white2tea’s Pomelo Dancong | Tea Review

Last year, I tried a tea that was placed inside a pomelo rind to cure. So, when I saw the description of this tea and it mentioned the taste of citrus rinds, my interest peaked.

Description: “The name Youhua literally translates as “citron flower”. As you might suspect from the name, there are soft fragrances of citrus rinds and a floral bouquet over a creamy base.”

Instructions: 1 g of tea per 15 ml of water in small teapot or gaiwan. | Rinse once; steep the 1st steep for 5 sec, then add 5 sec for each additional steep[.] | Too weak? Steep longer | Too strong? Remove leaf  | Oolong Tea: 95°C 

Review: The dark slightly twisted ash brown leaves had a delicate citrus smell, like when zesting a lemon or lime. After adding the leaves to the pre-heated gaiwan, the leaves imparted stronger sweet citrus, fruity, cocoa, and woody smell. Following a quick rinse, the wet leaves were a dark olive and brown colour with an unexpectedly dominating smoke/roasted smell and a faint floral smell.

The tea was brewed in a 70ml gaiwan using 3 to 4 grams of leaf.

Infusion 1 (5 seconds): The liquor was a pale honey-yellow colour with a delicate floral and charcoal taste.

Infusion 2 (10 seconds): After the second infusion, the liquor became a darker yellow. It had a forward earthy note, followed by smoke and a delicate floral taste. The sip ended with dryness at the back of the mouth.

Infusion 3 (15 seconds): The golden yellow liquor had a somewhat stronger floral flavour but the charcoal taste still dominated. The astringency at the back of the mouth also remained.

Infusion 4 (20 seconds): The liquor still was a mixture of strong roasted charcoal notes intertwined with faint floral and some additional earthy notes.

Infusion 5 (25 seconds): The flavour was very delicate and faint.

Despite smelling the citrus notes in the dry leaf, a citrus flavour was not present in the liquor itself and the taste leaned more floral, earthy, and smoke/charcoal. The more leaf that was added, the stronger the charcoal notes which overwhelmed some of the more delicate floral notes.

This would be a nice oolong for someone looking for an easy brewing oolong or a more delicate floral flavour mixed with smoky notes. I paired this with a cheese tart which had some lemon in it and the citrus note was enhanced. This was a nice oolong but I was personally hoping for more of a citrus taste (3/5 rating).

The question of the post: Do you like citrus fruits?

Note: Nicole from Tea from Me Please kindly shared this post as part of her weekly round up! Make sure to check out the other posts from that week including a post about Korean Teas and top questions about tea!