The orchid fragrance, or Zhilan Xiang, is one of our favorite dancong oolong cultivars. It can serve as a sort of touchstone between makers, as almost everyone will make this more floral, often bouquet style dancong. Last year, this cultivar outperformed any other dancong in our opinion, this year however, its too soon to call.
This particular tea got a deep roast a few days before being sent to us, and as a result, the flavors were muted and the roast a little on the nose. While this is very common for dancong oolongs, it does make honest tasting notes difficult.
If this tea is anything like last year’s, then we expect something fruity like peaches mixed with wild orchids and a mineral kick. At the moment, the dry tea in the warmed gaiwan exude a sweet caramel fragrance with a dollop of butter or honey.
When brewed, the tea begins to show its vegetal side in a plate of sweet woods like pinion, mesquite, and cedar. The brew itself is mineral-sweet, and despite having received such a hefty roast recently, it would still fall on the lighter side of dancong roasting processes.
We will come back to this tea in a few months to assess how the roast has settled and give it the final tasting notes, but from what we know of this cultivar, and the maker behind it, it should be an outstanding tea in the year to come.
