Dan Cong Song Zhong

Song Zhong — single bush of the Song — is the most venerable line of Fenghuang dancong, the single-bush oolongs of the Phoenix mountains above Chaozhou in Guangdong. The name points to mother trees that local record holds to date from the Song dynasty; the oldest surviving bushes are credibly six to nine hundred years old, each tended and picked alone.

Dancong is built on the idea of one bush, one tea, each tree expressing a distinct fragrance. Song Zhong is the deep, aged end of that family: a dense, oily liquor of orchid and gardenia over peach, lychee and longan, honey and spice, with a faint cooling acidity. Its character is complexity — nuances that arrive in waves rather than all at once.

In the cup

Brew it gongfu, near boiling and short, and let it open across many steeps. The early pours are floral and high; the middle rounds into fruit and honey; the late steeps turn mineral and sweet. It is a tea that rewards patience and a quiet table.