I got this as part of a reddit swap which also landed me a second cake of Milk, Cream, and Alcohol from w2t. Turns out to have been an awesome swap, as this is a great tea as well. As noted in the tea’s description, I was hit by a a wave of creamy, milky aroma when I opened the bag. Upon further sniffing, I also detected floral and slight coconut and milk chocolate notes. After a rinse, the floral note became quite prominent, thought the milky aroma remained strong as well.
I brewed this one pretty heavily, nearly filling my 60mL gaiwan with leaf. Early steeps were slightly bitter, with some milky and fruity notes, along with just a touch of floral to finish it off. The fruit was peach or grape in these early steeps.
As I continued, the bitterness increased, as did an intensely floral milky aftertaste – guessing this must be the osmanthus. Dang, it tasted good. It had a lubricating mouth feel and the aftertaste lasted almost a ridiculously long time. It just kept getting stronger and longer lasting until maybe the 10th steep, at which point the bitterness dropped off, as did the intensity.
After the bitterness was gone, there was still quite a bit of osmanthus flavor in here, along with some other sweet notes, which reminded me of marzipan and fruit – maybe peaches again. The tea lasted quite a while – I was able to drink through a full liter with just the 60mL gaiwan.
I really liked this dancong – I’m going to need to try more of them with this brewing style.
Flavors: Creamy, Floral, Fruity, Marzipan, Milk, Osmanthus, Peach
