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I bought this tea in an Asian supermarket called Amazing Oriental from the Netherlands. They are very famous in the Netherlands with multiple locations in operation. This tea also comes from Anxi County which is pretty rare for a supermarket tea, because they mostly sell tea from huge plantations. Most of the plantations also aren’t situated in tea’s region of origin for example Tieguanyin. Many plantations are located in neighboring cities like Xiamen or Zhangzhou while Tieguanyins region of origin is Anxi County in Quanzhou. The dry leaf of this tea has a nice milky and biscuity aroma with some grassy notes to it. The wet leaf has the smell of mostly marzipan alongside some florality. The taste of this tea is mostly floral with some notes of cooked vegetable. The texture is nice and clear. Overall a nice cheap tea and very suitable for daily drinking.

REVIEW 1:
8 grams of leaf, 100 C water, 70ml Chaozhou teapot, 6 seconds per steep
Dry leaf: To be reviewed

The tea was packaged in 8 packets of 8 grams of loose leaf tea. Upon opening the package I saw that the tea leaves were a reddish brown color. That may indicate that this tea is charcoal roasted. The wet leaf is amazingly sweet with peach and mango notes with hints of almonds, pear and honey. The liquor has a dark amber color indicating that this one is most likely charcoal roasted！Even more surprising is that I’ve bought this tea from an Asian supermarket (Amazing Oriental, Netherlands). The tea has a nice nutty, peachy and floral aroma and a clear and mineral texture. I should re-review this tea because I’ve gone full Teochew mode on this tea, using a whole packet of 8 grams with a 70ml Chaozhou teapot! The bitterness was pretty intense and the astringency was pretty pronounced. Even though I am Teochew I just cannot get used to the heritage brewing method of the Teochews because they use a ton of leaves and a little bit of water when brewing their favorite beverage. So this concludes my first review and I bet this is a pretty good tea but I brewed it much too harsh for it to be enjoyable.

REVIEW 2:
5 grams of leaf, 96 C water, 90ml Chaozhou teapot, 6 seconds per steep

As I am writing this review I’m predicting that this is going to be a pretty detailed review of this tea since my palate and my nose is as clear as day. Watermelon, honeydew melon, roasted cashews, wood, coffee and licorice is what I’m getting from the dry leaf. The wet leaf has honey, cardamom, peachy and milky notes with hints of leather, flowers (orchid and lavender), vanilla and raspberry. The texture clear, quenching, mineral and quite smooth (for a dancong) with minimal astringency and quite a good sweetness on the back of my tongue. The tea has notes of biscuits, unripe banana, orchids and cinnamon and it retains hints of coffee and licorice and wood and it also has new hints of almond, black pepper, green vegetation and celery. The new hints that I’ve mention will show up as the steeps progresses and from the 5th steep it adopts the aroma of egg tart and apple pie.The taste is naturally sweet with a little bit of bitterness. This tea is from Bitterleaf Teas top shelf collection and it rightfully deserves a place on my top shelf. A very complex and very enjoyable tea. I used the Chaozhou gongfu tea method with a Chaozhou teapot to brew wonderful tea.

Amazing tea. I still have to specify the smells and aromas of this tea but when I had this tea it was absolutely amazing and the huigan was so intense, It was almost like I’ve just swallowed caramel and honey!

the dry leaf smell is different from other dancong dry leaves I’ve smelled throughout my dancong tastings. The smells has dominant notes of roasted cashews, freshly baked biscuits (cinnamon cookie called speculaas) and peach pits with hints of jujube and dates. The wet leaf smell has notes of roasted walnuts, mint, stonefruit pits, strawberry, raspberry with hints of grass, nutmeg and flowers. Even though I accidentally oversteeped this tea the texture wasn’t astringent and the taste wasn’t bitter. The texture is rather clear, smooth and mineral. The taste was very unique with dominant hints of caramel fudge, nougat, coffee biscuits, chocolate and hints of milkiness and nuttiness. As the tea progresses it reveals subtle notes of citrus, charcoal, gardenia and starchiness. Overall pretty unique, but the tea lost its flavor too quickly, because at the second steep I already noticed that it was mellowing down and at the third steep I only could taste the base notes of nuts, coffee and the notes that I’ve mentioned as the tea progresses. Pretty dissappointing but still a very unique tea and the first time I’ve tasted that many confections in a dancong.

This was my first Fu brick tea. The dry leaf has a seaweed smell with funky fungal notes. The wet leaf has a dominant kelp aroma with some camphor and leather notes. Unlike a shu/shou pu’erh which is a very dark colored tea, this tea has a clear and amber color. This tea lasts up to 10 steeps minimum. The tea itself has a dominant kelp aroma with some earthiness and it has an indescribable aroma that reminds me of an aged raw pu’erh. As the tea progresses it loses more of the kelp aroma and the kelp aroma is replaced with a nice woodiness and more green and sweet notes. It still retains the fungal funkiness in the background in every steep. Texture is clear, refreshing and slightly astringent and not as smooth as a ripe pu’erh. The texture is similar to a raw pu’erh without the same level of bitterness of a raw pu’erh. Overall a very unique tea with very unique flavor. I used the Gongfu tea method with a gaiwan to brew this tea.

Dry leaf has a nutty, woody and a subtle sweet and honey note to it and hints of coffee and flowers. The wet leaf gives off a nice floral and vegetal/grassy note still with hints of honey and sugarcane. Texture is nice and clear while being slightly bitter and astringent. After swallowing the tea gives me a nice sweetness at the back of my tongue. The tea did have the taste of almond and furthermore it had woody, fruity and floral notes with some mineral and caramel hints. It wasn’t a super special tea but still very drinkable and nice. I used the Chaozhou gongfu method with a Chaozhou teapot to brew this tea.

Dry leaf smell blew my socks off! Already it had a super sweet smell with hints of nuts. The sweet smell comprises of peach, honey, lychee, flowers and honeydew melon! The wet leaf hits you with a dominant lychee aroma with hints of stonefruit pit, licorice and cinnamon. The texture is clear, mineral and quenching. The tea has astringency but almost unnoticeable and after the astringent episode (neglectable) it leaves you with a lingering sweetness in the back of the throat. The taste is still sweet like honey and it still has the stonefruit pit aroma but this time with a unripe banana and surprisingly peanut notes. Furthermore it has notes of mango, passion fruit, mangosteen and lychee. In conclusion, this is a tea that is known as a classic ‘household’ tea (especially for the Teochew/Chaoshan people) but never have I ever tasted a household tea that offers such an experience. The producer had almost maxxed out this tea and I couldn’t imagine having a better tea for the same price even though this tea was quite pricy. Frankly, I’ve never experienced such a good milanxiang dancong before.

Upon smelling the dry leaf I noticed some milkiness and the smell of fresh asian pear. The wet leaf had an almondy and honey smell with small amounts of orchid and green notes. The texture was milky and smooth with almost no astringency. When the tea hit my mouth it came with an aroma bomb. The tea is mainly a fruity tea with peachy and apple-y aromas with some nuts and coconut and a mineral taste in the background. Worth noting that the tea isn’t charcoal roasted so it maintains the vegetal note throughout the steeps. Overall a nice daily drinker and worth the price! I used the Chaozhou Gongfu method with a Chaozhou teapot to brew this tea.

Dry leaf: To be reviewed

The wet leaf has a charry and nutty smell with a floral and leathery smell in the background. The texture is refreshing and clear with a tiny bit of astringency. TO BE CONTINUED