A Look into Our New Harvest Phoenix Honey Oolongs

Have you tasted our new harvest Phoenix Honey oolong teas? They are honey-sweet and woody, with an aroma that lingers both on the tongue and the porcelain cup after drinking. Phoenix Honey, also known as Mi Lan Xiang or Honey Orchid, is grown on the foggy and misty Phoenix Mountain in northern Guangdong, China. Phoenix teas are unique in that they come from single grove “dan cong” tea trees, and they have a signature twisted leaf shape and a tendency for fragrant and often fruity, sweet, or floral aromas. These single grove miniature tea trees grow like large bonsai trees, branching out from the root, and are unique to Phoenix Mountain. They grow very slowly and are difficult to harvest from.

Phoenix Honey has a distinct honey fragrance that stays on the tongue after drinking, almost like tea perfume. Each leaf is processed by hand and lightly charcoal-roasted to bring out the honey fragrance and fruit and spice flavors, and to retain the green center of the leaf within the deep red perimeter. In China, Phoenix oolong tea is typically processed with a deeper roasted profile, but our farmer has been roasting our house Phoenix Honey oolong to our lighter roast specifications for the last decade. Not until 2022 Phoenix Honey Medium Roast join our selection after we tasted some samples from our farmer. Now we have both the light roast and medium roast to suit your tasting preferences! We especially love the light roast in spring and autumn weather, and we savor the medium roast when the weather gets chillier.

The 2024 spring harvest of Phoenix Honey (light roast) and Phoenix Honey Medium Roast are both available now! Our classic Phoenix Honey is quite sweet and fragrant, with the subtle tanginess characteristic of Phoenix teas. The finish is smooth and sweet. As for the Phoenix Honey Medium Roast, the roast is quite clean alongside the honey finish. As we mentioned in a previous newsletter, this year we had asked our farmer to experiment with creating a lighter roast for the Phoenix Honey Medium Roast. What he ended up doing was roasting the tea at 120 degrees Celsius for 13 hours, then letting the tea sit for half a month before roasting again at 125 degrees for 10 hours. Upon tasting this new batch, we still notice a bold roasted aroma upon brewing. Throughout subsequent steeps, the aroma changes - sometimes it is more roasted, other times it is more honey-sweet. The beauty of a roasted tea is that it changes over time, and we'll see what this tea will taste like by the time fall and winter comes. We're still refining the tasting notes, and we would love to hear your observations!