Song Zhong (宋种) means Song Dynasty variety, a lineage traced back nearly a thousand years to the ancient mother trees on Phoenix Mountain. It’s the most prestigious designation in the entire Dancong family, and the standard every other cultivar on that mountain is measured against.
In the cup: a lifted gardenia aroma that rises before you’ve raised the cup, a fine and silky body without a trace of roughness, and a deep cooling sweetness in the throat, the 回甘 that serious Dancong drinkers chase. It holds its character across infusion after infusion rather than fading, which is exactly what the Song Zhong name is supposed to promise.
This is a tea to sit with, not to sip absently.
Brewing:
6-7g · 100°C · Gaiwan
Rinse once and discard to open the leaves
1st–6th infusion: pour in and out as fast as possible
Add 5 seconds each round after the 6th · 10–15 infusions
Boiling water only, and pour fast. Speed is what protects the fragrance and keeps the sweetness clean.
