Duck Butter | Yashixiang Dancong

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The Yashi Xiang, or Duck Shit Fragrance is probably the most popular dancong oolong tea on the market in China.  While it owes a lot of credit to its interesting name, it's a reliably savory and creamy dancong oolong that showcases the more vegetal side of dancong oolong, making it more appealing to those in nearby Xiamen who guzzle down gallons of Anxi Tieguanyin daily.  Before you ask, no, it does not smell or taste like Duck Shit, that name is more of an inside joke amongst farmers on the mountaintop.

While this tea is very rarely pressed into tea cakes, we think that this is an ideal way to store and preserve the tea for aging experiments.  If you're interested in a set of all our dancong tea cakes, check out the discounted bundle!

When the dry leaves are placed in a warmed gaiwan, we are met with the toasted buttery aroma of baking croissants mixed with some floral aromatics we usually pick up in the Milan Xiang.  Once infused, these leaves take on a more vegetal note of fresh cut grasses and spring violets.  The brew is a pale gold, and the taste is sweet and refreshing.  Although it is more roasted than the Milan Xiang Maocha in the Bee Balm cake, the nature of these leaves are intrinsically lighter than that of Milan Xiang.

As we found with most Yashi Xiang dancong oolongs, there is a creamy texture to the brews, one that coats the tongue and the mouth with its oily nature.  We so often think of Duck Shit Fragrance as being buttery, that we decided to name this tea Duck Butter.  There is a slight astringency at the start of the session that quickly fades into sweetness as the brews continue, creating a pleasant huigan that peaks around the third infusion.

Check out more teas from Wen Zitong here!