Mother Bush Brother's Dancong

Roast: Medium

Tasting Notes: Sage, Loam, Cinnamon, Orchid, Rose

True to it’s name, the Brother’s mother bush, in Chinese called Xiongdi, is not a single tree, but a pair.  These two trees grow a little lower on the mountain slope down from Wen Zitong’s old home, and they have an expansive view of the greater Phoenix Mountains.  We saw several pickers climb this tree while picking.  Usually dancong oolong bushes, even the mother bushes are picked with ladders because their branches are not strong enough to be climbed, but these bushes are an exception. 

The same couple with a teahouse in Guangzhou tend to buy the entire lot of the brothers’s mother bush, but this year, similar to Da Huang, the Huangzhi Xiang Mother Bush, they agreed to let us buy a small amount from Wen Zitong (just 500 grams).  While we were most excited about the Gardenia Fragrance mother bush, it was this tea that Wen Zitong called to tell me about, it is the tea he is most proud of in 2025. 

The sorting for this tea was done by hand, and as a result it contains a higher amount of sender stems than a machine sorted tea.  These stems give the tea much more sweetness and is something lost in the machine sorted teas.  When the leaves are placed in a warmed gaiwan, we get a sweet spicy fragrances, similar to cinnamon and baking breakfast rolls.  On the nose, the dry leaves are not as berry sweet as those of the Huangzhi Xiang. 

When infused with hot water, a spring storm of vegetation is released in the palate, we smell sage, loam, orchid, and rose.  The tea soup of this tea absolutely soars.  While we thought the leaves were fragrant, so much of the flavor gets transported into the brew that it practically sings.   It is impossibly light on the tongue reaching so high up into the soft palate that we can imagine the fragrance coming out of our ears.

This tea has a slightly heavier roast than the Huangzhi Xiang, making it a more iconic ‘classic dancong’ oolong.  The Brother’s Mother Bush deserves time and attention, and if at all possible, some slow boiled water over a charcoal or open flame stove.  The mouthfeel is perfectly balanced, and the sweetness is mineral-backed and long lasting, dominating the later half of the tea session.  Despite the several roasts this tea has received over the summer months, it hasn’t forgotten its tea leaf origins, and the flavor of the leaves themselves persist throughout the session.

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The mother bush teas from Wen Zitong are teas not commonly available.  Only though strong connections as well as deep relationships with the growers and makers can we source these teas.  We are honored that Wen Zitong agreed to reserve a pound of this tea for us from the very limited amount of leaves picked this spring (each year there are only a few kilograms of final tea from this tree).  This is Danzhu, Single Tree, Mother Bush, true Dan Cong, aka Single Bush.  Teas like this are a rare treat and indeed the nuances tend to be subtle and profound for those learned in the leaf.  

While these teas usually don't have the rollercoaster of flavors and aromas, their true magic comes in their incredible vitality, the sweetness in the later infusions, and of course the Cha Qi.

Check out our Glossary of Dancong Oolong Terms to understand this info more!