The cassia-bark (Chinese cinnamon, 中药材肉桂) aroma family of Fenghuang Dancong, selected from the Fenghuang Shuixian population and botanically unrelated to the Wuyi rock-tea cultivar Rougui.
Warm, woody-spicy aroma resembling medicinal Chinese cassia bark (中药材肉桂), with a bright orange-yellow to golden liquor, brisk spicy-sweet thickness, and pronounced mountain rhyme (山韵).
As in Phoenix Dancong. Moderate-to-full charcoal baking brings out the warm, woody-spicy cassia-bark character.
Both teas share the Chinese characters 肉桂 ("cassia / cinnamon"), but they are different plants from different provinces. Wuyi Rougui is made from the Fujian small-leaf clonal cultivar Rougui, whereas Fenghuang Rou Gui Xiang is an aroma family of small-arbor mid-leaf selections from the Guangdong Fenghuang Shuixian population named for its resemblance to medicinal cassia bark.
《中国茶树品种志》 (2001, pp. 228–229) documents 肉桂香单枞 as a small-arbor mid-leaf clone selected from Fenghuang Shuixian in Fenghuang Town with over 100 years of cultivation history and an optimal elevation belt of 600–800 m.
A notable morphological trait recorded in the monograph is its zigzag branch habit (枝条呈曲折状) on a 3.3 × 2.8 m crown, with flat, elliptic dark-green leaves (8.9 × 3.8 cm, 8 pairs of lateral veins, 34 pairs of fine teeth). One hundred one-bud-three-leaf shoots weigh 109.0 g; spring shoots contain 1.8% amino acids, 33.9% tea polyphenols, 18.6% catechins and 47.0% water extract—giving a high polyphenol-to-amino-acid ratio that underpins its brisk, spicy-structured liquor and mountain rhyme (山韵).
Appendix A.2 of T/CZTTBZ 001—2021 defines 肉桂香型 as Dancong whose finished tea carries the scent of Chinese medicinal cassia bark (中药材肉桂香味), and lists four mother bushes:
1. 肉桂香 (Kengqian): growing at ~650 m in Kengqian Village, Fengxi, aged >100 years (3.24 m tall, 2.8 m crown, 3 kg peak yield); propagated across the town since 1980. 2. 山茄叶肉桂香: growing at 960 m in Da’an Village, aged ~160 years (4.24 m tall, 6.2 kg peak yield), named for leaves shaped like wild solanum. 3. 七星肉桂香 (alias 过江龙, "River-Crossing Dragon"): growing at ~890 m in Qixing’an, Fengxi, aged >100 years (2.97 m tall, 2.5 kg peak yield), named for its long, sprawling branches. 4. 二垭肉桂香: growing at ~600 m in Erya, Fengxi, aged ~150 years (4.18 m tall, 7.6 kg peak yield).
A 2015 analytical study comparing simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) and purge-and-trap thermal desorption (P&T-TD) on Rou Gui Xiang and Huang Zhi Xiang Dancong found that heated SDE produced higher levels of thermally generated terpenols and oxides than ambient headspace trapping, illustrating how both roasting and laboratory extraction temperature shift the apparent volatile fingerprint of spicy Dancong lines.
| Product | Vendor | Price | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
Cinnamon Sky Rougui Dancong Oolong
Details and price notesCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
250g pack at USD 89.00; 40g at USD 16.50; 100g at USD 39.00 (15g sample at USD 6.50 out of stock) |
Bitterleaf TeasSelected destinations |
$89.00 / 250 g | $35.60 ≈ $2.85 a session |
| Rou Gui Xiang | Länggass-TeeSelected destinations |
CHF 54.00 / 50 g | $131.13 CHF 108.00 / 100 g ≈ $10.49 a session |
Prices recorded on the dates checked. Conversions use ECB rates dated 2026-10-20; original prices appear alongside. Origin, age and cultivar are stated by the vendor.
| Product | Vendor | Channel | per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinnamon Sky Rougui Dancong Oolong | Bitterleaf Teas | International retail | $35.60 |
| Rou Gui Xiang | Länggass-Tee | International retail | $131.13 |
The Chaozhou geographical indication local standard DB4451/T 1—2021 defines Fenghuang Dancong as oolong tea manufactured within the protected Chaozhou area by traditional craft from lines and cultivars selected or bred from Fenghuang Shuixian (GSCT 17), categorizing finished teas into ten aroma types with physicochemical limits of ≤7.0% moisture and ≥30.0% water extract.
Full text · Clauses 3–5 (definition, Fenghuang Shuixian planting stock requirement, ten aroma types, and physicochemical table) · checked 2026-11-04
Scope and limits: Establishes the statutory GI specification for Chaozhou Fenghuang Dancong, whereas the voluntary national standard GB/T 30357.6-2017 defines Dancong generically without a geographic origin requirement.
Zhongguo Chashu Pinzhongzhi (2001, pp. 103–104) documents Fenghuang Dancong as a collective group of 80 superior lines selected from the sexual Fenghuang Shuixian population and named after tree habit, leaf morphology, or aroma, while Appendix A.2 of T/CZTTBZ 001—2021 catalogues 136 named mother bushes across 15 aroma groups.
Full text · Cultivar monograph entry for Fenghuang Dancong (凤凰单枞), pp. 103–104, selection history, 80 lines, and separate harvesting/processing · checked 2026-11-04
Scope and limits: Documents how 'Dancong' evolved from single-bush selection and separate manufacture into propagated clonal lines, meaning a modern Dancong packet is almost always clonal garden tea unless single-tree provenance is independently verified.
