A quest for Phoenix Oolong

[Herb_Master]

TeaGuardian has some Fascinating reading on such as this page

http://teaguardian.com/nature_of_tea/oo ... ction.html

But now when I am buying tea, I need to know if it was cloudy or sunny when the leaf was plucked

[Tead Off]

This seems to be a very good site for all kinds of tea information. Thanks for posting the links, boys.

[siae]

Which online tea vendor is good for phoenix oolong with reasonable prices?

[bagua7]

Ymw, Tead Off. Anything that's of benefit to this small tea community is always welcome.

An interesting website, when I first got hooked on Oolong 5 years ago - I browsed the web for info and discovered a book by Leo Kwan was THE Book to get, it was sold out due to high demand and I had to pay big bucks to get a copy from a specialist book reseller

This is funny, this site tells the tea story of Mr Kwan:

http://teaguardian.com/all_about/aboutt ... rdian.html

[bagua7]

Which online tea vendor is good for phoenix oolong with reasonable prices?

I never purchased anything from this vendor:

http://www.jkteashop.com/oolong-tea-dan ... 62_94.html

But I will give it a go. Don't expect premium tea for such prices but it is a good starting point for dancong beginners like myself (I have only tried this tea once before at a friend's place last year and really enjoyed it).

[Tead Off]

Which online tea vendor is good for phoenix oolong with reasonable prices?

I never purchased anything from this vendor:

http://www.jkteashop.com/oolong-tea-dan ... 62_94.html

But I will give it a go. Don't expect premium tea for such prices but it is a good starting point for dancong beginners like myself (I have only tried this tea once before at a friend's place last year and really enjoyed it).

I would be very skeptical about buying Phoenix Oolongs at this price point. We all want to find good bargains, but, look at the difference in price from well regarded vendors who are selling dancong teas and these prices. Tea Habitat, Hou De, Jing Tea Shop, Postcard Teas, Hojo, all have better quality dancongs at considerably higher prices than the one you mention. These cannot be the same teas you can buy at 10 times less.

My first experiece with dancong was bought at a now defunct seller from Asia. They were so bad, they were undrinkable to me. All less than $10/100g. I didn't know what a good dancong was till I reached a bit deeper into my pocket. Of course, if you can't afford it, it would be best to stick to another kind of tea that is inherently less money for good quality. This is just how I think.

[edkrueger]

Hou De's Dancong is terrible, at least the aged stuff. Of Tea Habitat's, I have had one aged one and it was more terrible and considerably more expensive –more than 4 times as expensive. 7 Cups is terrible, but cheap. Teance's are O.K. but over priced. I hope that helps a little. It might just be the case that finding good aged ones is more difficult.

[siae]

Thanks for your help!

I did throw in 50g of teaspring's
Song Zhong Dan Chong with my last order a week ago, I'm hoping it will arrive soon

[bagua7]

I would be very skeptical about buying Phoenix Oolongs at this price point.

Thanks for letting me know, but too late now, I placed and payed an order already. We all make mistakes, and this is the first time I have played with this tea. Next time I'll order from any of the guys you just mentioned.

I hope the tea I just ordered it is drinkable, at least. I'm crossing my fingers.

Hou De's Dancong is terrible, at least the aged stuff. Of Tea Habitat's, I have had one aged one and it was more terrible and considerably more expensive –more than 4 times as expensive. 7 Cups is terrible, but cheap. Teance's are O.K. but over priced. I hope that helps a little. It might just be the case that finding good aged ones is more difficult.

Holy cow! Not many options left then. Hojo, JTS & Postcard Teas as valid options at this point (not being labelled as bad so far).

[wh&yel-apprentice]

I would be very skeptical about buying Phoenix Oolongs at this price point.

Thanks for letting me know, but too late now, I placed and payed an order already. We all make mistakes, and this is the first time I have played with this tea. Next time I'll order from any of the guys you just mentioned.

I hope the tea I just ordered it is drinkable, at least. I'm crossing my fingers.

Hou De's Dancong is terrible, at least the aged stuff. Of Tea Habitat's, I have had one aged one and it was more terrible and considerably more expensive –more than 4 times as expensive. 7 Cups is terrible, but cheap. Teance's are O.K. but over priced. I hope that helps a little. It might just be the case that finding good aged ones is more difficult.

Holy cow! Not many options left then. Hojo, JTS & Postcard Teas as valid options at this point (not being labelled as bad so far).

I would disagree and say you have the option of doing more searches , and getting more than 1 or 2 opinions :p. There is a *huge* difference between "aged" (more than a few seasons back) and recent Dan Cong.

Go read up some more on the blogs, get more info. Supposedly those in the area of Chou Zou like their Dan Cong with a year or two of age on them after the current harvest/season. What consititutes Dan Cong is also mentioned in this thread and others, quality levels vs price levels.

Dan Cong more than 10+yrs old is *not* going to taste anything like a younger DC. As Imen has mentioned on her blog, and others too; the really older DC's like her '78, tastes more like an aged Pu'er. The color of the infusion is typically copper/red, and you also get an 'earthy/dusty aroma and palate taste, almost fine/grity sandy-like texture/mouthfeel in the finish. You can also get a more pronounced as the French wine drinkers like to say of red Burgundy 'sois bois', or taste of the smell of autumn leaves fallen to the ground/underbrush< it's still mild and not unpleasant to many. Other's accustomed to only younger DC may *hate* that and call it a "terrible" tea.

I know for a fact, tasting both of her '78 DC's 2x, once with the guy who wrote the LA Times article (he loved both, preferred one), that these teas are not for everyone's palate. I did enjoy them, but prefer the younger style. Strangely enough, the favored '78 DC, when Imen brewed it up for us with that LA Times 'teahead', came out with a darker bright yellow color, not copper/red. I asked Imen why that was, and I forget her answer...was rather strange to me, tasted better when the infusion came out that color too, less of that "pu-er" like earthiness.

Don't quote me on it, but the inferior grade, stems & broken leaf '96, just remember it was priced @$19 and that's for 2oz, not 1oz like her other 'private stash, single bush' Phoenix mtn oolongs?

http://www.teahabitat.com/store/index.p ... cts_id=157

I think is was. I had that with one of Imen's friends who is from Taiwan (iirc) who was tasting us on her latest Oriental Beauty, which is OK, but the aged DC the '96 (again not %100 certain) was a favorite of mine *as* brewed by Imen. I mentioned in the finish, it was so faintly thick and salty, almost oily texture, but more like thin cooking oil; that the flavors & aroma reminded me of deep fried dim sum, and got me a serious jonesin' for some dim sum (Pavlov's response, disclaimer: I cannot resist a well made, perfectly d/fried, light crispy golden dim sum dumpling)>what a great tea to have with dim sum, I thought! Medium yellow color, medium body texture...don't recall any of that older 'earthy/underbrush/fine gritty dirt flavor/texture of the '78's. two thumbs up from me...if only I could remember which it was.

Same thing happened with a relatively recent pu'er Imen was tasting us on, she had two different cakes she was brewing from. One of them was so nice and thick/creamy, but still with enough brightness to the finish, it had multiple layers of flavors, excellent complexity, lots of intensity, not whimpy/mild---again medium dark yellow, no tinge of copper or red to the infusion/soup...gad, it was great, I thought. Soon as I smelled it and then tasted a sip, I told LA Times teahead he would love this tea...and he did, after questioning me as to why I thought he would..."just try it" I said.

Damn, too much alcohol, tea, dim sum that day and I forgot which great pu-er Imen gave us <cry>. Sent her an email about that a few months later, she never replied I don't know about how older pu'er taste, as I've not had any, but if they are anything like the '78 DC's Imen has, I don't think I'd buy them...but that younger pu-er was insanely great.

It's all going to depend on how you brew it, who brews it, how they do that brew, along with *which* particular aged DC you are referring to.

It would be foolish to just take the word of 1 or 2 people, their biases, as definitive; when they haven't even specified which particular tea they purchased/tasted.

If someone says they are skeptical about pricing, that doesn't mean they have actually tried the teas. with jk, you can get almost all of their teas in 15g large sample sizes for <$10, some of them as inexpensive as $1 for such a large sample size. So you try, and then decide if you want to buy the larger 100g sizes. I only wish Imen and other top vendors had 15g 'trial' sizes for all of her expensive high-end and/or single bush teas; which are, all 27 of them @TH, presently on sale @20% off until June 1.

[bagua7]

Thnx for taking your time to write such long reply. Im not into aged teas except raw puerh, which is a totally different story. For dancong, I'm more into freshly harvested teas. See how goes with JK teas order, if I'm happy ill keep ordering from them, otherwise I'll shoot for a different recommended vendor. For these teas I got a dedicated chaozhou pot which I kept for the occasion. Well I just have to wait for order to arrive.

Cheers.

[Tead Off]

Thnx for taking your time to write such long reply. Im not into aged teas except raw puerh, which is a totally different story. For dancong, I'm more into freshly harvested teas. See how goes with JK teas order, if I'm happy ill keep ordering from them, otherwise I'll shoot for a different recommended vendor. For these teas I got a dedicated chaozhou pot which I kept for the occasion. Well I just have to wait for order to arrive.

Cheers.

Ultimately, the choice becomes your own after tasting various teas from various vendors. Anything expressed here is merely opinion. I am in Asia and buy from Asian sources and have no experience with American vendors. Imen has a very good reputation and I would think knows her stuff. Will everyone like her teas? Probably not. But, there is a huge difference between the good stuff and the low quality stuff. The difference is more than just the price.

[bagua7]

Yes, I know, thanks as you already said in the end the best move is to try different vendors until you find what is best for you.

[Marco]

I would be very skeptical about buying Phoenix Oolongs at this price point.

Thanks for letting me know, but too late now, I placed and payed an order already. We all make mistakes, and this is the first time I have played with this tea. Next time I'll order from any of the guys you just mentioned.

I hope the tea I just ordered it is drinkable, at least. I'm crossing my fingers.

Do not worry about that. I have made good experiences with jkteashop. Liked everything I bought from them.

[wrcowan2002]

If anyone is still interested, I would highly recommend Tea Habitat (www.tea habitat.com) for single tree Dan Cong.