This has to be the coolest month of the White2tea club – three special commissioned Milan Dancongs each with different roasting times. Not many variables in this tasting as it is the same batch of tea and same roaster.
I have an 18, 22, and 26 hour roasts. Each tea is 25 grams, plenty to drink later to see how the roast has settled down. Let’s drink them side by side! For this tasting, I am working left to right, 18, 22, and 26 hour. I used 1 gram of leaf to 13ml of vessel size, flash steeped in boiling water.
Dry Leaf
Appearance wise, it is difficult to see any difference between the teas.
18 hour is roasty, but also has a fruity baby powder scent. 22 hour is also roasty, baked goods, and has a slighty fruity scent but not as much as 18. 26 hour… wait for it.. smells roasty. The last tea leans nutty and toast, with no fruity notes.
Steeped up, the three teas are virtually identical. I can maybe see the shorter roasts look a touch greener, but I doubt the camera can pick up that difference as it is slight. However, the hot wet leaf scent ranges from sweet nectar, toasted apricot danish, to almost burnt toast with honey on it.
Tasting of May 2018 White2tea Club Milan Dancong Roast Comparison
18 Hour Roasted Milan Dancong – This short roasted tea opened up right away, packing a strong, sweet, creamy, tree sappy nectar flavor with the nice aroma of fruit. It has a stone fruit apricot vibe that lingers after each sip. There is some salivation going on, making me drool a bit as I drink the tea. Taste has little roast, but the roasting was enough to take out the green but keep bright and sweet flavor with aroma.
After a couple infusions bitterness and some dryness set in, contrasting the sweet fruity notes. Then quickly became very bitter to drink, like a thousand stewed green peppers, but had a great long fruity aftertaste.
22 Hour Roasted Milan Dancong – You can taste the roast here, with notes of acorn and burnt sugar, with a nice smoothness. I was worried this tea would be the awkward middle child, but it had a good harmony of softy caramelized apricot filled danish pastry. I do really like the aroma on this tea, leaving me with a nutty fruity aftertaste.
Middle infusions were very smooth, sipping in nutty and toasty, slightly sharp on the roast but with a sweet tangy fruity note. I got 3 more infusions than 18 hour Dancong and the 22 hour finished less bitter, which was impressive.
26 Hour Roasted Milan Dancong – To my surprise, but it made sense as there was more work done on this tea, it brewed up the lightest flavor of the three and took 3 infusions to catch up. The early infusions had the essence of nutty shells. Once this tea opened up it became sharply roasted peanut and walnut shells. Some sips have a bit of a rocky mineral note.
With each infusion, it got sharper and sharper, with a powerful roasted taste. There is no fruity flavor, just roast, eating nut shells, teetering on bitter. There is some aftertaste but is of roast. Definitely, the tea roast needs to air out. I got 2 additional infusions compared to 22h. Around 10th infusion, it finally chilled out and I got a mineral savory nut broth, but it was also astringent that my tongue was numb if it wasn’t numb already from the roast form earlier.
Comments
White2Tea club totally WORTH IT this month. Where can you taste this much control between roasts on a decent Dancong?
As of right now, the drink now tea would be the 18 hour Milan Dancong. That one had the best early infusions with awesome aroma and fruity notes. You could also drink the 22 hour now, but it can settle down some as there are some sharp bits. The 26 hour is sharp heavy roast that needs to chill out, or perfect for those for specific tastes of max roast.
You can certainly taste the difference of green stewed to death bite vs roasted bitter bite with this tasting if you ride these teas long. However, I think the biggest learning is waiting and trying these teas again with settling time. It could very well take a year for the 26 hour Milan Dancong to chill out.
