When we talk about Chinese oolong tea, we often refer to popular ones such as the Wu-yi oolong and An-xi Tie Guan Yin. One of the Wu-yi oolong known as the king of Wu-yi rock tea, the Da Hong Pao (大紅袍),  is often considered as one of the most exclusive teas in China.

As a matter of fact, Da Hong Pao has various kinds of quality. In general, the age of the tea tree is the primary factor that determines the quality and the price of tea. The old tea tree has very long roots, which has much better ability to absorb minerals from the ground as compared to a young tea tree. In addition to the age, precious Wu-yi teas are grown independently on the slopes of rocky mountain. Its growing style is considered as semi-wild.  As a result, the tea that is made from old trees is very rich in minerals. In fact, it is very easy to examine whether a tea is rich in minerals or not. More than 50% of people can tell the difference as soon as they taste the tea. Tea with rich minerals gives a very deep after taste, lingering finishing, thick taste and long lasting flavor, and it gives a completely different drinking feeling from those teas produced from garden teas. In fact, the overwhelming number of Wu-yi tea is produced from the garden teas. The semi-wild tea trees exist in limited numbers. As far as I know, most of Wu-yi rock tea commonly available in the specialty teashop is from the "tea garden". It gives a very strong aroma, yet it lacks the depth of flavor and taste.

 

As for Wu-yi rock tea, the oldest tea tree is found to be around 400 years old. Tea produced from such an old tree no doubt provides you with an unforgettable experience.  Unfortunately we can hardly get to drink such tea. Due to the limitation of old trees, the price of Wu-yi tea produced from very old tea trees could be even up to at USD20000/kg or more. Due to the extremely high price and high demand in domestic market of China, it is very hard to even get the tea that is made from 100 years old tree, not to say 400 years old trees. Usually most of Wu-yi teas available in overseas market are produced from garden teas.

 

The vast area of tea garden situated around the foot of Wu-yi Mountain. Majority of Wu-yi rock teas available in oversea market comes from those gardens.		Semi-wild Wu-yi Tea bush. The tree in the photo is at around the age of 50 years old. It is not really outstanding in quality, yet its market price is at least USD1000/kg.

 

On the other hand, the Phoenix Oolong from Chao-zhou, Guangdong province is not really well recognized in global tea market. Phoenix oolong is produced at the mountain called Phoenix Mountain. This mountain consists of a number of peaks. Due to the outlook that resembles the shape of the legendary phoenix, it is called the Phoenix Mountain. The Phoenix Oolong is also called Feng Huang Oolong. Feng Huang means phoenix in Chinese. In fact, many people call this tea as Dan Cong Tea. However this name is not really correct. For that, I will explain later. 

 

Phoenix Oolong is made of the same tea cultivar as Wu-yi tea, it is also Rock Tea as Wu-yi Tea and the tea leaf of Phoenix Oolong is plucked from the very old tea trees. Nevertheless, this tea is not as expensive as Wu-yi tea despite its quality is very outstanding. Considering its strong fruity flavor, deep after taste, overwhelming variety and realistic price as compared to Wu-yi oolong, we absolutely recommend this tea to customers who are looking for the super premium deep fermented Chinese oolong.  

Photo Album of Phoenix Mountain

Please click any photo below to enlarge it.

 

1. Dan Cong: Essential for High End Phoenix Oolong.

I noticed that a lot of my customers, in particular the customer who lives in USA and Europe often call
Phoenix Oolong as "Dan Cong Tea". The name "Dan Cong" refers to the semi-wild bush. The meaning of Dan Cong is opposite to Garden Tea. In the tea garden, tea is planted in a column and the tree is trimmed regularly in order to maintain the desired height, shape and size. As for Dan Cong, it is referring to the tree that is planted independently and randomly in the wild. It is usually planted at the slopes of mountain, just like other native trees.  In addition, Dan Cong refers to the tree that is not taken care and not to mention that trimming is not conducted at all. The similar terms in English for "Cong" should be "Bush". The "Dan" means single. Originally Dan Cong also means for identical single bush. In a way, the term Dan Cong is not only used for Phoenix Oolong, but also for Wu-yi oolong. The high end Wu-yi tea is also supposed to be made from Dan Cong (single bush).

The teas produced in Phoenix Mountain and surrounding areas are usually called Phoenix Oolong (Feng Huang Oolong). But it does not mean all phoenix teas deserve the name of Dan cong. In the Phoenix Town, there are an overwhelming number of tea gardens that produce tea which meant for general market and also oversea market. The garden teas are usually blended teas. Generally, if we get in touch with the tea manufacturers by phone or e-mail, or if we request the tea samples though trading companies, we get nothing but only garden teas. If one is looking for Dan Cong tea, it is a must to visit Phoenix Town and select the tea on the spot. Manufacturers seldom send the sample of Dan Cong tea to oversea. This is because of each Dan Cong consists of very little quantity which never lasts long enough to wait for the reply from the buyers. For some high end Phoenix Dan Cong tea which the age of tea tree is more than 500 years old, they are usually sold to either CEOs of big companies or government officers in China. 

If you have ever tried a genuine Phoenix Dan Cong tea, you would never forget about this tea. It gives an unimaginably strong and deep flavor that lasts very long in your throat. Flavor stays and lingers on your throat as long as 30 minutes.

		Old tree has very long root, yet it grows slowly and produce less number of tea leaves

There is still a number of old tea trees remain in Phoenix Mountain. Each tea tree is classified into respective Dan Cong following its character especially its flavor. The old tea tree usually grows slowly and produces less number of leaves, yet it has very long root. Minerals are accumulated and concentrated within the limited number of tea leaves. For Phoenix Oolong, the selection of tree is very important.

 

 

2. Diversity of Flavor on Dan Cong

It is said that there were only 1 or 2 kinds of tea tree back in several hundred years ago when phoenix mountain was just developed. Once upon a time, tea was grown from the seed. In this practice, the next generation turns out to be different from the parent. It is just like Mendelian inheritance (or Mendelian genetics or Mendelism) as we studied when we were a student. It is a set of 2rimary tenets relating to the transmission of hereditary characteristics from parent organisms to their offspring. Due to few hundred years of cultivation, the cultivar of Phoenix tea trees have undergone years of natural hybridization or mutation, such biological changes brought diversify changes to the flavors of respective tree. Tea leaves plucked from different trees will produce different flavors, even if processing method or technique were the same. Therefor the name of various Phoenix Oolong are given based on the flavor of tealeaves produced from its original tree. There are so many varieties of flavor, as many as the number of tea trees on the mountain. Each tree can only produce less than a kilogram of tea and usually a few trees that possess the same character in terms of flavor and quality is grouped. In general one batch consist of 5-20kg. Even if the tea comes with the same name and same selling price, the flavor will be different depending on the tree.

 

3. The Oldest Oolong in China that has more than 900 years of History. 

As far as record exists, Phoenix Oolong is the oldest Chinese oolong. The story goes back to the Ming dynasty. The oldest tree available in the Phoenix Mountain is about 900 years old. Considering that the oldest tea tree exists in Wu-yi Mountain is just 400 years old, Phoenix Oolong takes the lead as the oldest existing oolong tea in China. Good news for us is that the price for that extremely old Phoenix oolong is quite "realistic" and most importantly, such high-end quality is still obtainable as long as we are willing to travel to the Phoenix Mountain and visit the manufacturer.

 

The photo shows me, "Akira Hojo", standing next to the Phoenix Shui-Xian tree which its age is at around 500 years old.

 

4. The same cultivar as Da Hong Pao

It is said that the Phoenix Oolong belongs to the same family as Wu-yi oolong. The cultivar of tea exists in both Wu-yi and Phoenix Mountain is surprisingly identical. Considering that the distance between Phoenix Town and Wu-yi Town is not very far away, it is assumed that Phoenix Oolong might have been brought to Wu-yi Mountain and planted there back in 400 years ago. Shui Xian is one of the famous Wu-yi teas. In Phoenix Mountain, the oldest tea tree is Shui Xian. There are a lot of old Shui Xian trees in the Phoenix Mountain. Some of the old Shui Xian trees in Phoenix Mountain are at around 500-900 years old, which is almost double the age of Wu-yi Shui Xian. Needless to say, those old Phoenix Shui Xians give much stronger and deeper after taste. 

 

5. Phoenix Oolong, the oldest Rock Tea 岩茶

The reason that makes Wu-yi tea very famous is not only the age of the trees, but also its growing environment. The tea bush is planted at a very rocky place. Although this is yet a well known factor to most of tea drinkers, actually the growing environment of Phoenix Oolong is also very rocky. Seeing is believing. If you look at the photos below, you can hardly think this is where the tea trees is planted. From far, it looks nothing but a rocky mountain. These photos were taken at the Phoenix Mountain. Tea trees were planted in between the rocks. This harsh environment keeps the trees under the stressful growing condition; therefore the growth of tea is very slow. Eventually the mineral content in tea leaf becomes very rich. 

Tea bush planted on the slope of Phoenix Mountain.

Wu Dong Shan is surrounded by plenty of rocks. Tea bushes grow in between the rocks.

 

 

4. High Altitude

The premium grade of Phoenix Oolong is grown at altitude above 1000m. Some of them are grown at 1400m. The Phoenix Mountain consists of a number of peaks. Usually some remote peaks are also considered as a part of Phoenix Mountain as long as it is situated in and around Phoenix Town. The most famous peak for premium quality Phoenix Oolong is called Wu Dong Shan. The reason is that there are a number of old tea trees with the age up to several hundred years old planted earlier around this particular peak and most of them are grown at the altitude in between 1000-1500m above sea level. Wu Dong Shan is the signature peak for the Phoenix Oolong. Hojo no doubt selects teas from Wu Dong Shan.

Part of Phoenix Mountain

 

7．Being a Native Plant

If you visit Phoenix Mountain, you will probably be surprised by the way of how the tea trees are grown. When viewed from far, we can hardly imagine that tea trees are actually growing there. The tea trees are actually grown at random in between other native plants all over the mountain. In addition, the old tea trees are so huge that they don’t even look like tea trees. They look like rubber trees to me. Usually, tea trees grown at ordinary tea gardens are trimmed every year. Trimming is necessary in order to keep the tea trees in desired size and shape. Tea trees are maintained as a low bush in a continuous phase of vegetative growth. In addition, tea tree quickly produces young branches and increases the productivity. However newly grown young branches consume a lot of minerals. As they grow faster, a lot of minerals and organic substances are consumed by the branches. Moreover the accumulated nutrients have to be shared over a number of leaves. Needless to say, the quality of tea produced from garden tea is not very good. On the contrary, those untrimmed tea trees grow very slowly and produce less number of leaves. This is one of the reasons why Phoenix Oolong gives a very thick taste, with deep and long lasting flavor. 

It is me, Akira Hojo, tasting the leaves plucked from a very old Dan Cong tree.

Usually we can tell the difference in quality when we chew the raw tea leaves. When I was in the Phoenix Mountain, I plucked some tea leaves from several tea trees and tasted it. The taste of the leaves from very old Dan Cong tea tree traveled very deep down my throat and gave a very thick flavor that lingered in my throat for a long time. As for tea leaves from the young tea trees or those plucked from the garden tea, the flavor of raw tea leaves was only detected around the upper part of nostril and then the flavor disappeared at once. The quality of raw material is very crucial in producing good tea. Thus, selecting good tea leaves is essential for producing excellent Phoenix Oolong teas.  

 

Due to no trimming is conducted at all, the branches grow into different directions. The outlook of tea bush is just like some kind of native plants found in the mountain.		Wu Dong Shan is surrounded by plenty of rocks. Tea bushes grow in between the rocks.

 

Earlier on, I explained that Phoenix Oolong was left unattended like a wild grown plant without any trimming. In the Wu Dong Mountain, it is not only the tea trees that are kept natural, but other native plants are also kept untouched. There are a number of native plants that are found surrounding the tea trees. For productivity, the farmer may get better output if they cut down the wild plants and keep the ground clear only for growing tea trees. However they will never chop down the wild plants. Those wild plants also carry a lot of minerals in their leaves. In autumn, native plants shed its leaves and the fallen leaves rested on the ground. After decomposition by micro-organism, the minerals are re-absorbed by the tea trees. The minerals from the wild plant are recycled and accumulated by the tea trees. This is the traditional technique applied by the farmers in China to improve the quality of tea. I observed the similar practice in other places as well. The same practice is carried out for the tea tree for Pu-erh in Yunnan. The premium grade raw Pu-erh is also produced from semi-wild tea bushes which are left to grow in the wild in between other native plants. In Japan, we have a tea called Gyokuro. For this tea, the tea garden is covered with rice straws. The mineral that exists in the straw is extracted by the rain drops and is absorbed in the soil ground. The minerals are then re-absorbed by the tea trees. The quality of Gyokuro grown under the rice straws is completely different from the Gyokuro that is grown without the rice straw.
Other than supply the tea trees with additional minerals, the surrounding native plants also provide shelter to tea trees from the windy environment, and also from the frost in winter. If the ground is cleared and only left the tea trees, the frost will covered the entire tea trees during winter and tea trees will be completely damaged. It will cause the huge losses to the farmer as those tea trees at Phoenix Mountain are usually more than several hundred years old. Thus, although keeping the native plants surrounding the tea trees may reduce the productivity of teas, it is very crucial to maintain it as natural as possible to ensure the tea trees survive.

 

The tree standing in the center is a tea tree. It is surrounded by many wild plants that I could not even approach it.		The tea trees grow in between rocks and various kinds of native plants.

This is the photo of young tea tree planted in Wu Dong Shan. The tea tree is obviously outgrown by bamboo bushes and other grasses.

 

8. Very Strong Character

Due to unique composition and rich content of minerals exist in Phoenix Dan Cong tea, it does not get along with many kinds of material used for teapots.

For example, it is not suitable to use Banko, Shigaraki, Watanabe
Tozo's Sado clay tea pot. As far as I ascertain, the clay in mylineups that works very well with Phoenix Dan Cong tea is Tokoname red clay made by Gisui, Sado Oxidation and Reduction Clay by Shimizu Ken and Nigata Tsuiki-Doki Teapot.. 

I have also tested various kinds of Yixing red clays in brewing Phoenix Dan Cong tea. I found that more than half the number of clays I have tested did not perform with Phoenix Dan Cong tea at all, although they show great performance for other types of tea. It is important to carefully select the suitable type of clay for brewing Phoenix Dan Cong tea. Some people strongly believe that Chao Zhou teapot performs very well with Phoenix Dan Cong tea since they are produced from the same hometown. However, I found that this is not a correct perception. Again, it depends on the particular clay. Some could perform well and some do not perform at all. If you are not very certain whether or not your tea ware is suitable for brewing Phoenix Dan Cong tea, please rather use either glass or ceramic tea ware. Since our selection of Phoenix Oolongs is all from tea trees of more than 100 years old, you would enjoy strong after taste and flavor, even if tea is brewed in glassware.  If you like to find out whether your clay tea ware performs well with Phoenix Dan Cong tea, you can brew tea in glass ware, and then pour some into the clay tea ware and compare. If the taste of tea from the clay tea ware is better than the one in glass, you can consider using your clay tea ware to brew Phoenix Dan Cong tea.  

I have tested a few types of Phoenix Oolong produced from the garden tea with different clays as well. Usually garden tea “behaves” completely different from Dan Cong tea. For garden tea, most of the clay teapots in my lineup perform quite well. There is a clear and obvious difference between genuine semi-wild Dan Cong tea and garden tea.

 

9.  Super Premium Quality, yet Unknown

Despite Phoenix Dan Cong tea is of outstanding quality, it is not a well known tea among tea drinkers. On the contrary, why is the Wu-yi oolong that famous? I assume it would be due to the cultural difference between Min-Nan (闽南) people and Chao Zhou people. The Min-Nan people of Fujian decent are traditionally very good at trading. In addition, their offspring sailed and migrated to many countries as is known in history. For now, a lot of Chinese residents in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are descendants of Min-Nan people. On the other hand, Chao Zhou people are more conservative and homebound people. This could have been a reason why few people have the chance to know such excellent tea. We believe that Phoenix Dan Cong tea is one of the most ideal teas that gives very different and unforgettable experience to tea lovers on account of its complex flavor and strong after taste. We would like to put more effort and time on this tea and wish to increase the lineup from time to time. That means we will have to travel to Phoenix town more often in years to come.

 

Brewing Technique