Wild Honey | Milanxiang Dancong

This tea is a special find from Wen Zitong’s mountain garden outside of Chaozhou.  The wild honey comes from teas that are truly wild.  Left to grow in an overlooked part of the mountain amidst a complex ecology, the tea itself is unlike many other milanxiang dancongs we have tried.

Produced in the autumn, the focus is on fragrance, and this tea does not disappoint.  When the dry leaves are placed in the warmed gaiwan, we get buttery notes of fresh violets in warm honey.  The floral notes explode after infused with hot water, the gentle spring violet fragrance developing into a greenhouse of gardenia, orchid, sweetgrass, and more vegetation. 

This greener vegetation does come through on the tongue, filling the mouth with a gentle sweetness that feels all too rare in the world of dancong oolongs.  This really had not been traditionally charcoal roasted, but rather simple baked in a wood-burning oven to fix the fragrance as it is.  As a result, this tea is less labor intensive for Wen Zitong and family, as it doesnt require long months of controlled roasting and resting, and in turn is a rather affordable taste into the world of high quality Wudong Dancong oolong.

Truly a gentle and sweet tea that sits easy in the mouth and on the stomach, a pity the production is so limited (we bought the entire autumnal yield for these hundred or so tea cakes).

Check out more teas from Wen Zitong here!