Dan Cong

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Butter, Flowers
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by TeaGuy19
Average preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 15 sec 8 oz / 236 ml

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41 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I have had this sample for at least a year, and it made me think of Quiltguppy and how much I miss her here on Steepster. This is a sip down, the end of a generous sample that had gotten pushed to...” Read full tasting note
  • “The 3rd sipdown of the day! (315) The aroma of this tea is so nice & fruity, like stone fruit mostly, but also with a raspberry essence. There is also a really nice dark chocolate aspect, as...” Read full tasting note
  • “Sipdown, 148. I’ve had this tea before but I’m glad Sil sent me a sample because I haven’t had it in a long time. Plus I can get a reminder of kind of a base-level dancong before trying some of the...” Read full tasting note
    75
  • “My 200th tasting note! Before bed last night I did a quick 2nd steep of the leaves (at 8 minutes, doubling the length of time for the first steep) and set it in the fridge to enjoy with lunch...” Read full tasting note
    96

From thepuriTea

Dan Cong Oolong is, perhaps, our best tea. It is handcrafted from the leaves of the famous Dan Cong tea bushes of Phoenix Mountain in Guangdong, China, and then well oxidized and roasted for a remarkably rich, nuanced aroma and flavor. Its dark, wiry leaves are highly aromatic. Open a package and you’ll immediately smell apricots, peaches and bittersweet cocoa powder. The clear, pale-golden brew has lively aromas of apricots, nectarine, firewood, dark chocolate, and toasted walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts. Its flavor is fantastically sweet and complex, with notes of fruit (apricot, peach, white grape, nectarine), honey, wood and minerals. The aftertaste is phenomenally full, and it changes with each re-infusion of Dan Cong Oolong. Brewed gong fu style, later infusions reveal a drier (yet still fruity) flavor profile with engaging, sophisticated mineral and woodsy notes. Chilled, Dan Cong Oolong is deliciously clean and fruity – a wonderful calorie-free alternative to fruit nectar. Pair this decadent tea with rich foods, like a fresh fruit and smoked bleu cheese platter, a dark chocolate torte or hazelnut French macaroons.

About thepuriTea View company

Our mission is simple: to provide gourmet teas and practical teaware. We source all of our teas and teaware directly from China, Taiwan and India to ensure the maximum quality, value and freshness for our customers. By cutting out the middleman in our selection process, we can pass on savings to our customers and guarantee the quality of each and every one of our products.

41 Tasting Notes

3224 tasting notes

I have had this sample for at least a year, and it made me think of Quiltguppy and how much I miss her here on Steepster. This is a sip down, the end of a generous sample that had gotten pushed to the back of a drawer with some others that I am trying to finish up.

Kashyap mentioned in his review of this that a tea’s profile is likely to change over time. I think that happened with this one.

Opening the packet for the first time in a year, the aroma of the dry leaf is nut. Nut, nut, and more nut. Specifically walnut I think, but it could be pecan. Steeped, however, the nut aroma is way in back and a fruitiness has come to the front. It reminds me of the sharp scent of scuppernong grapes. There is so much in this cup of tea!

This is so fruity, with a hint of astringency, that it is reminding me of a Darjeeling today. The aftertaste is of apricot. I feel as though I have eaten an apricot dumpling, swimming in syrup and topped with chopped walnuts. Delicious!

Veronica

Wow! That sounds delicious… and now I’m hungry.

OtherWillSmith

gonna order some :-)

Indigobloom

I miss her to, hope QG is ok :(

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3294 tasting notes

The 3rd sipdown of the day! (315)
The aroma of this tea is so nice & fruity, like stone fruit mostly, but also with a raspberry essence. There is also a really nice dark chocolate aspect, as well as hazelnut, especially in some of the middle steepings. Near the end it takes on more of a woods & rock kind of flavor. There are still plenty of steeps in these leaves, but I’m going to put them in a jar of water in the frig & let them brew there for awhile, as I think this will be tasty cold!

Sil

So glad I’m like 100 teas from Being where you’re at lol

TeaLady441

Well if we’re gonna rub it in, I’m about 100 teas away from you, Sil! :P

Sil

You be quiet woman! Plus I never want to be as low as 100 hahaha

Terri HarpLady

I’m aiming for 200, believe it or not, LOL.

TeaLady441

(I’m lucky I still have friends!)
And Terri – who knows? You could do it! You’ve been cutting back on your ordering haven’t you?

Sil

Sure she has….barely ordering at all giggle

Terri HarpLady

…cough….no comment…heh…

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75
2201 tasting notes

Sipdown, 148. I’ve had this tea before but I’m glad Sil sent me a sample because I haven’t had it in a long time. Plus I can get a reminder of kind of a base-level dancong before trying some of the reserve dancongs that came in the last Verdant reserve club shipment.

At one point I’m pretty sure thepuriTea’s description for this tea said that it was actually scented with osmanthus, or at least a previous incarnation of it was. Anyway, it was either mistaken or the tea has changed, because now it is definitely just a dancong oolong. Ah! I found it using the internet wayback machine! In November of 2010 their description included the line “Our Dan Cong has been naturally infused with natural osmanthus flowers.” But that has been removed.

The tea smells roasty, a bit woody, fruity, and a bit of crisp mineral-ness. Flavor-wise, the fruitiness really comes to the forefront. Very much a note of sweet stone fruits, but combined with a woody/barky background profile. There’s also a bit of bitterness/astringency to this one, and I’m thinking maybe I should have gone with a lower temp. I do think this is less floral than when I originally tried it, although it is hard to say from two years ago. This is one of those teas that is fine, but not really up my alley. That woodiness is just too much and really takes away from my enjoyment of the other flavors. Interested to see how the other dancongs I have will compare, but this one is (still) not for me.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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96
863 tasting notes

My 200th tasting note!

Before bed last night I did a quick 2nd steep of the leaves (at 8 minutes, doubling the length of time for the first steep) and set it in the fridge to enjoy with lunch today.

The flavor of this steeping is lighter (as is the liquor) and more floral, but the apricot/fruit taste is also more prominent throughout the sip, instead of just in the after taste. Despite such a long steeping time, there was no bitterness whatsoever. In fact, it’s quite refreshing like this – I would love having it iced in the summer, for sure.

I love this oolong, hands down, and definitely want to try more Dan Cong varietals. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 8 min or more
The DJBooth

Huzzah! on the bicentennial steep!

SimplyJenW

Congrats! Keep them coming!

Ninavampi

Yay!!! Congrats! 200 is a bunch! : )

Ninavampi

That means that you have drunk at the very very least, 200 cups of tea!

JoonSusanna

Thanks guys!

Krystal

I prefer Teavana’s Phoenix Mountain Dan Cong but that’s just me

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97
150 tasting notes

My Breville tea maker finally arrived last night! This morning, I decided that the perfect tea to christen my beloved happiness maker with was Dan Cong. How wonderful is it that I can now brew a beautiful oolong exactly right. It really is so exciting!

What a treat! Dan Cong is simply gorgeous. I’m finding it hard to separate all of the flavors in this tea. I get a floral, fruity, roasted, and a slightly nutty taste. It’s as if these flavors rush in almost all at once, swirl around my taste buds, and then melt away. I’m just enjoying the experience.

A big thank you to the wonderful QuiltGuppy for sharing this amazing tea with me. I feel so fortunate today :)

MaddHatter

Sounds …. DEEEEEELish!

QuiltGuppy

Double yay! I love this tea (I bought a pound of it!) and I love the Breville! I hope you enjoy yours, too…

teawing

I love the look of this tea dry, and I agree, it is very good. I also have QG to thank like you. Her influence is far reaching!

QuiltGuppy

Jenn – You inspired me to have DC this morning… (it didn’t take much prodding.)

ashmanra

I picked up my napkin at dinner and somehow it smelled like flowers and coconut, very light. I don’t know why, either. But it made me want Dan Cong! Thanks to QG, I had a generous sample and was able to have some more.

Michelle Butler Hallett

Isn’t the Breville wonderful? The basket feature rocks.

Jenn

MBH, the tea basket and temperature control were THE selling points for me. I love it :)

QuiltGuppy

Have you tried it with the basket cycle button pushed? It’ll move the basket up and down, but really only works best when you have a full pot of tea. (Nice for steeping a strong black for kombucha!) :)

QuiltGuppy

Do you think kombucha would work with Dan Cong?

Jenn

QuiltGuppy-
1.) I had no idea that such a basket function existed! I hate reading instruction manuals, so the quick start guide was as far as I’ve read.

2.) You scare me. Why do you want to use such “good” teas for the booch?? The tea miser in me doesn’t want you to waste any Dan Cong, BUT technically, an oolong should work perfectly for the brew. Do you own a cheapo oolong to experiment with?

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75
6768 tasting notes

Dry – this smells like a combo of Raspberry, Peach, and Apricot trying to hide underneath the Dan Cong Oolong! Natural notes, of course!

OH!!! Almost forgot…special thanks to my Sororitea Sister LiberTeas for this one!

Post infusion – this smells like various fruits, nuts, and woodsy and peppery notes.

My first sip was a slightly bitter-wood, pepper, pecans, and a VERY dark spinach leaf type taste combo!

After my taste-sensors adjusted to this intense flavor I could pick up on Hazelnuts and a hint of nectarine or peach…but the bitter-peppery-wood flavor is certainly in the forefront.

This is much more intense than I thought it would be…which is a nice surprise considering all of the mellower oolongs I have had the last several days but I think a more toned down woodsy flavor and more of that natural fruit notes and cocoa mentioned in the description is what I have been longing for in this one.

It’s a powerful oolong and it’s pretty good but I am feeling like I missed something in this…perhaps in the 2nd or 3rd infusion those notes will pop thru.

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76
15006 tasting notes

Sipdown! Can’t let Terri catch up! haha

This was one of the teas my lovely tea sister sent me, that i have apparently been drinking but not recording. Oopsy.

Those who know me, know that most oolongs i can live without. I really only dislike most green ones, but even the roasty dark ones sometimes have that distinctive taste that i’m not a fan of. This one borders being delicious and being a dark oolong that i’m less a fan of. There’s a touch of astringency but not enough to be a bad thing. There’s a sweetness to this as well, though i can feel a bit of floral hanging out in the back. Overall though, it’s been a decent cuppa to drink!

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2291 tasting notes

This sample is probably from Sil. Thanks, Sil! :)

I have two other teas waiting for second-and-third steeps, but I decided to have something different. I’m contrary like that. :)

The result is… no. It’s way too roasty-toasty for me.

Sorry, thepuriTea. It’s me, not you.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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61
1353 tasting notes

I am on an oolong kick this week! Barely had anything else at all than oolongs. This one has been lying around for a while, I think it came from QuiltGuppy

Unfortunately it has been lying next to some fig flavoured stuff, which I haven’t dared try yet, and I thought I detected a vague trace of something figgy or date-y in the aroma of the dry leaves. The dry aroma was not generally very strong though. I had to search for it a bit in order to be able to identify it, but when I did I found it mostly wood-y and slightly cocoa-y. Perhaps just a smidge spicy too, but I can’t really agree with myself on that.

After steeping the aroma is all cocoa. Wall to wall chocolate! With nuts in. It makes me crave Toblerone, really. I’ve never been very experimenting with my Toblerone, but I’ve seen that there is a dark chocolate one, and that’s the one I want now. (Does it still have that honey almondy stuff in it when it’s not milk chocolate?) If I’m hard pressed, I can also find some woodsy undertones to the aroma, but thankfully none of that figgy business.

Flavour is a bit weak here on the first cup. I used rather a lot of leaf, and so the first steep was very short. Probably too short, as I can now tell. Mercuryhime gave me some good advice the other day of the sort that you would have thought I ought to have realised myself many years ago. Why make a whole pot each time? Why not just do a half? That way I can go through a lot more steeps without having to run to the bathroom constantly and also with growing bored with the tea and start wanting something else. The one I use when it’s just myself is one of those tea-for-one sized pots, so half of that pot makes about 250 ml. Suitable amount, I should say. Also gives me a chance to use the cup and saucer that came with the pot. :)

Anyway, as I was saying, the first steep was probably too short because the flavour is not very strong. To my disappointment it’s not so stuffed full of dark chocolate (although I still want some!) as the aroma was, but rather more wooden and earthy. The cocoa is still there, but now it’s taken a back seat to the strong wood note. It’s so wooden that it’s actually giving me a prickly feeling on the tip of the tongue. As the cup cools it becomes increasingly astringent too.

I should hope on further steepings this woodenness will calm down a bit. There is really no call for such aggression. At this point I am not super impressed.

Second steep is much like the first, only with a fuller flavour experience. As there is no real difference to be found, I shan’t document it further.

Ninavampi

It is too bad the chocalate aroma didn’t translate to the flavor… But just thought that I would add, dark chocolate Tobllerones do have the crunchy almond honey goodness. I wish that could find them in Ecuador… Yum…

Angrboda

Ooooh gosh, I’d forgotten about that craving again. Now it’s all back! Maybe I’ll just nip down to the shop…

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95
230 tasting notes

Mmmmm, 2nd steeping! I am really excited about that!

This tea just gets better and better.

(after note) The tea has cooled considerably, and there is a definable sweet note to the liquor and I thought I smelled apricots?!

I can*not* wait to take this up island this weekend and share it with my Mum!!

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