yotzei pishon- on searching for dan congs

23 shvat 5781 

i love dan congs. i also love puers, but they are mostly a weekend tea for me, ones where i can commit to a good period of sitting with and enjoying the tea hopefully for many many steeps.

 

one of the reasons i love dan congs is because they can be finicky. i enjoy the challenge of trying to get the perfect brew each time; not too bitter but still containing the different layers of flavor. i also love pouring them because the leaves do so well in the gaiwan. the flavor profiles are also ones i love. im a fruit. i like fruity flavors.

 

i was excited to find One River Tea Cooperative on the internet. they focus on dan congs, they are a cooperative, one of the people who runs the business went to school in the town im living in, their packaging is cute, and their prices are good. most of all, they have a very affordable sampler pack (i love being able to try many things).

 

i will cut to the chase incase you don’t want to read this whole post. i was disappointed. im trying not to be a hater because i wanted to like the tea but i felt let down.

 

i ordered their 2019 dan cong sampler and it took 5 months to get it. i ordered it before covid got crazy but they sent it to the wrong address and it got sent back all the way to China. by the time i figured this out with the tracking info, covid had hit and that did not help with shipping things from China. their customer service person was nice and responsive and they gave me credit, threw in a 10g sample of Laotian 2020 gushu puer, and only charged me shipping. by the time i received the package i already ordered this years dan cong sampler because i was naïve and optimistic. i was not mad at them for the mix up and wanted to mention they did a great job of being nice and wanting to make up for it.

 

i got 8 different teas of 14g each. this year its 16g of 6 teas which is still a very good deal. unfortunately, they are subpar dan congs. i tried brewing with different waters, different temperatures, different kettles, and i was still left disappointed. the main issue is that they are bland. they are not super bitter, but they are not very flavorful either. even the aromas were faint for a tea that is known for its fragrance. 

 

a sampler i do recommend is the one from SerenaTea Cha (a company based out of Seattle and run by two women, yay). their dan congs run at a higher price but their sample set is a good deal. i tried three different dan congs and they were amazing! i would be walking in the woods an hour or two after drinking these teas and i would still taste them in the back of my mouth or have their amazing fragrance breeze across the roof of my mouth. their milan xiang was a great balance between, sweet, fruit, and bitter. the One River milan xiang was roasted very poorly/over roasted and had the taste of overly saccharine cheap honey and charcoal. the roast was a very dominant flavor and it was not in a subtle or pleasant way. i am not going to go over each tea i had from the sampler because it isn’t worth it to me. 

 

i am curious to know the differences in how these teas were grown and processed. were some withered and rolled by hand vs machine? were they roasted by hand vs machine? the Serencha website says their dan congs ones come from older trees and the bruising/withering is done by hand. they are also roasted over charcoal (in an electric smokeless oven). one river i think does more machine based processing and normal electric roasting. im sure theres more differences but i do not know them. one river does do a great job of providing information on their website and they upload some good youtube videos, but the quality does not live up to the image they paint.

like with puers, i am on a hunt to find the price/quality ratio im looking to be in. i am learning that so far, dan congs that are $8-$10/25 grams arent that great. ive also tried dan congs in this price range from w2t (who i still have beef with) and West China Tea Co and they are also meh. maybe there are good ones in this price range and i havent found it yet. the cheapest one from SerenaTeaCha is $10.50/25g but i havent tried that one...). maybe i'll have to kick up my price range to find something im satisfied with (eventhough the $20/25g ones from one river didnt impress me either).

 

hopefully one river will find some better dan congs to source in the future. for now, i will try to find someone on Reddit to trade the rest of this tea with (yes, this sentence ends in a preposition. i am fine with that. are you?)