Chaozhou Names Seven Tea Kings Across Its Phoenix Dancong Classes
Two days of final blind judging on 355 spring samples closed July 9, with a single Tea King crowned in each of seven classes, from honey orchid to Lingtou dancong.
Follows up on Chaozhou Closes Entries for Its Eighth Phoenix Dancong Contest, Judging Set for July 8
Chaozhou's eighth Phoenix Dancong championship closed its blind judging July 9, and organizers named a Tea King in each of seven classes rather than a single overall winner.
Judges at the Chaozhou Daily offices worked through 355 submitted samples over the two-day final review, scoring each on the same five steps used to open the contest: dry-leaf form, aroma, liquor color, taste, and spent leaf. The Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences' tea research institute provided technical support. Of the 355 entries, 184 samples placed at some award level, from Tea King down through special gold, gold, silver, and bronze.
Phoenix Dancong is judged by single bush, so each class carries the cultivar's own name for the scent a taster finds in the cup, not a blend grade. This year's Tea Kings: Liu Maosheng in honey orchid; Yunxia Tea Manor in Ba Xian (eight immortals); Chengxin Pinzheng in duck shit aroma; Chaozhou Guanming Tea in the other-florals class; Honghuang in dancong black tea; Raoping County's Xiyan tea farm in Xiyan Qilan; and Yang Jiana in Lingtou dancong. The contest's other three entry classes, apricot kernel, dark leaf, and Chaozhou roasted tea, went unmentioned in the results report. A separate commodity-grade track, judged for quality rather than competing for Tea King, gave its top special-gold marks to Tang Tea Single-Cluster Supply Chain in honey orchid and to Shixiang Guiyi in other florals.
Sources: Chaozhou Daily, "'Tea King': Whose tea will it go to? The Eighth Guangdong Chaozhou Phoenix Dancong Tea Championship concludes" (July 10, 2026) | zh.