Phoenix Oolong – Mi Lan Xiang-Honey Orchid

Estate Name: Wudong Tea  Garden
Farming Methods: Hand-picked. Natural Tea Farming
Production Methods: Plucking – Withering – Tossing – Oxidising – Frying – Rolling – Baking

Other Notes:
Phoenix Oolong tea making is one of the most complicated and artistic processes among Chinese teas. The critical steps to making a premium Phoenix Oolong is in the tossing, oxidising (Zuo Qing) and baking stages, and only the most skilled and experienced tea makers can get this right.

Phoenix Dan Cong Mi Lan Xiang Oolong is also called Honey Orchid Oolong. It is harvested from a tea garden in the High Mountain region of Wudong Mountain in Phoenix, Chaozhou. The cultivar is a sub-species of Shui Xian and Mi Lan Xiang.

Mi Lan Xiang teas has a charming honey taste and a hint of natural orchid flower fragrance and carries a lingering sweet aftertaste.

Wudong Mountain is a rugged area composed primarily of big rocks and the soil is rich in minerals. The altitude at its peak is 1,360m (4,461ft). This makes it ideal conditions for planting and growing high quality tea. The local people here had been planting and harvesting tea since Song Dynasty. The area is well known for its excellent tea cultivars, and highly skilled tea makers.

Mi Lan Xiang Oolong is made from young tea leaves plucked in the beginning of April – usually one bud three leaves to four leaves. The leaves are kept outside for withering under the late afternoon and evening sun for a short while. Then they are moved indoor for further withering for a few more hours. Further processing then starts later in the night. The tea leaf goes through a shaking and bruising process (做青), and then allowed further oxidisation for a while. These two steps will be repeated four or five times – lasting through the night. The next morning it is fried to stop further oxidation and the rolling process to make the tea body. The final step is roasting. The traditional roasting is done by using charcoal. The roasting is done three times, over period of two to three months. The processing of Mi Lan Xiang oolong tea is quite similar to Wuyi Da Hong Pao. The main difference being that Da Hong Pao is more heavily roasted than Mi Lan Xiang.

The brewed tea has fascinating honey orchid flavor eandaroma. The taste is clean mellow brisk and has a full-bodied sweet aftertaste.

 

Suggested Brewing (adjust according to personal preferences)
Water Temperature: 95-100°C/203-212°F
Amount: 3g per 150ml teacup
Steeping Time: 2-3 minutes
# of Infusions: 3-4 infusions