.png)
White2Tea’s Dawuye Dancong
(Tea provided for
review)
Origin:
Guangdong
I decided
it was finally time to get back on the White2Tea hype train and try one of
their oolongs. I know I have been sitting on the remainder of the White2Tea
samples for a long time and I feel terrible for waiting so long to try some of
them, especially because they are so good! Anyways White2Tea describes this tea
as:
Dark Feather Dancong
oolong tea is a Dawuye variety oolong from the Guangdong province of
China. The tea has a light to medium roast and is sweet, fragrant, and
has a lasting complex finish. Best brewed Gongfu
style, the Dark Feather can be
resteeped many times.
The name
makes this oolong sound like it is much darker than it actually is, while it is
nowhere near the more heavily oxidized oolongs I would not describe as a
greener oolong, it feels somewhere in the middle. I do tend to avoid a lot of
the heavily oxidized oolongs, but the roast on this feels rather well done, it
is very subtle.
Dry Leaves: The leaves have a slightly grayish tint, but the leaves are
predominantly blackish with a little green mixed in. There are a couple long
stems and it looks like the leaves are hand harvested. There is a slight aroma
of vegetal sweetness to the leaves.
First
Steeping
Temperature:
190oF
Brewing
Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Floral
and Oat
Flavor: Tangy,
Fruity and Malty
Tasting
Notes: I do not know why I was expecting a darker tea, I have had Dawuyes
before. Regardless this is a very fragrant tea; I am getting tons of floral
notes and a rather strange aroma that stumped me for a while. In the end I
decided to describe it as oats, it does remind me a little of oats, but more so
of young grain; although I am not exactly certain while I have seen and smelled
wild grains I do not know of any place nearby that grows grains to be sure.
The actual individual tastes of this tea
are amazing. It is very easy to see why a store that specializes in puerh. It
has a very nice mix of tangy notes that are not exactly sweet, then the
fruitiness has some definite sweetness to it and then the malty contrasts both
the tangy (almost spicy) & sweet fruity flavors. So far this tea reminds me
a little of barbeque sauce in a good way, I can taste some roasted notes in
this tea, even though I did not include “Roasted” in the flavor description
section.
Second
Steeping
Temperature:
195oF
Brewing Time:
One Minute
Aroma: Floral and Woodsy
Flavor: Tangy,
Malty, Ripe Fruit and Citron Peel
Tasting
Notes: Very creamy this time, while the liquor had a nice (not necessarily
thick) mouthfeel in the last infusion it’s becoming much thicker almost syrupy.
The fruity notes have changed a bit; they feel much riper this time definitely
sweeter than the last time, although it has yet to develop sickly sweet that
you occasionally see in teas described as ripe fruit. And there is a new citron
peel like bitterness taste this time.
The aroma still is rather lovely, the
oat scent has disappeared and been replaced with a woodsy scent that is a
little reminiscent of the smell of wood after the bark has been pulled off. The
floral notes are still there, but they are starting to weaken. Besides the
aroma the tea is becoming rather complex, there are the sweet, but not sweetness
of the tangy & fruity notes contrasting with the matiness & bitterness
of the citron; its feels like this tea is being pulled in two directions and
for some reason it works rather well. While individually each taste is clashing
with the others, but for some reason this tea has a perfect balance between
them. It has that tanginess yet still malty, it has those sweet ripe fruity
notes despite the sharp bitter citron.
Third
Steeping
Temperature:
200oF
Brewing
Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Woodsy
and Oat
Flavor: Tangy,
Malty, Walnut, Ripe Fruit and Tart Citrus
Tasting
Notes: Again wow! I am sad to say the bitterness of the last infusion is almost
completely gone and instead there is a very murky tart citrus flavor. And there
is a new walnut taste that offers another interesting flavor; in later
infusions the tea starts to become simpler, but the fruity and tangy notes are
the first tastes to wane and disappear. It’s interesting that this tea becomes
very earthy and floral towards its end. I did get a lot out of these leaves, I
did not really keep track of how many infusions after the eighth, but this has
a lot to give.
At the
time of writing this White2Tea is selling this for $21.50 and while it a little
out of that comfortable $10-15 range I feel that is a pretty good price for
this Dawuye.
0 comments: