Sipdown (Verdant Edition), 225. Today will be drinking almost exclusively Verdant teas, sipping down those that I’ve had for a while, and a few, like this one, that aren’t so old. I am, after all, apparently getting both my Verdant order and March’s reserve club package in the mail today.
I steeped this western style using the instructions for Verdant’s Tong Tian Xiang Phoenix Dancong, which seems to be the non-reserve version of this one. It smells like a roasty toasty dancong oolong, which is not my favorite of course, but still pretty good. Taking a sip, I am surprised by the fruitiness and juiciness; definitely lychee and perhaps some citrus as well. My problem lies with the fact that it is like I am having lychees (yum) and charcoal (blech). I just can never quite get into that minerally, toasted-to-burned taste that dancongs have. Oh well, the rest of this one is earmarked to go to another steepsterite for a sample, so I am counting it as a sipdown.
