Organic Phoenix Dan Cong · Honey Orchid Oolong, 2025 Spring

Some teas announce themselves the moment you open the tin.

This is one of them.

Honey Orchid Dan Cong opens with a fragrance that's immediately distinctive -- sweet like ripe fruit, floral like orchid, warmer and rounder than most oolongs. The dry leaves carry it before the water even touches them. Then the cup opens up: smooth, long-finishing, the kind of sweetness that doesn't fade between sips.

What's in the cup

Honey Orchid (蜜兰香) is one of the ten classic fragrance profiles of Phoenix Dan Cong -- and the most approachable of them. The leaves are sometimes called "white leaf" for their pale green color, and they're among the earliest picked each spring, known as "mountain opening tea." Light in body, high in fragrance, long on the finish.

This version is grown at Heng Tai Tea Garden on Phoenix Mountain, Chaozhou, Guangdong -- the original home of Dan Cong. Certified organic by both China and the EU. No pesticides, no chemical fertilizers. The farm intercropping trees alongside the tea, hand-weeds between rows, and uses peanut cake and sheep manure as soil amendment. The leaves taste like the mountain they come from.

Tasting notes

— Fragrance: orchid and honey, warm and lifted

— Liquor: clear amber-gold

— Sip: smooth, silky, no bitterness

— Finish: sweet potato honey notes, long and lingering

— Resteepable: holds up beautifully through 15 steeps

What makes this different

Most Phoenix Dan Cong on the market is conventionally grown. Certified organic Dan Cong at this quality level is genuinely rare -- the mountain terrain makes large-scale organic farming difficult, and most producers don't bother with dual certification. This one carries both China Organic and EU Organic seals.

You can taste the difference. Clean, bright, nothing in the way.

Harvest & details

— Harvest: 2025 spring

— Origin: Phoenix Mountain, Chaozhou, Guangdong, China

— Garden: Heng Tai Tea Garden (恒泰茶园)

— Type: Oolong (Dan Cong)

— Fragrance profile: Honey Orchid (蜜兰香)

— Certification: China Organic + EU Organic (dual certified)

— Net weight: 80g per tin

How to brew

Gongfu method (recommended): 110ml gaiwan or Yixing pot, 6–8g leaf, 212°F (100°C) water Steeps 1–5: pour to a fixed point, drain immediately Steeps 6–10: high pour, drain within 15–20 seconds Steeps 11–15: high pour, drain within 20–30 seconds Always drain completely between steeps

Western mug method: 3g per 300–500ml, 212°F (100°C), steep 2–3 minutes

Cold brew: 1g per 100ml, mineral or filtered water, 3–6 hours at room temperature or in fridge