Please some advice on Dancong

[theredbaron]

In the recent year or two i began to enjoy Dancong teas, and they do grow on me. I began with some not too expensive Dancongs from Yunnansourcing, and recently ordered more expensive ones from Tea Habitat, which, from what i gathered, seem to be the best Dancong's avaliable for the western oriented market. They are clearly a step up in terms of quality, but of course considering the price not an every day tea.

I have had my hands on coaching with Yancha (mostly), and because of this had access to really good quality of Yancha when i still lived in Asia. My questions on Dancong, as it is still a relatively new path for me, is where are the Dancong's from tea habitat located.

Are they more mid range, or could they already be considered higher qualities?
Are there large differences between the Dancongs from Tea Habitat and higher/top quality Dancongs or are they more subtle ?
And last, are the Dancong's from Tea Habitat indeed the best which are available to order/buy from the west, or are there maybe even shops with higher grades i don't know about but might be able to try?

[Victoria]

Are they more mid range, or could they already be considered higher qualities?
Are there large differences between the Dancongs from Tea Habitat and higher/top quality Dancongs or are they more subtle ?
And last, are the Dancong's from Tea Habitat indeed the best which are available to order/buy from the west, or are there maybe even shops with higher grades i don't know about but might be able to try?

I would say Tea Habitat carries very high quality DanCong, reflected in the high prices, and quality of her teas. I don’t know of any other higher quality DC vendor in the North America. I have had medium and poor quality DanCong from other vendors and the difference is obvious. I’m sure there must be high quality DC vendors in Asia though.

[Ethan Kurland]

Cindy Chen sells good dancong, also not inexpensively. I haven't had any in about 2 years and don't remember what her website name is. She has been mentioned on the forum often enough though.

[Bok]

It seems to me that Dancong is kind of a niche tea, just got that kind of confirmed on my recent visit, talking to a Dancong farmer. Although not cheap and quite premium if they are good, demand is low compared to other teas.

I have had tea with friends who bought tea at Tea habitat and we benchmarked them with my Dancongs from a friend, which I consider of very high quality. They thought TH’s were comparable. So I think you’d be hard pressed to find better quality Dancong – and more varieties – somewhere else.

Hojo is known for Dancong as well, though it seems they are not as good.

It is a very underestimated and (luckily) undervalued tea in my book.

Inexpensive Dancong can be quite terrible and quite possibly polluted. Hearsay has it the Dancong area does not yet have as strict regulations as Wuyi does.

[theredbaron]

Inexpensive Dancong can be quite terrible and quite possibly polluted. Hearsay has it the Dancong area does not yet have as strict regulations as Wuyi does.

This has put me off Dancong for quite some years, when i drunk cheap and not very good Dancong in Thailand. But since a year or two, i started enjoying Dancong. But thank you for that assessment

[theredbaron]

Cindy Chen sells good dancong, also not inexpensively. I haven't had any in about 2 years and don't remember what her website name is. She has been mentioned on the forum often enough though.

How would you compare their quality with Tea Habitat's?

[Brent D]

I have spent a good amount of time trying to source quality DC. Nothing I have been able to get ever holds a candle to tea habitat. I am currently working my way through about a dozen different samples from hojo, but im afraid Imen has ruined me.
Do be careful when looking for "budget" Dancong. Doping is rampant with scents and chemical flavoring.
There is a group buy that I am working on getting into. Hopes are high

[theredbaron]

I have spent a good amount of time trying to source quality DC. Nothing I have been able to get ever holds a candle to tea habitat. I am currently working my way through about a dozen different samples from hojo, but im afraid Imen has ruined me.
Do be careful when looking for "budget" Dancong. Doping is rampant with scents and chemical flavoring.
There is a group buy that I am working on getting into. Hopes are high

Thanks a lot. That seems to be the consensus.
I may be interested in that group buy, would that be from a good source?

[Ethan Kurland]

How would you compare their quality with Tea Habitat's?

I have not tasted Tea Habitat's teas. I drank Cindy Chen's teas with John B. in Bangkok (& he gave 2 or 3 samples to take with me).

I enjoyed dancong with Vee of Tea-Village (also in Thailand) but hesitate to recommend him for dancong because I did not like his favorite and loved his least favorite. I like all of Cindy Chen's teas and feel that her prices relate to differences in quality correctly. However, I am much more comfortable dealing with tea from Taiwan

[gld]

I’ve been buying a lot of yancha and dan cong over the last three years and I’ve been pleased with things I’ve bought from Cindy (Wyui origin) and Imen. I’ve also bought over the years good oolongs, including dan cong from Hojo. I tend to go to puer if I’m tired of overtly floral teas, and over time I have looked more to find my sweet spot with more subtle roasts. I also sit on the tea (except the green oolongs) for a year or two. I can recommend doing that with Cindy, Imen, Hojo – and certain of Tea Hong’s yancha and dan congs. I’m at work so I don’t have any of my lists at hand.

More 2 cents, I don’t regard Hojo as a specialist, but I have over the years rarely been disappointed with his Puer and oolong selections, he’s my favorite generalist. I’ve also got two pots, so maybe I’ve just drunk the Hojo kool-aid?

[Brent D]

I have spent a good amount of time trying to source quality DC. Nothing I have been able to get ever holds a candle to tea habitat. I am currently working my way through about a dozen different samples from hojo, but im afraid Imen has ruined me.
Do be careful when looking for "budget" Dancong. Doping is rampant with scents and chemical flavoring.
There is a group buy that I am working on getting into. Hopes are high

Thanks a lot. That seems to be the consensus.
I may be interested in that group buy, would that be from a good source?

Never gone through this person before, but its a trusted member of the community.

[theredbaron]

I’ve been buying a lot of yancha and dan cong over the last three years and I’ve been pleased with things I’ve bought from Cindy (Wyui origin) and Imen. I’ve also bought over the years good oolongs, including dan cong from Hojo. I tend to go to puer if I’m tired of overtly floral teas, and over time I have looked more to find my sweet spot with more subtle roasts. I also sit on the tea (except the green oolongs) for a year or two. I can recommend doing that with Cindy, Imen, Hojo – and certain of Tea Hong’s yancha and dan congs. I’m at work so I don’t have any of my lists at hand.

More 2 cents, I don’t regard Hojo as a specialist, but I have over the years rarely been disappointed with his Puer and oolong selections, he’s my favorite generalist. I’ve also got two pots, so maybe I’ve just drunk the Hojo kool-aid?

I can't say anything about Wuyi Origin's Dancong, but their Yancha is not to my taste. They are too greenish for me. I prefer Yancha with more body and less floral.

[theredbaron]

Never gone through this person before, but its a trusted member of the community.

Interesting. Please let me know

[brutusK]

The vendor recommendations here are on point. I will say though that even within a given vendor, dancong can be hit or miss, even at similar price brackets: having tried a few of the teas at teahabitat I would gladly pay for some sold at 2.5$/gram, but others sold at $2.3/gram are a hard pass for me. And when there's no individual sample sizes, it gets hard to try a lot of these sold only in 1-2 ounce packages

Recommendations of vendors are good, but I'd also ask for recommendations of specific dancong oolongs within a vendor too if you aren't interested in dropping hundreds of dollars in sampling an ounce each of a few teas only to find out you disliked half of them.

[Victoria]

Might be cheaper to just come to Los Angeles for one of TeaHabitat’s monthly tasting at 25$ for 10-12 teas. She does sell samples of DanCong also. I’ve been to tastings a few times, she steeps her teas Very light, like a whisper.