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This is my four hundredth tasting note! It’s been a fun ride! Given the state of my tea museum, I might be able to reach five hundred tasting notes without buying any more tea, though I expect to continue supporting the tea economy with my impulse purchases indefinitely. :)

Thanks again to Derk for the sample! I was drooling over a pomelo Dancong on White2Tea (or maybe somewhere else), so this is especially welcome. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 200F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of pomelo, tangerine, orange blossom, honey, and roast. The first steep has notes of honey, roast, pomelo, orange blossom, tangerine, and wood. The next steep adds more honey, apricot, minerals, sap, and cream. I can definitely taste the roast behind the fruit and florals, though it’s not unpleasant. There’s more honey, citrus, orange/pomelo blossom, and roast in the next couple steeps, plus a nice apricot aftertaste. Steeps five and six are a bit softer, with almond, gentle orange and apricot, cream, florals, and roast. The tea seems well integrated and not overly roasty. In subsequent steeps, the roast starts to take over, with honey, pine, minerals, almonds, florals, and hints of orange and pomelo. I steeped this tea out for the pops of orange and florals amid the honey, minerals, wood, and roast.

Derk mentioned that this tea has lost some of its flavour, though that’s hard to believe given how much complexity it has now. I like the very distinct pomelo, orange, honey, and orange blossom flavours and aromas, which persist throughout the session in spite of the roast. This is a more balanced, appealing Dancong than some others I’ve had recently.