Phoenix Dan Cong: Why It's My Favourite Tea

Feng Huang Dan Cong (凤凰单丛, "Phoenix single bush") is an oolong from Phoenix Mountain near Chaozhou in Guangdong, and it's my favourite tea. No other tea gives so much aroma from the leaf alone: honey, orchid, ripe apricot, lychee, almond, gardenia, with nothing added. The most loved style, Mi Lan Xiang ("honey orchid"), gets its honey from its cultivar and a long charcoal roast. Brew it the Chaozhou way: plenty of leaf, water just off the boil (90–95 °C), and very fast pours of a few seconds. Brewed slowly, it turns bitter; brewed fast, it's the most perfumed cup in China.

People who know me as a sheng pu-erh drinker are sometimes surprised when I say this, but if I had to keep only one tea, it would be Dan Cong. Pu-erh is the tea I study, collect and follow over the years. Dan Cong is the tea I love.

It didn't start well. My first Dan Cong, a Ya Shi Xiang bought mostly for its ridiculous name, was bitter and perfumed in the wrong way, because I brewed it like everything else. A year later a friend poured the same tea from a gaiwan she emptied almost as soon as she'd filled it, and I tasted honey and orchid and a cool sweetness that stayed in my throat for minutes. That moment changed how I brew every tea, but it changed Dan Cong most of all.

These days a Mi Lan Xiang session is how I mark a good day: a finished project, friends coming over, the first cold evening of autumn. This article is about why. If you want the full reference guide to all the aroma types, it's in my Dan Cong oolong guide. This one is more personal, and goes deeper into the place, the making and the way I drink it. More in the oolong guide.

Why Dan Cong, of all teas#

Three reasons, and they're the reasons I think every tea drinker should spend a season with it.

The aroma. Dan Cong has the widest range of natural aromas of any tea I know. The Phoenix area counts around eighty recognised aroma types. Two teas from the same mountain can smell like honey and orchid, or almond and roasted nuts, or gardenia and citrus peel. It never gets boring.

It teaches you to brew. Dan Cong punishes every lazy habit: long steeps, water poured straight onto the leaves, tea left sitting in the gaiwan. Get it right, and the reward is immediate. I learned more about gongfu technique from Dan Cong than from any other tea.

It lasts. A good Dan Cong gives eight to twelve steeps, and the old-tree teas go further. The aroma shifts from flowers to honey to minerals, and the aftertaste keeps building long after the cup is empty.

Phoenix Mountain: where it grows#

Phoenix Mountain (Feng Huang Shan, 凤凰山) is a mountain area north of Chaozhou in eastern Guangdong, with tea gardens climbing to about 1,300 metres. The area is famous for its old trees: there are around three thousand tea trees over two hundred years old there, and some individual trees are known by name.

"Dan cong" means "single bush". Originally, leaves from one outstanding old tree were picked and processed separately, because each tree had its own aroma. Today the name covers the family of cultivars propagated from those famous trees. Tea from genuinely old bushes is called Lao Cong (老丛), and it's thicker, softer and longer in the throat.

Chaozhou is also the home of Chaozhou gongfu cha, the original small-pot, fast-pour brewing style. It's no coincidence: the technique grew up around this tea. More in Chaozhou gongfu.

How Dan Cong is made, hour by hour#

What I find most beautiful about Dan Cong is how much of its character is made at night, by hand, by people who stay awake with the leaves.

There's a saying in the area that a good tea is one that has "spent the night", meaning the leaves were shaken and watched until morning. Look at spent Dan Cong leaves after a session: many have a reddish, oxidized edge around a greener centre. That's the shaking you're seeing.

Mi Lan Xiang: the honey orchid#

If you try only one Dan Cong, make it Mi Lan Xiang (蜜兰香). It's the most widely made aroma type, and for me it's the heart of the whole category.

It's worth knowing where the honey comes from, because it's often confused with other "honey" teas. In Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, the honey aroma comes from leafhoppers biting the leaves (I explain this in Taiwanese oolong). In Mi Lan Xiang, the honey comes from the cultivar itself, which descends from the local Shui Xian bushes, and from a firm charcoal roast. No insects are involved.

What a good Mi Lan Xiang tastes like to me:

• In the dry leaf: honey, dried apricot, a little roast.
• On the lid after the rinse: orchid and warm honey, strong enough to fill the room.
• In the cup: honey and sugar, ripe stone fruit, sometimes lychee; a clean, slightly astringent grip that turns sweet.
• In the aftertaste: a cooling, almost menthol feeling in the throat that lasts for minutes.

The relation to Wuyi is interesting: both Mi Lan Xiang and Wuyi Shui Xian come from the broad Shui Xian family, but Phoenix Mountain turned it perfumed and bright, while the Wuyi cliffs turned it deep and mineral. See Wuyi rock tea for the other side.

How I brew Dan Cong#

My everyday session#

The rules I never break with Dan Cong:

1. Pour the water down the side, not straight onto the leaves.
2. Empty the vessel completely and fast. Any tea left behind keeps brewing and turns bitter.
3. Don't fix bitterness with cooler water. It only flattens the aroma. Fix it with speed.
4. Smell the lid after every steep. With Dan Cong, half the pleasure is there.

Water matters a lot with this tea: hard water kills the perfume first. If your Dan Cong tastes dull, try a soft, low-mineral water before blaming the leaf. See water for tea.

When I'm comparing teas#

When I line up several Mi Lan Xiang from different gardens or roasts, I use a gentler tasting method: about 4 g in a 110 ml gaiwan at around 90 °C. It's less intense than my drinking session, but differences in aroma and bitterness show up more clearly. How to run a side-by-side is in how to taste tea.

The vessel#

A white porcelain gaiwan shows the tea honestly and is where I'd start. A thin Chaozhou clay pot is the traditional partner: it's light, heats up fast and pours quickly, which is exactly what this tea needs. More on both in my teaware guide.

Choosing Dan Cong#

• Look for the aroma type on the label. "Phoenix oolong" alone tells you little.
• Ask about roast. Light roasts are brighter and more floral; medium and heavy roasts are deeper, honeyed and more stable.
• Harvest year and season. Spring is the main harvest. With light roasts, freshness matters a lot.
• Whole strips. Broken leaf brews bitter.
• Lao Cong if you want the thickness and long finish of old trees.
• Taste samples first. Dan Cong varies more between producers than almost any other tea.

The oolong vendors I trust are in best places to buy oolong online.

Storing Dan Cong#

Lightly roasted Dan Cong loses its perfume surprisingly fast: after about six months it's noticeably quieter. I buy smaller amounts and drink them within the season. Keep it in a rigid, airtight container at room temperature, dark and away from smells. Don't vacuum-pack it: the long, twisted strips break. Roasted Dan Cong is more stable, and well-roasted teas can keep and mellow for years.