Do you like Dan Cong tea?

[Haddemall]

I'm sure many of you have noticed a chinese seller offering ''free'' samples for 25 USD on instagram. Well, I went for it a got 4 samples of different teas. I must have been sent the wrong tea because they were some the worst teas I have ever come across. Which is strange, I've seen vendors selling them and bloggers rave about them. My samples went into the trash, they were that strange tasting. I normally buy superb DC from Hojo, Tea hong and a local seller who carries a nice selection. The instagram DC tasted vegetal and watery.

I'm not really that upset but I guess that 25 bucks could have been spent on other stuff.

Haddemall

[ethan]

I guess that 25 bucks could have been spent on other stuff.

Haddemall

You "guess"? I am sure. Cheers,

[Haddemall]

[jayinhk]

I had to lol at your title

She sent me some samples too; average at best, and she wants very high prices for the DC. Some people who have no experience with DC will love the stuff. One tasted a little bit like mold--like it had been roasted to hide the fact the tea was substandard. Good dancong is now very expensive because the rest of China are buying it up. It's quickly approaching Wuyicha price levels.

She's very aggressive and tries to push DC on everyone, and is probably making decent money at it too. She speaks good English and has PayPal, so I'm sure she'll do well. Hopefully she steps her game up as the tea should be better for the prices she's looking to get.

I supposedly got sent better samples than everyone else (laocong stuff). One was actually acceptable, but the other two were meh. I have one left to try. I have had two meh dancongs here in HK in the last few weeks too, and one was substantially more expensive (songzhong DC), which was a disappointment (not much flavor, but very clean and with very good energy. Probably old tea).

I do have a connect in Chaozhou with stuff I consider acceptable, however, and at fair prices, but it's plantation stuff (lots of plantation DC is sold as laocong for sure).

Dancong appears to be a lot like baozhong as far as flavor profile and processing, but with different terroir. Good baozhong is cheaper than good DC, so if you're chasing the orchid flavor, go with baozhong IMO! Still, they are sufficiently different that I like having both around.

[Haddemall]

Hi Jay,

I had the so called laocong and in the trash it went. Quickly. Just horrible. But then again, what do I know. I don't ''get'' the hype for Tea Habitat either. Compared to the vendors I mentioned its a no contest.

[jayinhk]

Hojo and Tea Hong do have good reputations--I haven't bought from them. I'm trying to find a good source, but I'm curious to see what their quality is like, so I might have to pick some up to see how it compares!

[Haddemall]

Really great, luxury goods, like high end DC or yancha or gushu won't be cheaper in China than anywhere else. Just like beluga won't be cheaper in Iran.

[pedant]

hahaha i saw the title and assumed she had invaded here!!!

i also got the samples and thought they were just like average DC. i didn't throw them in the trash, but i haven't returned to them...
not sure why some people were raving about them unless she's sending higher grade stuff to more 'influential' people.

[jayinhk]

Really great, luxury goods, like high end DC or yancha or gushu won't be cheaper in China than anywhere else. Just like beluga won't be cheaper in Iran.

Sure, I'm well aware of that. I just want to see what their standard is like since I'm so close to Chaozhou and may make it up there at some point. I also get pretty good DC from Chaozhou now (better than anything I've bought down here--dancong isn't a tea traditionally sold in HK), so I wanna compare.

My friends over at BitterLeafTeas got some dancong in recently (they went over to Chaozhou). It should be pretty good as they're sticklers for quality.

[pedant]

sorry for dragging it off-topic (away from tea), but she had a pretty amusing email address.
it was something like 135398093211@163.com (note, this is not her actual email address, i just changed a couple of numbers)
anyone know what's up with that?

i went to 163.com and found that you can acquire highly desirable email accounts @163.com or even at @126.com !
maybe these numbers have some special significance i'm not aware of.

[Haddemall]

Hi pendant,

I chucked mine because it tasted so bad I couldn't figure out what the hell it was. And I am CHEAP, so it says a lot.

[jayinhk]

sorry for dragging it off-topic (away from tea), but she had a pretty amusing email address.
it was something like 135398093211@163.com (note, this is not her actual email address, i just changed a couple of numbers)
anyone know what's up with that?

i went to 163.com and found that you can acquire highly desirable email accounts @163.com or even at @126.com !
maybe these numbers have some special significance i'm not aware of.

Her cell phone number

[ethan]

Dancong appears to be a lot like baozhong as far as flavor profile and processing, but with different terroir. Good baozhong is cheaper than good DC, so if you're chasing the orchid flavor, go with baozhong IMO! Still, they are sufficiently different that I like having both around.

Hmmn

I thought dancong was like baozhong only when both are at the less impressive range of how good they can be. In my very limited experience w/ dancong, some have been a bit like very good rui (again limited experience) including the taste of stone fruits which I don't associate w/ baozhong unless it is aged.

Good aged baozhong had wonderful flavor of dried stone fruits for me.

Gets confusing. I have Baozhong that was floral but no longer is. ( Now it is like a good light-medium roasted gaoshan.) Perhaps it is moving towards dancong, but I do not think it will be like best dancong.

[jayinhk]

Dancong appears to be a lot like baozhong as far as flavor profile and processing, but with different terroir. Good baozhong is cheaper than good DC, so if you're chasing the orchid flavor, go with baozhong IMO! Still, they are sufficiently different that I like having both around.

Hmmn

I thought dancong was like baozhong only when both are at the less impressive range of how good they can be. In my very limited experience w/ dancong, some have been a bit like very good rui (again limited experience) including the taste of stone fruits which I don't associate w/ baozhong unless it is aged.

Good aged baozhong had wonderful flavor of dried stone fruits for me.

Gets confusing. I have Baozhong that was floral but no longer is. ( Now it is like a good light-medium roasted gaoshan.) Perhaps it is moving towards dancong, but I do not think it will be like best dancong.

I believe all dancong is shuixian varietal, but with different processing. Not sure about baozhong. Fresh dancong (green) tastes a lot like fresh baozhong because of the low temperature roast (around 100 degrees)--orchid and fruit. I've had much more complexity from fresh baozhong, but I think that's just because you get more for your money with baozhong than dancong nowadays. Rougui can be similar to dancong at times too. You're right that the stone fruit with baozhong is only present in higher roast stuff (like higher roast dancong and rougui). Aged baozhong is always reroasted. Roast temperature changes the aroma and flavor profile more than anything else with the three varietals it seems.

[benm3]

Hi Jay,

I had the so called laocong and in the trash it went. Quickly. Just horrible. But then again, what do I know. I don't ''get'' the hype for Tea Habitat either. Compared to the vendors I mentioned its a no contest.

Tea Habitat sells the best Dan Cong available online. Imen Shan is extremely knowledgeable about tea, and her selection of single bush Dan Cong is just stellar. Believe the hype.