Guan Tou She Lao Cong

Type: Wulong of the Phoenix Mountains

Production place: Guan Tuo She at the foot of FengNiaoJi

Picking season: April 2020

A nice fresh and delicious discovery while waiting for spring teas.

In the Phoenix Mountains, in the far east of Guangdong, in the land of the Chaozhou, wulong are produced from centuries-old trees. These ancient tea plants are not traditionally pruned and reach several meters high with age. Some of these trees are now almost a thousand years old and are still used to produce the best teas in the region.

We are very happy to offer a new DanCong made from a 100-year-old tea plant. This tea plant is located in a fairly well-known place in the Phoenix Mountains at the foot of Mount FengNiaoJi.

At the foot of this mountain, opposite the Wudong Mountains from the village of FengHuangShan, is a hamlet steeped in history. This is where a minority of Yao Chinese still live, who remained in the Phoenix Mountains when the Han and Yue arrived over 2000 years ago, and did not migrate to Yunnan. This minority has retained its original name of She, which means mountain people. This hamlet is also known for having served as a refuge for the Revolutionary Army during the battles in GuangDong against the Japanese army during World War II.

Around this village, as in Wudong, there are some very old tea trees. As this ecological protected area is less known than Wudong, we are happy to still have access, before the Chinese New Year, to this little nugget produced last spring.

This tea has an aromatic profile quite similar to Lingtou teas with an aroma of passion fruit on a flowery background. But its great originality is that it also offers us great freshness, a milky side and hints of caramel from a more frank roasting than usual. It reminds me of a dulce de leche and passion fruit ice cream.

This very fresh tea stays long in the mouth and has a very marked aftertaste, longer than most of the teas from trees of the same age. This is a very nice tea that our friend Zhang found for us.

Do not hesitate to push it a little, the first caramelized infusion is a little bit shy, but then it shows us its full potential.