Your favorite Dan Cong vendor?

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Brent D
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Fri Dec 08, 2017 3:04 pm

Dan Cong has so many layers, I think it deserves its own section.
Who's your favorite vendor?
Ive been impressed with Tea Habitat, but bang for the buck I give to Yunnan Sourcing so far.
Do you get what you pay for with Hojo?
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CWarren
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am

Brent D wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 3:04 pm
Dan Cong has so many layers, I think it deserves its own section.
Who's your favorite vendor?
Ive been impressed with Tea Habitat, but bang for the buck I give to Yunnan Sourcing so far.
Do you get what you pay for with Hojo?
Can’t speak from personal experience but have heard great things from tea friends about this eighty year old family farm: http://www.chaozhouteagrower.com/

They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
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tealifehk
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:29 am

CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
Brent D wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 3:04 pm
Dan Cong has so many layers, I think it deserves its own section.
Who's your favorite vendor?
Ive been impressed with Tea Habitat, but bang for the buck I give to Yunnan Sourcing so far.
Do you get what you pay for with Hojo?
Can’t speak from personal experience but have heard great things from tea friends about this eighty year old family farm: http://www.chaozhouteagrower.com/

They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Chemically duped low grade dancong. Don't do it ^

Almost all of the dancong you're likely to encounter has been dressed up with aromatic compounds to make it seem better than it is; there simply isn't enough good premium material to meet demand, and the good stuff is $$$. I've only seen this done with dancong and tieguanyin so far--hopefully it doesn't spread from producers in Northern Guangdong and Anxi to other regions! I've also seen chemically duped TGY in Saigon, VIetnam and in Haikou, Hainan. Oh wait, I've also found regular grade lychee black tea to be commonly duped with fragrance to make it smell more like lychees. It's a real issue with 'aromatic' teas it seems, and has been for decades!

I think they started adding fragrance to dancong a long time ago, but it started with naturally extracted oils and has now progressed to just picking fragrances off a rack. In Vietnam they even dupe coffee this way, and a lot of Americans are so used to chemically fragranced coffee that that's all they know!
Last edited by tealifehk on Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CWarren
Posts: 174
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:33 am

tealifehk wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:29 am
CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
Brent D wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 3:04 pm
Dan Cong has so many layers, I think it deserves its own section.
Who's your favorite vendor?
Ive been impressed with Tea Habitat, but bang for the buck I give to Yunnan Sourcing so far.
Do you get what you pay for with Hojo?
Can’t speak from personal experience but have heard great things from tea friends about this eighty year old family farm: http://www.chaozhouteagrower.com/

They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Chemically duped low grade dancong. Don't do it ^

Almost all of the dancong you're likely to encounter has been dressed up with aromatic compounds to make it seem better than it is; there simply isn't enough good premium material to meet demand. I've only seen this done with dancong and tieguanyin so far--hopefully it doesn't spread from producers in Northern Guangdong and Anxi to other regions! I've also seen chemically duped TGY in Saigon, VIetnam and in Haikou, Hainan. Oh wait, I've also I've found regular grade lychee black tea to be commonly duped with fragrance to make it smell more like lychees. It's a real issue with 'aromatic' teas it seems, and has been for decades it seems!

I think they started adding fragrance to dancong a long time ago, but it started with natural oils and has now progressed to just picking fragrances off a rack. In Vietnam they even dupe coffee this way, and a lot of Americans are so used to chemically fragranced coffee that that's all they know!
What makes you think this particular farm engages in these activities? Not saying you’re wrong. Just curious...

This is from their site by the way. Again I have no personal experience with their tea just from Tea friends on social media.
A80C7D32-32E1-4826-934C-7D91FD8B6CD2.jpeg
A80C7D32-32E1-4826-934C-7D91FD8B6CD2.jpeg (567.83 KiB) Viewed 42793 times
EDIT: Need to correct myself. Seems I have semi experience with it. :D I was searching #wudongtea on instagram to see what Tea friends had to say about the tea and one of the posts was mine. :lol: It appears I received a sample of their 2017 Spring Ba Xian Sha Ren Oolong from a tea swap from a tea friend in Ohio. Looks like I started to have a session with it and never did. Guess I need to correct that. Another sign that my stash is way too big and I need to share and sipdown more.

Also read your comment on Reddit regarding them as well as others comments. Seems a mixed reaction.
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pedant
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:39 am

CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Hi do you like china oolong tea ?

i have tried samples from this vendor and was not impressed...

my favorite dancong vendors are hojo and teahabitat
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CWarren
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:11 am

pedant wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:39 am
CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Hi do you like china oolong tea ?

i have tried samples from this vendor and was not impressed...

my favorite dancong vendors are hojo and teahabitat
I have seen many good reviews of their tea on both Reddit and Instagram but like I’ve said I’ve yet to try them. I only posted based on Tea friends comments thinking it might be helpful. No big if there’s no interest as I have no affiliation with them and no longer follow them as my tastes have moved almost entirely to puerh again as of late. Not sure if your question was aimed at me but yes I do enjoy Chinese oolongs though I admit I prefer Taiwanese more. On this forum like on Tea Chat there will be folks with more elite tastes who I imagine will not enjoy the same teas others might. Anyway don’t want to take up this topic with this any more of my chatter any longer as the point was to give recommended dancong vendors not to over discuss the merits or non merits of one unless the OP enjoys that kind of thing. :lol: Seems Hojo and Tea Habitat are popular recommends.
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tealifehk
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:21 am

CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:11 am
pedant wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:39 am
CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Hi do you like china oolong tea ?

i have tried samples from this vendor and was not impressed...

my favorite dancong vendors are hojo and teahabitat
I have seen many good reviews of their tea on both Reddit and Instagram but like I’ve said I’ve yet to try them. I only posted based on Tea friends comments thinking it might be helpful. No big if there’s no interest as I have no affiliation with them and no longer follow them as my tastes have moved almost entirely to puerh again as of late. Not sure if your question was aimed at me but yes I do enjoy Chinese oolongs though I admit I prefer Taiwanese more. On this forum like on Tea Chat there will be folks with more elite tastes who I imagine will not enjoy the same teas others might. Anyway don’t want to take up this topic with this any more of my chatter any longer as the point was to give recommended dancong vendors not to over discuss the merits or non merits of one unless the OP enjoys that kind of thing. :lol: Seems Hojo and Tea Habitat are popular recommends.
A lot of people who aren't aware of the duping would love the stuff--the fragrances are very appealing to anyone. They are just the chemical versions of natural fragrances, and the Chaozhou folk have been at it for a long time, so they have it down pat. I am not surprised the Reddit and IG crowd love the stuff!
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Brent D
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:35 am

tealifehk wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:29 am
CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
Brent D wrote:
Fri Dec 08, 2017 3:04 pm
Dan Cong has so many layers, I think it deserves its own section.
Who's your favorite vendor?
Ive been impressed with Tea Habitat, but bang for the buck I give to Yunnan Sourcing so far.
Do you get what you pay for with Hojo?
Can’t speak from personal experience but have heard great things from tea friends about this eighty year old family farm: http://www.chaozhouteagrower.com/

They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Chemically duped low grade dancong. Don't do it ^

Almost all of the dancong you're likely to encounter has been dressed up with aromatic compounds to make it seem better than it is; there simply isn't enough good premium material to meet demand, and the good stuff is $$$. I've only seen this done with dancong and tieguanyin so far--hopefully it doesn't spread from producers in Northern Guangdong and Anxi to other regions! I've also seen chemically duped TGY in Saigon, VIetnam and in Haikou, Hainan. Oh wait, I've also found regular grade lychee black tea to be commonly duped with fragrance to make it smell more like lychees. It's a real issue with 'aromatic' teas it seems, and has been for decades!

I think they started adding fragrance to dancong a long time ago, but it started with naturally extracted oils and has now progressed to just picking fragrances off a rack. In Vietnam they even dupe coffee this way, and a lot of Americans are so used to chemically fragranced coffee that that's all they know!
Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I had often wondered why some of the cheaper material ive sampled seemed to be more potent than the $2 a gram stuff I’ve tried.
Do you have any specific vendors you recommend to be assured I’m not getting duped?
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tealifehk
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:57 pm

The vendors I'd be most interested in trying dancong from would be BitterLeaf and Hojo...and perhaps TeaHabitat for comparison. I'd get samples from all three to compare!

I've found the quality of dancong I get down here in Hong Kong is usually superior to what I get on the Mainland, but it certainly isn't cheap! I'm at the point where I simply can't be bothered with dancong because of the duping. There are two or three vendors here that seem to sell good dancong but I'm still not certain the stuff isn't duped :o It is a darn sight better tasting and better to drink (less astringent and bitter) than what I've seen come out of the Mainland so far. I suppose I should try some from the vendors above and then visit Chaozhou myself. It's four hours away by road so I'd like to see if I can find anything good!
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CWarren
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:29 pm

tealifehk wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:57 pm
The vendors I'd be most interested in trying dancong from would be BitterLeaf and Hojo...and perhaps TeaHabitat for comparison. I'd get samples from all three to compare!
The Yashixiang from BitterLeaf is pretty enjoyable.
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TeaHive
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Tue Dec 12, 2017 5:49 pm

CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:11 am
pedant wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:39 am
CWarren wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:15 am
They are Wudongtea on Instagram. Quite a few nice looking offerings on their site.
Hi do you like china oolong tea ?

i have tried samples from this vendor and was not impressed...

my favorite dancong vendors are hojo and teahabitat
I have seen many good reviews of their tea on both Reddit and Instagram but like I’ve said I’ve yet to try them. I only posted based on Tea friends comments thinking it might be helpful. No big if there’s no interest as I have no affiliation with them and no longer follow them as my tastes have moved almost entirely to puerh again as of late. Not sure if your question was aimed at me but yes I do enjoy Chinese oolongs though I admit I prefer Taiwanese more. On this forum like on Tea Chat there will be folks with more elite tastes who I imagine will not enjoy the same teas others might. Anyway don’t want to take up this topic with this any more of my chatter any longer as the point was to give recommended Dan Cong vendors not to over discuss the merits or non merits of one unless the OP enjoys that kind of thing. :lol: Seems Hojo and Tea Habitat are popular recommends.
We were approached by these vendors on Instagram and offered to send us "free samples" but required we pay for shipping which was like 20 bucks. We decided to do it because we figured we could make it a good video... They are sending us 5 samples of different oolongs and I am looking forward to giving my thoughts on them! I'll be posting when we get the video out. Hopfully they are better than what I've been reading here... :? :mrgreen:
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tealifehk
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Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:57 pm

Good luck! You might enjoy them! :) I received samples from them a while ago. I still have them. One tasted a little moldy under the fragrance!
Aya
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Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:32 am

I don't know if it's appropriate to post about a Japanese vendor (probably won't ship internationally) here, but there may be some Japanese around so...

Bamboo Chakan (バンブー茶館)offers the best Dan Cong in Japan in my humble opinion. The only problem is that everything is very very expensive there... So I usually buy "every day" Dan Cong elsewhere and purchase a bit of high quality Dan Cong from Bamboo Chakan from time to time.
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Bok
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Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:40 am

Aya wrote:
Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:32 am
I don't know if it's appropriate to post about a Japanese vendor (probably won't ship internationally) here, but there may be some Japanese around so...

Bamboo Chakan (バンブー茶館)offers the best Dan Cong in Japan in my humble opinion. The only problem is that everything is very very expensive there... So I usually buy "every day" Dan Cong elsewhere and purchase a bit of high quality Dan Cong from Bamboo Chakan from time to time.
I think that is a problem with non-Japanese teas in Japan in general, the import tariffs are incredibly high! That is why a lot of Japanese tourists coming to Taiwan buy tea like crazy! A fraction of the price at home, even considering that they probably get a “foreigner price”.
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tealifehk
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Thu Dec 14, 2017 4:19 am

I found a Taiwanese-owned tea shop in Ginza with very fair prices. I don't think they had anything really fancy, but they were very friendly and I spent some time checking out their collection of tetsubins.
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