Pesticide Status of Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong

Safety is one of the most important criteria when we select tea. In particular, we care a lot about pesticides. Here are some points I would like to share about the pesticide status of Phoenix oolong.

The official procedure for importing tea into Japan

A pesticide analysis is required if we officially import Chinese oolong into Japan. "Officially" means importing according to the law. However, very few companies in Japan actually follow the official import procedure. When tea is shipped by EMS, the parcel can often pass through customs as a personal import. HOJO has always followed the official import procedure to bring tea into Japan. However, it is not that easy. We need to conduct a quantitative analysis of a substance called fipronil. To have this substance tested in Japan, we need to submit a certificate of analysis issued by CIQ China, the quarantine institute in charge of pesticides on tea. That means our tea has to be tested by CIQ first, and only if the result is negative can we proceed with the testing in Japan. To make the situation worse, CIQ often requires the test to be done twice, and 500g to 1kg of sample is taken for each test. In the end, we have to bear the cost of 3 samples and the testing fees in both China and Japan. The cost of importing Phoenix Dan Cong oolong and testing it for pesticides is really high. No official testing is required for importing tea into Malaysia. However, we buy the same batch of tea, which meets the Japanese standard.

The superior quality and safety of Wu Dong Phoenix tea

In terms of quality, the most famous mountain for Phoenix Dan Cong oolong is Wu Dong Shan. If you go to Chaozhou and visit Phoenix town, you will learn that tea gardens are not only on Wu Dong Shan but everywhere. It is said that more than 95% of Phoenix Dan Cong oolong does not come from independent tea bushes but is made in gardens. The reasons why the tea from Wu Dong Shan is superior are:

1. Wu Dong Shan is rich in red soil with a high iron content.
2. On Wu Dong Shan, tea is plucked only once a year.
3. On Wu Dong Shan, the Dan Cong tea trees are kept in a natural farming style, and no pesticide or fertilizer is used.

We conduct pesticide analysis with SGS for 360 substances to ensure the safety of our tea. So far, we have never detected a single pesticide substance in tea produced at the higher altitudes (more than 1000m) of Wu Dong Shan. We are aware that some tea gardens at the lower altitudes of Wu Dong Shan use pesticides.

View of Wu Dong Shan from Phoenix town

There is always a reason for cheap tea

Tea from outside Wu Dong Shan, or from gardens at lower altitudes, is usually plucked about 5 times a year (spring, late spring, summer, autumn and winter). As a common practice, tea gardens at lower altitudes are managed with modern agricultural practices using fertilizer and pesticides. In fact, the price of Phoenix oolong varies a lot. For example, Mi Lan Xiang can be extremely cheap, and it can be extremely expensive too. If one does not pay attention to quality or safety, some Mi Lan Xiang can cost as little as 1/20 of our tea. If you find a Phoenix Dan Cong oolong that is very cheap, there is certainly a reason. It must have been produced outside the higher altitudes of Wu Dong Shan, the tea is not from the early spring crop, the trees may be young, or the firing was not sufficient. Very often, a certain level of scorched note can be detected in the tea leaves; in other cases, the tea gives a greenish, celery-like note because no further firing was conducted.

Some customers say that it is very difficult to brew Phoenix Dan Cong oolong because it always turns very astringent. If the tea is a good one, it should not be astringent. Astringent tea is usually plucked in summer or autumn. It is also hard to expect a refreshing fruity flavor from low-cost Phoenix Dan Cong oolong, because those commercial teas are baked not with charcoal but in an electric oven.

When I visited in July, I saw some people processing tea in the middle of the road. Quality spring tea is never treated in such a way. Summer-plucked tea is also handled very roughly, since its price is low.

For more about Phoenix Dan Cong oolong, please see What Is Phoenix Dan Cong?. Our Phoenix oolongs are available in our Phoenix oolong collection.