A Question about the nature of Dan Cong

The original meaning of “Dan Cong” is “single bush”, referring to the idea that the tealeaves from a single bush are not to be mixed with those from any other bush and should be processed and consumed as the product from that singular bush.

D____ responded to my answer with another email. Again, it’s worth sharing here because it does represent the confusion that some people may have. Here it is:

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Hello Leo,

 

Thank you for your wonderful reply! I am pleased you could confirm that “Dan Cong” refers to the “single trunk” growing and processing method and not to the cultivar per se for I was fearful I might have been misleading my customers. As to the variety, is Shuixian the same variety as is grown in Wuyi? I know this variety is widely grown in China.

 

Another point (question): in the wine business we would refer to what you have called “sub-species” as different clones and the asexual propagation method you describe as cloning. Might the different bushes be referred to as “clones” rather than “sub-species?” For example, in the viticultural field, vitis vinifera is the species, chardonnay is a cultivar and Wente and UCD4 are clones (and there are hundreds of chardonnay clones each with its own particular ripening cycle and taste nuance.) To carry this into tea it would be camellia sinensis v. sinensis as the species (and sub-species), shuixian as the cultivar and zhuye as the clone. Does this make any sense?

 

In one of your essays, you stress the difference between Wulong (the cultivar) and Oolong (the manufacturing style.) I had always thought this a confusion unique to Taiwan (early in my career I was at a cupping in Taipei and one taster averred that the best tea was the Wulong; I thought “what, they are all oolongs!” – it took me some weeks to be clear on the difference.) In Taiwan the Wulong is a particular clone of the Qing Xin cultivar. What is it in China?

 

Thanks again for all of your help Leo; I know I have much reading ahead of me as I move through your voluminous research in The Tea Guardian.

 

Cheers,

 

D_____

To me, the botanical taxonomy of the tea plant goes like this:

1.1 Species: Camellia sinensis

1.1.1 Variety: Camellia sinensis var sinensis

1.1.2 Variety: Camellia sinensis var assamica

1.1.1.1 Cultivar: Camellia sinensis var sinensis cv Qingxin

1.1.1.2 Cultivar: Camellia sinensis var sinensis cv Qingxin Dawu

1.1.1.3 Cultivar: Camellia sinensis var sinensis cv Qingxin Ganzi

etc, etc

To me, a clone is a “replica” of a cultivar. When a clone grows in a different environment it may result in leaves with different physical & chemical properties. 

Yes there are many different “kinds” of shuixian tea trees, some of which are more unique and are used to make different distinctive tasting kinds of “dan congs”, while others are less distinctive are used to make various grades of generic shuixian and alas, also generic dan congs. In lesser production areas, where the tea trees are plucked more than once or twice a year, the leaves of distinctive tea trees can be processed together to form generic “dan congs” and shuixians too.

That’s right, those that are really single bush processed are very little in quantity, some as little as one kilo a year. However, a lot of such production trees are quite huge and dense and make 5 kilos. Some people even claim 10, but I doubt that. These batches are not cheap. In the early Communist regime, one was reserved expressly for the notorious Chairman Mao. Now people come in their limo to wait for the processing to complete to take home, paying often a few hundred thousands RMB, directly in cash to the farmer, for the batch. That translates to tens of thousand USD for a couple of kilos of tea.