Milan Xiang Dancong

Milan Xiang — honey-orchid fragrance — is among the most loved of the Phoenix dancong oolongs, the famous aromatic teas of Phoenix mountain near Chaozhou in Guangdong. Dāncōng means “single bush”: the tradition prizes tea picked from individual old trees, each classed by the natural fragrance its leaf carries. The dancong are named for what they smell of — almond, ginger-flower, magnolia — and Milan Xiang is the honey-and-orchid one.

The leaf is long, dark and twisted, given a medium oxidation and a measured roast that locks in the aroma without burying it. A good Milan Xiang is astonishingly fragrant in the cup, the honey-orchid scent rising before the liquor even touches the lips, over a sweet body and a fine mineral undertone from the mountain.

In the cup

Brew it gongfu, near-boiling and short, after a quick rinse — dancong is famously sensitive, generous when brewed light and quick, bitter if pushed too long. The early steeps are pure honey and orchid; the middle ones turn to ripe stone fruit; throughout runs a soft mineral thread. Brewed with care it gives a long, deeply aromatic run of infusions.