Derrière la boutique de thé Jing - thé oolong dancong de M. Huang

In Fenghuang, we work with Mr. Huang. His family is spread across the core villages, with small plots held over time in different parts of the mountain. The teas pass through his hands first. He grew up in this system and has worked within it for decades. The work begins in the garden, but what defines the tea is decided later. Picking sets the material. Making brings it into form. Roasting determines whether it holds.

Dancong does not follow a fixed profile. Names like Milan or Ba Xian point to a direction, but the outcome depends on place and handling. The same name can shift from one plot to another, and from one year to the next. Selection is not about the name, but about reading the leaf and deciding how far it can be taken.
Mr. Huang is known locally for his control of charcoal roasting, with numerous awards from Dancong roasting competitions in Chaozhou. In Chaozhou, he serves as co-president of the Chao An Tea Association and as an appointed evaluator for Dancong tea competitions. These roles sit alongside the daily work. The teas that come through his hands keep their varietal expression. What matters remains the same: how the tea is handled at each step, and whether it carries through the cup. 
We have worked with him since 2005. He knows what we look for and sets aside lots accordingly. What appears here comes through this line of work, kept consistent over time.

Further up the mountain, some of the older trees come through Huang Weimin. He works out of Anjiao village, where his family has kept a number of old Dancong bushes over time.
His work sits closer to the making. He reads the leaf at picking and carries it through to roasting. The charcoal work is steady and controlled, not to push aroma, but to hold the structure of the tea.
In Chaozhou, he has long been involved in local publications on Dancong making and cultivation, and serves as a judge at regional competitions. These follow from the work itself.
Beyond this, the work extends across the mountain. In Da’an, with Mr. Wen. In Zimao, with the Li brothers. In Guanmu Shi, with Mr. Wei. In Danhu, with the Li family. The leaf comes through them first. What is picked and brought in sets the starting point.