Imen is sending out the Dan Cong on Wednesday, so some of you may receive it as early as February 1. For most, however, it will probably arrive later. I assume she will enclose her suggested brewing instructions with the tea.
Coincidentally, Hobbes today posted a review of another of her Dan Congs which you can read at
http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2008/01 ... ncong.html His introduction nicely describes my own ambivalence about Dan Cong teas, feelings that I suspect many others have about this distinctive Guangdong tea type.
As usual, in my session with this tea I can only sense maybe 10% of the information that Hobbes manages to tease out of his sessions. My notes for the Honey Orchid (
not in the Feb tasting):
In my notes I wrote:Honey Orchid, 2007 Gold Medalist
Brewing: 4.0 g in 100 ml gaiwan, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 20 s, 25 s, 30 s, 35 s, 40 s, 45 s, 1 m, 2 m, 4 m
Aroma of slightly roasted grains. First infusion a little stronger flavored than the Ao Fu Hou, Po Tou, or Zei Shi and more bass notes. I can imagine orange blossoms and ginger in this one. Oily feel on the lips in second infusion. 3rd infusion: honey and ginger thick on the lips. Strength drops off considerably after 4th infusion.
This was not one of my favorites among those of Imen's that I tried. For the February tasting I included only the 3 that I most enjoyed from among the 10 I sampled.
De gustibus non est disputandum, however, and others would likely have felt differently.
