What are your favorite non-flavored fruity teas?
I’m looking for something specifically with a peach flavor, but I also enjoy other fruity teas as well.
Thanks in advance!
A good Dan cong for me does fruit the best out of any non flavoured tea.
I had a quick look though your notes and didn’t see any, do you drink it?
I haven’t had a Dan Cong yet, though have been interested for a while. Do you have any recommendations?
the Mi Lan Dancong AAA from jing tea shop is a staple for me (and fruitier than the AA version by enough to notice). You can try 25g for $9 abouts. I would go with that – unless you have enough money for the song zhong then get both :)
https://steepster.com/teas/jing-tea-shop/18475-spring-mi-lan-dancong-aaa <read mine and boychiks review, its a good description.
You have to not overdo the heat (I start with 90 degrees c) and do flash steeps gongfu to avoid overbrewing the tea. Then work out from there how much the tea (and your taste) can take. Good Dan Cong is unfortunately pricey, but its a real experience that is my favourite if I had to choose one in the tea world.
I haven’t used that provider since I’m not in the US but that sourcing lead, price, and brewing instruction starting point all sounds right to me. It would also work to visit a physical shop that is good about tasting tea with a customer before buying since there are different types of Dan Cong and the characteristic astringency level varies a lot in them, as well as flavors. It’s not necessarily just that lower quality teas aren’t astringent and higher quality versions are; it also varies by tea type (plant type), and probably by growing environment details and processing. I wrote a comparison tasting review of two different types, one a Mi Lan (Xiang, the “aroma” part), just bear in mind the versions can vary and it’s not like I’m actually relatively more accurate than anyone else about tasting description, just talkative. As far as YS teas go those might span a range of aspects and quality level; it would be good to read reviews here or elsewhere to get input, if that works out. I wouldn’t expect a moderately priced Dan Cong version (in the $10 to 12 / 50 gram range) to be a really good example of one, but I’ve tried a mass-produced commercial version before that wasn’t so bad.
John, you describe milan & yashi well. There is what I think of like surfing the crest of a wave of astringent or bitter flavour that helps the fruit taste feel energetic (you said it tastes like the peach skin), similar to how one can brew a pu’erh to their liking – just the right amount of strength.
Letting dancong cool a bit was something else I know is good, I drink around 70c or under. (not an exact science but I know how my cups should feel in my hand)
Do you remember which of the mass-produced one you tried which is ok? I have been trying to find some good cheaper brand recently.
I never really did isolate the brand name well; the Chinese lettering seems to say that it’s Wudong Dan Cong, but something on the tin must be a producer name. I can mention a link to the tea shop I bought it at, and it’s the fifth post down their page now, the second Dan Cong version listed in that feed of posts series: https://www.facebook.com/threeshelltea/
I haven’t drank that tea for awhile, and I did review it two years ago but I didn’t have much background with Dan Cong then (I’m not really a tea veteran). That post lists it for 550 baht (about $18 maybe), and I think that’s probably 100 grams, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to check that. It’s hard to specify how good that tea really is. I don’t think it’s on the same level as the tea I just tried from Cindy, and it might cost around half as much, if I’ve got that package size right, so that’s to be expected. I’m curious myself which Dan Cong type it is; I’ll ask that vendor by message and see what they say. They speak some English but talking through tea details with them really would go better in Thai.
It’s not a Dan Cong but I tried an Indonesian oolong that to me was really catchy in overall effect. It wasn’t as refined in some sense as a good Dan Cong but I really did love the flavor profile. It also didn’t have the same level of astringency, which would generally be a good thing to me. That can compliment the sweet and floral or fruity nature of Dan Cong but I like Ya Shi versions for not having much of it at all. Anyway, I’ll mention a link to that related review for the other oolong (which again isn’t just like Dan Cong, just interesting): http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.com/2016/06/xin-ren-dan-cong-from-cindy-chen.html
What-cha sells it, although it might be worth it to pick a few types and get more tea from the plantation directly. They sell a white tea that’s slightly more outrageous and a very decent black too: http://what-cha.com/indonesia-toba-wangi-wu-mei-oolong-tea/?setCurrencyId=3
Mi Lan Xiang, honey orchid Dan Cong, in particular can express a fresh peach or roasted peach character. Or maybe more floral, it just depends.
I drank a Wuyi Origin wild Lapsang Souchong that had a nice citrus flavor recently, and their Rou Gui can be citrusy, one version of it. Some versions of white teas can drift a little into a nice juicyfruit range (a reference to a gum, not a particular fruit), or Moonlight whites can be nice for fruit aspects, sort of white, described by type in different ways though.
Dian Hong are a nice version of black teas but those usually range towards yam or cocoa more, not exactly fruit, typically, but it reminds of a similar direction. I’ve tried an oolong from Indonesia that was particularly interesting before, Toba Wongi’s, but the main aspects description escapes me now, I think towards fruit but I’m lazy to look up a description.
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