Yashi Xiang Dancong Oolong

Name of the product: Yashi Xiang Dancong Oolong

Year: 2021

Harvest: Spring.

Altitude: 1000 meters height above sea level

Area: Feng Bei Village, Chaozhou, Guangdong.

(Yashi Xiang Dancong Oolong)

This tea is already very famous. So I guess you all know how the story goes. The farmers that owned these tea bushes producing high-quality tea didn’t want it to be taken away by other tea producers. Because of that, they made up stories that the earth in the area was covered in loads of duck s*** to keep others away from his tea and called it “Duck Shit Aroma”, etc. And this is how it got its name. Story aside, some Ya shi Xiang deserve the fame the tea has. This one is one of them. 

The tea garden near this village belongs to the Phoenix Mountain area. It has a high altitude, and it is next to the Wudong Mountain.

The area surrounding the tea garden has diverse flora and also some wild animals. All of this translates as a favourable environment for the tea plants.

One thing that I learned when I travelled to Chaozhou in 2016 was that one hundred years old plus Ya Shi Xiang tea trees are nonexistent because the tea is relatively new. The original oldest YSX tea tree is 80+ years old and its tea costs several thousand dollars for 500 grams.

This tea was hand-picked and traditionally charcoal-roasted.  

It fits into the medium roasted category and also has a medium degree of oxidation.

 I brewed this one 11 times with 5g / 90 cm3 gaiwan. 

The dried leaves in a preheated Gaiwan have a milky, buttery aroma.

The tea itself has some milk, peach and flower notes.  

 It has a thick mouthfeel with an excellent sweet and mouthwatering soup. In addition, has a low to medium astringency and nearly no bitterness, you need to push it hard to get some.

The tea remains very stable throughout the whole tea session. As the higher notes fade away, the tea marches on with an excellent huigan, thick, creamy mouthfeel and also a long aftertaste that remains in the mouth and throat. To summarize, Its high quality is undeniable. You could try a sample and compare it with others Ya Shi Xiang. I chose this one before others Ya Shi Xiang because the sweetness and mouthfeel are much better in comparison. In some other YSX, the aroma was better but the mouthfeel was not as creamy, they were more astringent and got nastily bitter when pushed.

We also have a Milan Xiang from this producer.

Brewing tip: Dancong tea is a bit more tricky to brew than other Oolongs.

These teas usually prefer a short steeping time and the easiest way is to make it in a porcelain Gaiwan. You can also use a Chaozhou clay teapot, Yixing Zhuni or Hongni. I got good results with these clays too. But you have to find a teapot that suits them. We advise you to experiment with different clays if you plan to use a teapot and compared it with a porcelain gaiwan side by side.