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Wudong Mountain

The high peak of the Phoenix range in Chaozhou, and the source of the oldest and most expensive dan cong. The distinguishing practice is that the trees are individuals: tall, single-trunk, seed-grown plants standing metres apart, each picked, withered and roasted separately and sold under its own aroma name. The Song Zhong lineage — trees held by local account to descend from Song-era plantings, a dating repeated locally and not independently established — comes from these slopes. Because a tree is a tree rather than a field, supply is measured in kilograms and almost everything sold as Wudong dan cong is cuttings grown lower down.

烏崠山China800–1400 metresAlso called Wudong Shan

History on this page: Widely repeated legend

Repeated very widely and not evidenced. Recorded because the story is itself part of the culture, not because it happened.

This district’s description dates something — a founding, a first planting, a period of expansion. The label above says on what basis, and it applies to the historical statements rather than to the elevation, climate or soil claims below, which carry their own confidence separately.

Elevation

Recorded at 800–1400 metres.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. The named old trees sit near the top of the range; ‘Wudong’ on a label frequently covers material from well below it.

Climate

Persistent cloud on the upper slopes with a wide day-to-night temperature range and a late pluck relative to the lower Phoenix gardens.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

When it is picked

One spring pick per tree, and the trees are individuals — tall, seed-grown, metres apart, each withered and roasted separately. A single old tree's annual crop can be a few kilograms, so the calendar produces named lots rather than a district grade.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

How the name is written

Also transliterated as wu dong shan, wudong, wu tung. Romanisations of a district name vary by system and by vendor, and a packet spelling one way is not describing a different place.

Teas this region is known for

  • Song Zhong Dan Cong — The most concentrated Dan Cong there is, with a length no younger bush matches — and a bitterness that punishes any over-steeping.
  • Phoenix Dan Cong — The most aromatic oolong made, and the least forgiving. A few seconds too long produces real bitterness, and the same leaf brewed briskly is extraordinarily perfumed. That bitterness is not a flaw to be eliminated so much as a boundary to be brewed against.
  • Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong — The sweetest Dan Cong and the most forgiving, which is why it is the one to start with. The bitterness is still there and still a few seconds away at any moment.

Other teas recorded from here

Other growing regions in China

The neighbouring districts are the useful comparison: they share a country, a grading convention and often a cultivar, so what differs between them is closer to terroir than anything a cross-border comparison can isolate.

Sources

  • TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ

This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No external document stands behind the elevation band, the climate note or the character described above, which is why each carries its confidence in the open.

How TeaHQ handles sources