Dancong Aria

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea
Flavors
Cinnamon, Floral, Honey, Mineral, Molasses, Nutty, Roasted, Roasted Nuts, Sweet, Toast, Toasty, Bitter, Earth, Nuts, Flowers, Peach
Sold in
Loose Leaf, Tea Bag
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by JulieWyant
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 11 oz / 316 ml

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75 Tasting Notes View all

  • “2nd infusion w/ dinner. Left over Chinese- Lemon Chicken w/ white rice… my FAVE! My family are not Chinese food eaters so I only get it on my birthday.” Read full tasting note
    91
  • “Crazy day so far. Got new washer and dryer. Watched the husband install the thing without really looking at the manual. Had a gas leak. Hardware store trips. Fixed leak. Put stuff in the washer and...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “I’m glad the description for this one says ‘perfumey’, because I definitely got that when sniffing this tea dry, and even now as it is brewed, and thought it was perhaps contaminated. I now doubt...” Read full tasting note
    77
  • “Wow. I love this tea more and more each time that I’m actually rationing it off. I am definitely going to buy this after I’ve decupboarded a couple of teas. :) Lychee sweetness! So great! I get...” Read full tasting note
    97

From Adagio Teas

Dancong oolongs are a rare variety from Phoenix Mountain in Guangdong province, China. Our Dancong Aria (Mi Lan Xiang) is grown at an elevation of 1000 meters and exudes a perfumy aroma of orchids and almonds. Smooth and refined texture with flavors of fresh apricot, peach pit, and honey. Incredibly long finish. Dancong Aria is a tea to take your time with – for maximum sweetness use lower water temperature than for most oolongs and be careful not to over-steep it, because, for a tea that’s got ‘flowers’ going on for days, this is no shrinking violet. A rich, grounding cup, perfect to enjoy in multiple infusions.

Dancong tea trees are not pruned to waist-level bushes but are grown into full-sized trees, often 30 ft. high. Some are 60-years-old. Our selection is from the Guangdong province, grown at 1000 meters’ elevation on the Phoenix Mountains. Teas from such older, unpruned trees result in leaves with intense flavor and fragrance redolent of orchids which is enhanced when brewed gong fu style to capture the taste and fragrance as the expressive leaves open up in the water. Use a moderately low water temperature for our Dancong Aria (Mi Lan Xiang) to enjoy the long finish and multiple deep-flavored infusions.

Oolong Tea | Moderate caffeine | Steep at 195° for 3-5 minutes.

About Adagio Teas View company

Adagio Teas has become one of the most popular destinations for tea online. Its products are available online at www.adagio.com and in many gourmet and health food stores.

75 Tasting Notes

91
865 tasting notes

2nd infusion w/ dinner. Left over Chinese- Lemon Chicken w/ white rice… my FAVE! My family are not Chinese food eaters so I only get it on my birthday.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Lori

Happy Birthday!

Caitlin

How can they not like Chinese food?!? And Happy Birthday!

Meghann M

Happy bday:)

Jaime

Happy Birthday!

Dorothy

Happy Birthday!

Lainie Petersen

This is a good tea!

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80
1271 tasting notes

Crazy day so far. Got new washer and dryer. Watched the husband install the thing without really looking at the manual. Had a gas leak. Hardware store trips. Fixed leak. Put stuff in the washer and during the spin cycle the washer sounded like an airplane taking off and smashing into the side of the house – which was the washer smashing around the closet trying to escape and kill everyone. Husband fixed that, which was him failing to do Step 1 and 2 of the instructions. Sigh. Now sitting down for tea. How about a perfumey oolong?

I’ve had this tea in my stash for awhile, I guess I didn’t drink much of it as it was kinda a pricey tea and I’m weird like that.

First off, steeping instructions said 5 mins, boiling. Yeah I’m not risking drinking another astringent tea so I went 190 for 4 mins.

Overall mild, but quite peachy perfumey, which lingers as an aftertaste as well. Starting to get astringent, but still good. Pretty good – I love my oolongs floral! I have a few more cups left, but not sure if I’d buy more, rather try some other dangcongs from other tea companies first.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Hesper June

My washer tries to break loose and wreck havoc once and while:)
All my doggies and kitties run and hide.
Glad you are finally able to sit down and enjoy a cuppa!

Kittenna

Hahahaha, I simply don’t get people who don’t look at manuals. I can’t generalize it to just guys, because I know women who don’t either, but I think I’m the only person I know who actually read their car manual front-to-back… (and unless something is dead simple, always reads instructions prior to trying to figure something out myself).

Lynxiebrat

I have known mostly guys to do that….not to mention not asking for directions when lost.

Oolong Owl

I go through manuals and instructions carefully but my husband doesn’t look at them. If it screws up he blames it on poor design or engineering, not lack of following instructions. sigh. I’ve known mostly men to think looking at the instructions is cheating. Not sure why it’s a game, I don’t want the thing that needs to be built to fall apart or explode!

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77
6105 tasting notes

I’m glad the description for this one says ‘perfumey’, because I definitely got that when sniffing this tea dry, and even now as it is brewed, and thought it was perhaps contaminated. I now doubt it :) Anyhow, thanks to Awkward Soul for this tea! I haven’t tried any dancongs aside from one or two from Verdant, and was interested to taste one that required less care and attention.

Even at 5 minutes, this tea is pretty mild. I can taste the “woodiness” that I get from darker oolongs (enjoyable), and also some perfumey, peachy notes that I wouldn’t have expected. Not bad, but not as flavourful as I would like, and I have doubts that it could hold up to a second infusion. There’s a lingering peachy aftertaste though that is quite appealing :) I’ll have to brew my next cup a bit stronger to see if it’s better that way.

Thanks again, Awkward Soul!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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97
1629 tasting notes

Wow. I love this tea more and more each time that I’m actually rationing it off. I am definitely going to buy this after I’ve decupboarded a couple of teas. :) Lychee sweetness! So great! I get about 5 steeps from this tea!

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89
412 tasting notes

Still my favorite oolong? Yep.

Apparently boiling water into room temp tiny glass pot → 200°F starting temperature. This is a little hotter than the last time I had this tea, and the aroma is roastier than I recall. There’s still some fruit, fortunately. Likewise for the taste: a little toast, but still peachy, and a nice tropical fruit aftertaste (or maybe that’s orchid? I haven’t eaten an orchid before). Still, think I understeeped this a little – more leaf next time.

2nd steep at 195 and 4 minutes

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 15 sec
LiberTEAS

This sounds like one I will have to try when I order from them next time……

teabird

I got in when they were promoting a Chinese teas sampler, which was really a pleasant surprise all around; this was my favorite of the 4, narrowly beating out Dongshan Dolce

LiberTEAS

I did get the Dongshan Dolce the last time I placed an order with them… I haven’t even had a chance to try it yet! LOL

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55
161 tasting notes

In honor of today’s Steepster Select, I’m drinking a cup of Dancong Aria. I honestly didn’t know that I had any until I noticed the “in cupboard” icon lit up. Oh cool…tea that I don’t remember buying. A sure sign of owning way too much leaf! :)

Dancong Aria is…different. It has a natural sweetness but also slips into a dryness like a white wine. There is sharpness to the smell and taste that I do not care for. Maybe it’s the notes of orchid? It’s just…“ok” in my book. sips Man, that astringency is killer. Dancong Aria is not smooth. I’ll just put this back into my “to be swapped” drawer.

On a happier note, I love reading all of the interviews for Adagio’s Roots Campaign. I wish more companies would do this. The tea tastes a little better if you know the story and people behind it.

__Morgana__

LOL re a tea you don’t remember buying.

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77
6768 tasting notes

I think I finally found “MY” perfect amount and length to steep! Unfortunately I am almost out. I prob have one more attempt after today. Still woodsy, but sweeter than other attempts – which is fine by me. I can finally taste the semi-peachiness that was talked about by others but I must say this is the first time I have been able to taste this. I know it’s because I steeped for less time this time. I have a tendency to oversteep stuff often. :) Regardless – this is a nice cup

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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73
114 tasting notes

2/2/14 Groundhogs day! Gongfu brewing in my water chestnut clay teapot. 3.6g/150ml pot/195F Drinking tea with my husband. He wanted something lighter this morning, after lots of western brewed black tea at work. Lighter then I brewed this in my gaiwan – the clay pot is still very young. Floral and fruity.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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84
355 tasting notes

Taking this down a bit – I really don’t taste any orchid and the peachiness is tougher to find this time, but the honey is definitely there.

Cofftea

I don’t get any orchid either, but the peach always slaps me in the face.

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62
46 tasting notes

I must be doing something wrong, or I’m having a bad tea week (but only with this tea?) because my sample tin is almost gone and I still have yet to produce a cup that has all that supposed honeyed peach ginger lychee goodness that other Steepsterites are raving about. I tried brewing in two different porcelain gaiwan, a glass gaiwan, two different yixing pots… using different water temps (from 190 to 200+), diff quantities, diff times… Gah. I even tried leaving the container open for a minute to let the leaves ‘acclimatize’. The best result I had was when cold brewing, but there was a rubbery taste I got like when I brew the Adagio peach oolong. Maybe my taste buds are off, maybe they’re wired wrongly and instead of “mmmm peach” they like to send me “ech, rubber”. Just for fun.

But, I will persevere! At the very least, I’ll have an empty tin to use to store other more cooperative teas.

Jillian

Maybe it’s the temperature of your water or maybe even your water itself…?

pimli

hmm. I do use a digital thermometer. Maybe the water then. Will try with bottled spring water, or something else, then update. thanks for the suggestion!

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