Dan Cong Song Zhong (\u5355\u679e\u5b8b\u79cd) is a Song Zhong type of oolong from a fully certified organic tea garden of Master Huang. It is hand picked from local Song Zhong cultivar trees that are about 15 years old and are grown under perfect organic conditions near Gaoyuan Village at an altitude of approximately 600 metres. The complex thick taste has sweet, fruity and toasted notes with a very powerful, lasting aftertaste. This current batch was harvested and processed in late April 2021.<\/p>\n
You may be interested in our other Dan Cong teas from Master Huang<\/a>, which are available in our usual packaging or in two tea flight boxes<\/a> that contain 6 different teas each.<\/p>\n Song Zhong Oolong is named after the Song Dynasty (960-1,279) as it is said that the mother bushes with this name trace their origins back to this time period. As with so many other Dan Cong cultivars, or varietals, the original mother bushes are descended from the ubiquitous Shui Xian (\u6c34\u4ed9) cultivar trees. The farmers have then taken cuttings from these trees to preserve the unique nature of the mother bushes in the descendent trees. This has allowed careful selection process to occur over time, which allowed for the desired plant’s features to pass to the newly planted trees. Unlike some other Dan Cong varietals that have certain pronounced features, this Song Zhong Oolong delivers a multitude of flavours and an impressive and attractive strength of the taste.<\/p>\n The leaves of this Organic Song Zhong Oolong are very neat in appearance and consist of smaller younger leaf with a dark green colour and medium oxidation. The wet leaf releases a fruity floral note of apricots with a medicinal hint. The liquor has a less pronounced aroma, which shifts to a more mineral aspect. The taste is thick and mouth coating, without harshness or astringency. The sweet fruity flavours are reminiscent of apricot jam. But the complex flavour reveals further medicinal, toasted, creamy and mineral citrus notes. This tea has a pronounced and powerful hui gan<\/em> (\u56de\u7518), a ‘returning sweet’ aftertaste or throat sensation. This sensation, which can be described as a flavour echo of the tea flavour, which is lightly drying, vaporific and mouth watering is very long lasting and it lingers on your palate and throat for a very long time after drinking this tea.<\/p>\n Brew western style, at 90\u00b0C for 3 minutes 3+ times. For best results we highly recommend gongfu<\/em> style brewing. For gongfu<\/em>, we recommend using traditional glass or ceramic teaware or a gaiwan. Or you can use your favourite yixing or chaozhou tea pot that already performs well with Dan Cong teas. Make sure to preheat all teaware thoroughly. Use water brought to 100\u00b0C and a very high tea to water ratio of 1g per 10ml. We find anywhere between 7g (more conventional gongfu<\/em>) and 10g (more local chaozhou gongfu<\/em> style) per 100ml to be a good measure, depending on your taste. As an alternative visual guide, your brewing vessel should be about 75% full with leaves. Start with 10 second infusions for the first 4 infusions. Then start slowly increasing the infusion time after that. You can adjust the quantity of leaf and infusion time to your taste, however the bittersweet complexity that comes through when using the traditional method is very much a desired feature in Chaozhou.<\/p>\n Location of the organic tea garden of Master Huang:<\/p>\n