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In a recent order from Jing tea, they included a sample of their "dan cong red tea."

I was really surprised when brewing this tea, as I haven't had a black/red tea with such strong floral characteristics (such as I normally associate with oolongs).

The website lists the tea as a shui xian varietal -- is that partly why it seems so much like a 'phoenix' dan cong? Is this tea, in effect, a fully oxidized version?

I don't have a lot of experience with black teas, and although I've had a variety of 'dan congs,' when I looked up the definition on babelcarp, I noticed that it's a bit... broad (i.e. can refer to a varietal, but can also refer to a 'single bush' harvest).

And oddly enough, there wasn't really much discussion on dan congs on this board (the black/red tea).

Sounds like an interesting tea. In theory, any tea can be 100% oxidized and turned into a black/red tea. And given the fruity/floral nature of dancongs, it probably translates well into a black. I'll have to think about trying this one.

Chinese black teas are some of the most fragrant. If you like that in your black tea, I suggest trying the three famous Gongfus/Congous of Fujian Province: Bailin Gongfu, Tanyang Gongfu, and Zhenghe Gongfu. All great teas.

Good to know, thanks.

that's a nice one, reminded me a lot of a few taiwanese blacks I have had in the past

actually all of jings reds I tried this yr were good. The ying de and lapsang are very well priced and tasty. If you enjoy darjeelings the yixing is kinda similar in many regards, but of course unique as well. The lapsang is really taking a nice turn from what it was before, highly recommend it now. What a difference with a little age. Can't wait to see what another year will do to this one.

teaisme wrote:that's a nice one, reminded me a lot of a few taiwanese blacks I have had in the past

actually all of jings reds I tried this yr were good. The ying de and lapsang are very well priced and tasty. If you enjoy darjeelings the yixing is kinda similar in many regards, but of course unique as well. The lapsang is really taking a nice turn from what it was before, highly recommend it now. What a difference with a little age. Can't wait to see what another year will do to this one.

I really enjoyed jing's lapsang a couple years ago, personally I fear that now it won't be smoky enough for me. Though I still think it will be ten times better than a cheap lapsang that was gifted to me which smells like smoke and tastes like smoke and doesn't taste like tea at all. At least jing's lapsang tasted like a red tea underneath the smokiness.

I think I would fit under the category of high smoke tolerance. Hard to find any lapsang I can't tweak to enjoyment, though I do prefer one that is not too smokey with strong keemun characteristics, and a few years to let the fire rest. The jing one deff still has enough smoke imo.

It is still a very strong tea, esp if you are going for 1-2 infusions. I go for about 4-5 infusions to tone it down to my ideal preference, It will kick me in the stomach if I drink it on empty in the mornings. It is getting really sweet at this point too. Makes me curious to see how much sweeter it will get and has me wondering when the curve will drop off and start turning mellow.

Anyone here aged lapsang before for 5-20 years?

Well it's good to know, thanks! I was very pleasantly surprised by this 'black' tea, and that led me to wondering about the whole 'dan cong' thing.

teaisme wrote:...ying de and lapsang are very well priced and tasty.

I liked that one so much that I ended up placing an order just last night: chocolate and spice are the dominant tones. But had to wait for this order since JTS quickly run out of stock...I think too many customers found this tea that good.