From a 60-year bush on Wudong’s lower shoulder
Chen Hui Yi sourced this lot from a small family garden on the lower slopes of Wudong shan, Fenghuang township, at around 980 metres. Although Hui Yi is best known across the constellation for white tea, she keeps a working relationship with three Guangdong oolong families she grew up trading with — and once a year she brings a small dancong lot onto tea.gratis as a sampling drop, so newcomers can meet the Phoenix style before committing to a full tin.
The bush is roughly sixty years old — not an ancient tree, but old enough to push concentrated aromatics and the deep root-draw that gives Mi Lan Xiang its weight. Picking happened in the third week of April 2026, after a dry spell that the family said sharpened the orchid note. Leaves were sun-withered on bamboo trays for about ninety minutes, then carried indoors for two nights of slow rocking — the rounds of bruising and resting that build dancong’s signature fruit-and-flower complexity.
Kill-green was done in a small drum that afternoon, followed by hand-rolling into the long twisted strip shape. The lot then rested for six weeks before its first charcoal bake, and another four weeks before a second, lighter pass. The result is a medium-baked dancong — fruit-forward, with the bake supporting rather than dominating.
Hui Yi has flagged this as a good first dancong for anyone whose palate is used to greens or whites: the bake is gentle, the bitterness is controlled, and the huí gān is unmistakable.