1995 Huang Zhe Xiang Dancong / Gardenia Fragrance Aged Oolong 25g

1995 Huang Zhe Xiang Dancong / Gardenia Fragrance

My 'experience' notes with this tea may not be the same as yours!
This starts off with a similar feel of aloe vera drinks; in a good way, some might say coconut water instead for frame of reference. The tea ends up having a note that I will explain as tropical warmth. Not heat, not flavor profile... but tropical warm that fade away into a semi-sweet huigan that is only in some pockets of the mouth. I suspect this is because the roast profile and hot liquid doesn't allow penetration for the entire mouth; cold brews in the future of course to test this.
Turns into tropical fruit flowers which is rather unique. My experience with gardenia is zero so it might just be that. The subdued roast, which takes a moment to get to, is a nice rounded edge to it all.

The leaf appearance compared to what I have seen lately is on the average to lower spectrum. Rather chopped up and not much to look at after.

This is the type of tea that makes me smile but also have nerdy frustration. Quite enjoyable but more questions arise which I doubt I can get the answers to because to do so I need to find more 1990s dancong to compare on top of experience of living in the 1990s and drinking dancong then to taste the leaf for how it was produced then compare to the dancong we are seeing now. I suspect somewhere between the terroir, leaf cultivation, leaf processing, roasting, etc. something/s have changed giving us what we have 30 ish years later, but then it goes back further... what about the 1970s or 1980s comparatively? I'll probably never know!

25g