Die Chun5CDC Harvest: April 2012/13/14
Origin: China / Guangdong / Chaozhou
Height: 500 m.a.s.l
Tea plant varietal: Qi Lan, Da Wu Ye, Shui Xian
A very interesting tea from Chaozhou. Diechun can be translated as spring butterfly. This tea is the result of an excellent blend of the varieties Qilan, Shuixian and Dawuye. The idea of this blend is to produce a good, affordable and fruity tea of a Phoenix Single Bush. N.B.: the Die Chun is technically not a real Fenghuang Dancong: genuine Dancong are made exclusively from sub-varieties of the Shuxian plant. This tea replaces the Hong Xiang Lan, the was made of Qi Lan only.
Character:
This tea is like a quiet stroll at the edge of a forest. On the one side, one finds a dense and colourful meadow full of flowers and on the other wood, wild berries and moss.
Category:
Phoenix Single Bush (Feng Huang Dan Cong) Phoenix Single Bush, Feng Huang Dan Cong in Chinese, are being produced near the village Fenghuang on the slopes of Mount Wudong that culminates at 1200m above sea level, as well as in the neighbouring village Shiguping. The region is situated in the very east of Guangdong province. It was probably there that the method of producing Oolong was invented in the 16th century. Still today, the local teas are produced in a very traditional way, and up on Mount Wudong there are still many tea trees which are several hundred years old. In the present case, the term Single Bush does not refer to a literal single tea bush, but to a multitude of bushes that all stem from cuttings of one single so-called mother bush, which makes them all genetically identical. All of these tea plants are sub-varietal of the Shui Xian varietal. The individual teas differ from each other through the sub-varietal, the age of the tea plants, the exact location, respectively height above sea level, and of course, through the manufacturing and finishing, particularly the blending of different sub-varietals and the degree and quality of the roasting. Phoenix Single Bush teas always have a taste composed of two parts: on the one hand fruity and sweet, on the other hand bitter and tart while the roasting creates a balanced, round aroma.