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Tasting Notes: The first thing you'll notice about Mi Lan Xiang is the fragrance. Honeyed orchid, gardenia, and orchard fruit, filling the room the moment you open the bag. It only gets better from there. Mi Lan Xiang is the newest addition to our Origin Reserve Collection, and one of the most enchanting teas we carry. Sourced from Propitious Clouds Estate in Fenghuang Town, Guangdong Province, China, and crafted from trees that are nearly 200 years old, this is a great tea with deep roots in every sense. The resulting tea yields a pale golden liquor with a floral taste layered with sweet notes of peach, plum, apricot, and lychee, with a creamy and subtle toasty warmth. The finish is smooth, sweet, and refreshing, with a woody edge and a long lasting feeling that keeps you coming back for the next sip. Each lot steeps 5 to 7 times, with each infusion revealing something a little different. Features: Origin: Propitious Clouds Estate, Fenghuang Town, Guangdong Province, China Cultivar: Mi Lan Xiang (蜜兰香) Style: Dan Cong Oolong Harvest: April 2025 Oxidation: Light to Medium Roast: Finished in bamboo baskets over low, ash-muted embers Steeps: 5 to 7 infusions per serving Certification: Organic Caffeine: Medium Ingredients: Oolong Tea (Camellia Sinensis) Lifestyle-Friendly: Vegan, Paleo, Keto Ingredients: oolong tea What Is Mi Lan Xiang? Mi Lan Xiang is a Fenghuang Dan Cong oolong, a style of tea that originates in the Phoenix Mountain range of Guangdong Province and is celebrated for its extraordinary high aroma and layered flavor. Dan Cong oolongs are sometimes called the "perfume of tea," and Mi Lan Xiang, meaning "Honey Orchid Fragrance," is among the most popular Phoenix oolongs of them all. Unlike green tea, which is unoxidized, Dan Cong oolong sits in between green and fully oxidized teas, with a profile that preserves delicate floral aromatics while developing rich fruit sweetness and body. Mi Lan Xiang is finished with repeat roasts over charcoal that add creamy, toasty depth without overpowering its signature orchid taste and honey like aroma. Sometimes called a "cowboy tea" for its wild, free-spirited character, Mi Lan Xiang balances refinement with personality. It has a way of raising eyebrows in the best possible way, converting people who think they already know what oolong tastes like. It is a great tea for seasoned Dan Cong oolong tea lovers and adventurous newcomers alike. The Phoenix Mountains: Where Mi Lan Xiang Comes From Fenghuang Town sits high in the Phoenix Mountain range of Guangdong Province, a misty, high-altitude region with mineral-rich red soils, abundant rainfall, and a tea-growing tradition stretching back centuries. The area is part of the broader Chaozhou City tea-growing region, one of China's most storied, where bushes growing at elevation produce teas with a depth and fragrance that lower-altitude gardens simply cannot replicate. The region's ancient Song Zhong tea trees, some over a thousand years old, are the ancestors of today's Dan Cong cultivars. Each cultivar is known for a signature fragrance — orchid, lychee, cinnamon, osmanthus — and Mi Lan Xiang carries the honey orchid character that has made it the most popular Phoenix oolong in the world. Sunny days tempered by cool mountain nights concentrate the floral and fruit compounds in the tea leaves, and the mineral-rich red soils feed roots that in the oldest trees reach deep into the mountain rock. Tea here is not an industry. It is a way of life, tended by multi-generational families in tea gardens passed down through generations. The Estate: Propitious Clouds Our Mi Lan Xiang comes from Propitious Clouds Estate, a single-family operation in Fenghuang Town run by tea master Brian, who follows a long line of family tradition in these mountains. The estate's trees are nearly 200 years old, their deep roots drawing minerals and nutrients from the mountain rock in ways that younger plantings simply cannot replicate. This is an old grove in every sense, and the brewed leaves tell that story. Every harvest in mid March through April, the family works 20-hour days, hand-plucking two leaves and one bud with care and tending each stage of production by hand. The finished dry leaf is expertly processed using traditional Chaozhou methods: the leaves are gently withered, lightly abraded, and slowly oxidized through multiple rounds before charcoal roasting brings out their fragrance and depth. Roasting brings a creamy, toasty warmth that supports rather than masks the floral sweetness, and the result is a tea that is both lovingly processed and extraordinarily complex. The honey orchid aroma that fills the estate home during harvest is the same fragrance that reaches you when you open the bag. This is what a family's life work smells like. How to Brew Mi Lan Xiang Western BrewUse 1 teaspoon (approximately 2 grams) of loose leaf per 8 oz of water at 195°F and steep for 2 to 3 minutes. This is a great starting point if you're new to Mi Lan Xiang, and the same leaves can be steeped 2 to 3 times using this method. Avoid boiling water, which can dull the delicate floral notes. Gongfu BrewFor the full experience, Mi Lan Xiang really shines when brewed gongfu style in a small teapot or gaiwan. Use 5 grams of loose leaf per 100ml of water at 195°F and steep for 20 to 30 seconds for the first infusion, adding 5 to 10 seconds for each subsequent steep. This method unlocks the full range of what this tea can do, giving you 5 to 7 rich, evolving infusions from a single serving. Each infusion tells a slightly different story. The first steep opens with pure honey orchid fragrance. By the third or fourth the stone fruit and creamy notes come forward. By the fifth or sixth a toasty warmth settles in and lingers in the mouth long after the cup is empty. Either way you brew it, Mi Lan Xiang does not need milk, sugar, or anything added. The delicious honey sweetness is entirely natural, and it is complete exactly as it is.
