dark Night | Dawu Ye
- The most roasted of the three dancong oolong tea cakes, with berry skin notes, tannins, and a lot of toast to keep this tea interesting for years to come.
