Dan Cong Ya Shi Xiang

dāncóng yāshǐ xiāng

单丛鸭屎香

An unfortunately-named Phoenix dancong with one of the most beautiful fragrances of the family — gardenia, jasmine and lily of the valley over a creamy honey body. The bad name, the story goes, was meant to keep the bush a secret.

Region: Phoenix mountains, Chaozhou, Guangdong
Harvest: Spring; medium roast
Oxidation: Semi-oxidised, charcoal-finished
Cultivar: Phoenix dancong — “duck-dung” line

In the cup

Gardenia, jasmine and lily of the valley over a creamy honey body — oily and sweet, with tropical fruit, a faint cooling acidity and a long finish.

What it gives

A warming, relaxing oolong — aromatic and round, gentle on digestion and a fine tea for unhurried gongfu sessions.

Ya Shi Xiang — literally duck-dung fragrance — is among the best-loved of the Fenghuang dancong, the single-bush oolongs of the Phoenix mountains in Guangdong, and it wears the least flattering name in Chinese tea. The story told in Chaozhou is that an early grower, fearing his prized bush would be copied, gave it an ugly name to put rivals off the scent — and the name stuck.

There is, of course, nothing unpleasant in the cup. The fragrance is high and clean — gardenia, jasmine, lily of the valley — over a creamy, honeyed body with tropical fruit and a faint cooling acidity. Produced in modest quantity and prized as a premium dancong, it is a chameleon: its profile shifts noticeably with roast and steep.

In the cup

Brew it gongfu, near boiling and short. Keep the first pours quick to lead with the flowers; lengthen later steeps for honey and fruit. A white gaiwan reads its fragrance best, pour after pour.

How to brew