Ju Duo Zai (2024)

General

The Fenghuang Mountains in Guangdong Province produce unique Dancong tea varieties. The tea bushes are more like tea trees, and they grow from the ground in a way that is different from normal tea bushes, with a single trunk. The roots of the trees extend far and deep, gathering nutrients from an exceptionally large area. Their thick lower trunk divides into several branches at the top, forming an umbrella-like canopy of foliage about 3-10 meters high. Due to the location of the foliage, tea pickers need to use ladders.

The naming of Dancong tea varieties is a very complex system, based mainly on the tea plant variety. Tea plants were originally propagated sexually by seed, but later the best varieties were selected from the created varieties, which are now propagated asexually using cuttings, creating genetically identical tea plants. Tea varieties are most often named for their descriptive scent. Examples of these names include Zhi Lan Xiang, which means orchid scent, and Yu Lan Xiang, which means Yulan Magnolia scent. There are dozens of Dancong varieties in widespread production, and literally hundreds of tea varieties are known in the Fenghuang area!

This tea

This Fenghuang Dancong is produced from the slightly rarer Ju Duo Zai tea variety. The name Ju means saw blade and it is said that the name is based on the narrow leaves of the tea variety with more pronounced saw blade-like edges than usual. The tea is harvested in 2024. The nature of the variety is not as clear as, for example, the Mi Lan Xiang variety. Ju Duo Zai Dancongs are usually mysteriously floral and nutty.

Taste

coming soon

Infusion

Use boiling water to brew the tea. Dancong teas are traditionally brewed using the gongfu method, i.e. by steeping the leaves in a small teapot (0-300ml) several times so that the steeping times are short. The amount of leaves used in this method is about 1/3 of the teapot. The steeping time is about 10-30 seconds. A shorter steeping can be good, but a much longer steeping rarely is. The length of the steeping can be extended with subsequent steepings.

If you have a larger teapot and are making a maximum of 2-3 steepings, the amount of tea leaves is 4-6g, or about two tablespoons. The steeping time in a larger pot is 3-5 minutes. The leaves can normally be brewed more than once.