DC Dancha 2026

The most striking characteristic of this tea is the fragrance. With the dry leaves, and even more so with the wet leaves, the welcoming scent of a buttery pie crust goes straight to the deepest parts of your sinuses. Warming those deep places in your head, you’ve already started to enjoy this tea before you even taste it. This scent comes through even in the aroma of many steeps.

Hits of a raspberry are to the front of your tastes. Following quickly, the buttery pie crust shows through. Come the 3rd steep, you are enjoying the smell and taste of a toasty strawberry pie.

It is important to note that this tea was made using the sinocentric black tea processing steps. A fermentation taste appears frequently in balhyocha, even in teas that are not fermented. However the classic fermentation taste of Korean Balhyocha is not present putting this tea in a different taste category.

There’s an age old saying that the less fragrance in the dry leaves the more that comes out in the steep. This tea certainly brings that saying to life.

The taste and finish are strong even on the first sip. Not pungent or astringent, the pleasant flavors of stone fruit and honey make a most welcome introduction. Coating the tongue, the tea lingers on well after you’ve already cleaned your teaware.

Not too nuanced or complex, this tea is far from boring. The taste is so satisfying that there is no time of day or year that it cannot be enjoyed. Salivating and smooth, your mouth will thank you on those cotton-mouth days.

Similar in taste to a Taiwanese Dongfang Meiren (Oriental Beauty), it holds a slight fermentation profile often found in Chinese yellow teas. This fermentation taste is one found in many balhyocha, even some produced strictly to Chinese black tea processing standards.