Welcome to the super confusing world of Dan Cong tea names. Learn what names and terms to ignore and which are actually relevant to remember.

China tea farms are located in 4 main production regions. Each area has an unique climate which gives it an advantage in producing certain types of teas.

Today we’re tasting a Qilan and Rougui rock tea from Wuyishan, which are part of our Rock Tea Sampler. Read about our discoveries in this post!

Tea farming has been here since thousands of years, yet not everyone knows that it's a high risk and high stake business for its owners. It’s a labor intensive business. Especially for artisan tea farmers who still produce teas the traditional way and only harvesting during the Spring season.

The most expensive Da Hong Pao costs more than gold when compared in terms of weight. They’re grown inside the protected nature reserve and come in very low supply.

Here's our evaluation of five 2016 Spring green teas with pictures of dry and steeped leaves, and a few notes about their flavor and fragrance.

When it comes to the processing of oolong tea, there are many similar steps overlapping with other types. Still, oolong tea is in itself a very unique category of teas, because of the baking/roasting technology applied.

The Dan Cong is a famous oolong tea from the phoenix mountain in China’s Guang Dong province. Like many other famous Chinese teas, there’s a legend to be told about it’s origin.

Emperor Zhao Bing’s Elixir

During the Song dynasty, Zhao Bing fled to the Wu Dong Mountain (乌岽山) during a war. He was extremely thirsty and local farmers led him chew on the leaves from the tea bushes. This didn’t only quenched his thirst, but allowed him to regain his energy. Due to this miracle Dan Cong tea was referred to as the the Tea of Song (宋茶) and later also named the Song cultivar (宋种) raising the potential status of Dan Cong to an imperial level.

The Fall of Song

However, it took hundreds of years before Dan Cong became a tribute tea, because Zhao Bing wasn’t able to survive the war and return the favor to the local farmers. As according to historical records he jumped into the sea and died at an age of 8, consequently resulting in the fall of the Song Dynasty. Luckily his body was found by a Monk of Tin Hau (Queen of Heaven) temple in Shenzhen and eventually got buried there.

The Rise of Dan Cong tea in the Qing Dynasty

It was during the reign of emperor Jia Qing in the Qing Dynasty, when the Dan Cong bushes finally where rewarded for their ultimate quality. The tea region began to develop into a more mature production region, and more trees where planted. With pressure as well as financial support from the emperor, the trees enjoyed exceptional care. As a result they naturally grew into large ancient trees which you can still observe today.

Community: Our Dan Cong oolong growers

Visit our Dan Cong tea page to buy tea online from our community of passionate tea growers.

While exploring the Wuyishan region this year one of our cooperating farmers told us about the 10 'strange things' about Wuyishan. It's a pretty amusing list and as expected the top 3 are about tea.

Discover oolong tea from the its source: Wuyishan. Learn about wu yi rock tea and why the natural environment matters.

Wuyishan, also known as Wuyi Mountain, is a famous tea growing region in China.