There is the smell of chicken shit vine in the front and duck shit in the back... Does this tea taste like "shit"?

First there was chicken shit vine, then there was duck shit fragrance. Recently, the tea beverage industry has been getting more and more imaginative, and even "shit" is used to make tea. I believe that many friends are as confused as Tadpole: What does duck shit smell like?

A plump goose? A duck?

I have to say that after personally verifying it, Tadpole Jun found it really delicious. (After buying a cup and secretly tasting it)

After consulting a lot of information, Tadpole finally understood what this duck shit fragrance that drives countless young people crazy is.

Image source: Screenshot of a tea shop mini program

Duck shit doesn't have shit, and it smells pretty good.

Yashixiang is actually the name of an oolong tea, which has nothing to do with "duck shit". Its original name was "Yinhua Dancong", which sounds much more advanced.

Then why was the name of the tea with such a poetic meaning changed to "Duck Shit Fragrance"?

Legend has it that there are three sources of his "stage name":

One theory is that the duck shit incense is planted in a yellow soil called "duck shit soil", hence the name.

Another theory is that the shape of the Duck Shit Fragrance tea resembles the leaves of the duck foot wood, so it was named after its shape.

The third theory is that when the tea was first introduced, tea farmers were worried that someone would steal it, so they gave it such a "bad name" to mislead everyone.

Although it is called Duck Shit Fragrance, this tea eventually became widely popular due to its strong taste and pleasant aroma. As expected, as long as the inner core is strong enough, no matter how ugly the name is, there will be people who appreciate it.

This environment is like a paradise on earth

There is also a higher evaluation of Duck Shit Fragrance: "A kind of fragrance that is difficult to describe, combining the vividness and liveliness of nature, the fragrance and charm of flowers." As an oolong tea, why does Duck Shit Fragrance receive such a wonderful evaluation?

Guangdong Oolong Phoenix Single-Length Tea is a precious variety of Oolong tea. Phoenix Single-Length Tea has a production history of more than 900 years and is well-known in the tea industry. Chaozhou Phoenix Mountain is its main production area.

If you want to know why the duck shit fragrance is so beautiful, just look at its growing environment.

Phoenix Mountain is located at a very high altitude and is known as the "highest peak in Chaoshan". The air here is humid and misty all year round starting from the mountainside. The higher the mountain, the thinner the air and the lower the air pressure.

Image source: Wikipedia

Tea trees live in such a specific environment, and water is more likely to evaporate and dissipate from the surface of the tea leaves. In order to avoid this situation, the buds and leaves will produce a resistin to inhibit water evaporation. This resistin is the valuable ingredient of tea, aromatic oil.

Image source: Wikipedia

Hmm... No wonder Duck Shit Incense has a unique tea fragrance.

Due to the large temperature difference between day and night in the mountains, sugars, aromatic oils and other substances in tea leaves are easier to precipitate and preserve when tea trees are photosynthesizing. In addition, the soil in Phoenix Mountain is mostly acidic yellow soil, which contains a variety of organic acids, which can provide an ideal symbiotic environment for the root fungi that live in the roots of tea trees, thereby improving the nutrition and water conditions of tea trees.

The environment, climate, water and soil, with so many factors contributing, it’s hard not to smell good when duck shit is fragrant!

Duck shit smells good

Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea with a fragrant taste and a sweet and delicious aftertaste. In addition to the duck shit fragrance, there are many very precious varieties, including Tieguanyin, Dahongpao, Dongding Oolong, Phoenix Danzong and Rock Tea Cinnamon. Different varieties also have different characteristics and flavors.

01

Tieguanyin

Tieguanyin is one of the three major varieties of oolong tea. It is a type of southern Fujian oolong tea and is the best tea.

Tieguanyin has four picking seasons a year. The tea picked at the beginning of summer is spring tea, which is not only fragrant but also durable and has the best quality.

Image source: Wikipedia

After brewing, the soup is golden and rich like amber, with various fragrances such as peanuts and coconut. It is soul-stirring at one sip, as if "spring is coming"~

02

Da Hong Pao

Dahongpao is a type of oolong tea, and is most famous for its production area in Wuyi Mountain in Fujian.

Image source: Wikipedia

As a classic tea base, Dahongpao has a rich aroma and is a good match for milk. The slightly bitter taste and mellow milk are super layered. After taking it in your mouth, it is paired with two pearls. Such a Dahongpao milk tea with rich ingredients has successfully captured the hearts of many young people.

03

Dong Ding Oolong

When talking about Dongding Oolong, many friends would think that "Dongding" is a production process, but it is actually a place name, a branch of Fenghuang Mountain in Nantou County, Taiwan Province.

Due to the high altitude, high humidity and frequent rain in the mountain range, one needs to be very careful when picking tea in the mountain. Only by stretching the toes (commonly known as "frozen toes") can one climb to the top of the mountain with difficulty. Hence the saying "Dongding Mountain" came into being, and the tea on the mountain also got the dreamy-sounding name "Dongding Oolong".

Of course, this "Dong Ding" is not the same as that "Dong Ding". The "Dong Ding milk tea" in milk tea shops mostly uses cream or ice cream, not just a kind of tea drink~

Image source: Screenshot of McDonald’s official website

Whether it is the strangely named "Duck Shit Fragrance" or the cute "Dongding Oolong", they all conquered us with their taste.

Next time you see a drink with words like "cow dung" or "rabbit dung" in its name, don't be surprised. Just buy one. You may get a surprise.

END

Audit expert: Wang Guoyi, Postdoctoral Fellow in Food Safety

Tadpole Musical Notation original article

Editor/Xiao Xitushuo