Does 1g tea leaves difference matter?

[gunbuster363]

Yesterday I tried new tea from Jing - a Kan Jiao Zhong Dancong oolong.

I brew it with 7g leaves, about 200ml water or more in a banko-yaki. I used water from the hot water dispenser in my office because there were no other option. I followed the standard procedure, flush the leaves with hot water and discard the tea immediately, then start for the 1st brew. I brew it with hot water poured directly from the water dispenser and waited 30 seconds.

The result were excellent. The tea was full of aroma and the fragrance filled my mouth and between my teeth. I made 5 more infusions and got excellent result.


This morning I was thinking it is too expensive to use 7g so I tried 6g. ( I only bought 50g of this ). I followed the same procedure ( I did it with less water, about 180ml ) but could not reproduce the result from yesterday. The fragrance was still there but not so much.

Do you think it is the 1g difference made the tea less tasty?

[wyardley]

If you think about it in terms of percentages, 6g -> 7g is not insignificant. That said, our experience of drinking tea can be really differently from day to day. Some of that is because there are so many variables with making tea, but some of it probably just has to do with mood and the subjectiveness of the experience.

For me, with more time brewing tea, I can get a little closer to some kind of consistency as I have more experience, but even so, there are sometimes these magical tea experiences that are basically impossible to recapture.

You can always try brewing again with 7g and see whether the results are the same as the first time. You might also want to invest in a smaller brewing vessel if you're frequently brewing for just one or two.

[bonescwa]

I personally think dancongs are more finicky than any other teas I've had. I usually use 6 - 10ish g in a 100 ml pot and sometimes it has great intensity of aroma, taste, and other times it's a shadow of what it was for no apparent reason. Imen of Tea Habitat has some nice brewing guidelines which are fairly precise. She has the thought that water temperature may have a significant effect, more than I have noticed with most other oolong. On the other hand, sometimes the essence of the dancong for me has been just grandpa style, just a pinch of leaves in 200 mls or so, and letting it sit

[Tead Off]

I personally think dancongs are more finicky than any other teas I've had. I usually use 6 - 10ish g in a 100 ml pot and sometimes it has great intensity of aroma, taste, and other times it's a shadow of what it was for no apparent reason. Imen of Tea Habitat has some nice brewing guidelines which are fairly precise. She has the thought that water temperature may have a significant effect, more than I have noticed with most other oolong. On the other hand, sometimes the essence of the dancong for me has been just grandpa style, just a pinch of leaves in 200 mls or so, and letting it sit

That's an awful lot of leaf in a 100ml pot. You certainly don't need that amount to brew Dancong. 5-6g should do it easily. If you're getting inconsistency, it is either in your techniques, or as I just posted in the Puerh section, the difference in your own body chemistry from day to day. There are also many different qualities of Dancong and commercial grades are often weak.

[bonescwa]

I've been using the tea from tea habitat, not very cheap. Maybe I haven't been putting 10 g but on the realm of 5 to 9ish, I don't think it's particularly strong because I use 30-45 seconds max, I find that if I use less leaf and brew that amount it is weak, and if I brew longer it gets pretty bitter

[kyarazen]

it does matter. imagine yourself cooking soup, 15-20% less salt than usual can be less satisfying than the usual amount.

the human taste and aromatic perception, despite being variable and occasionally finicky, is not linear in nature.

you can perform the experiment, today you did 6 grams and to some it may not cause any difference, then you can try brewing again by cutting off 1 gram, to 5 grams. perhaps to some it may not still cause any difference. how about another gram lesser the next day to 4 grams?

you can go up the scale too, to 8 grams, then 9 grams, then 10 grams. soon you will discover the two margins/extremes, weights at which you will easily define as "weak/underbrewed", and "too strong/overbrewed", and a critical weight in the middle that you like.

if you want to use lesser leaf, steep longer, if you want to use more leaf, steep for shorter durations. water temperature constant, pot constant.

[BW85]

I've been using the tea from tea habitat, not very cheap. Maybe I haven't been putting 10 g but on the realm of 5 to 9ish, I don't think it's particularly strong because I use 30-45 seconds max, I find that if I use less leaf and brew that amount it is weak, and if I brew longer it gets pretty bitter

What kind of water are you using?

[kyarazen]

I personally think dancongs are more finicky than any other teas I've had. I usually use 6 - 10ish g in a 100 ml pot and sometimes it has great intensity of aroma, taste, and other times it's a shadow of what it was for no apparent reason. Imen of Tea Habitat has some nice brewing guidelines which are fairly precise. She has the thought that water temperature may have a significant effect, more than I have noticed with most other oolong. On the other hand, sometimes the essence of the dancong for me has been just grandpa style, just a pinch of leaves in 200 mls or so, and letting it sit

thats a nice amount of leaves. i usually do about 0.9 to 1g per every10ml for dancong/yancha.

if its not finicky, then its no "gongfu" in gongfu cha

[bonescwa]

I've been using the tea from tea habitat, not very cheap. Maybe I haven't been putting 10 g but on the realm of 5 to 9ish, I don't think it's particularly strong because I use 30-45 seconds max, I find that if I use less leaf and brew that amount it is weak, and if I brew longer it gets pretty bitter

What kind of water are you using?

mostly spring water like deer park or my local spring plus a bit of hard well water with high mineral content. Works well for most anything, I can see high mineral levels being a problem with highly aromatic teas like dancong though. I think I have a happy medium overall as far as water goes

[Tead Off]

I've been using the tea from tea habitat, not very cheap. Maybe I haven't been putting 10 g but on the realm of 5 to 9ish, I don't think it's particularly strong because I use 30-45 seconds max, I find that if I use less leaf and brew that amount it is weak, and if I brew longer it gets pretty bitter

It's hard to compare how I taste tea with someone else's palette. But, if you are using that much leaf and brewing that long, either the tea is not very good or you are capable of drinking some very, very, strong tea.

With a good Dancong, I use very short brews, 5-10 seconds for the first 5-6 brews! And, I use no more than 5-6g of leaf in 90-100ml. This is with near boiling water. I can't imagine brewing 30-45 seconds. It would be undrinkably bitter to me. That's why I say it's difficult to compare palettes.

[kyarazen]

chaozhou saying - 初喝嫌其苦 ，惯后嫌其味不足

literal translation -
newbie first drink complain say bitter, when used to it will complain flavour not enough

[Tead Off]

In this case, I prefer being a newbie.

I took out a commercial grade Mi Lan Xiang Wudong Dancong and measured 5g. Put it into 108ml Chao Zhao pot of ordinary quality which is high fired.

Boiling water. First brew 10sec, pour out. Delicious. All the right notes.
2nd brew 10sec
3rd brew 10sec
4th brew- in and out. flash. See the photo in Hagi cup.

Notice the color of the 2nd brew and 4th brew. Deep and clear. Full flavor, tremendous mouth energy, huigan, and my whole body radiating. This is not even a high grade Dancong! If i brewed this 30-45 secs, it would be like medicine. No accounting for taste from one drinker to the next. Don't even want to think about it.

Mi Lan Xiang in Chao Zhou pot.jpg (33.9 KiB) Viewed 2399 times

2nd brew, 10 sec.jpg (27.46 KiB) Viewed 2399 times

4th brew, in and out.jpg (35.83 KiB) Viewed 2399 times

[Risdt]

Yancha or any other high fired oolong cannot be strong enough for me, but I noticed other people find it almost undrinkable. I like it when it's almost like an espresso
But as an Belgian, who loves fatty and creamy food and big beers, I need those strong flavours to actually taste something. If I would brew 3-4g/100ml, I'd rather drink water.

[Tead Off]

Sure, it's up to you to decide what you want. But, there are some caveats to what you say.

1. By drinking stronger teas and coffee, you are introducing irritants to the stomach. Over time, they have an injurious effect. I live in a country where strong chili is the norm. Many, many, people suffer from gastro problems. This is also the case in India.

2. You also alter your taste to demand stronger and stronger flavors. In other words, you build a sort of tolerance to the natural flavors of things. Whether this is actually physical or psychological, or both, I'm not sure. But it is definitely a fact.

Traditional medical systems always warn against this. Of course, those who are too macho simply wave away any good advice.

[bonescwa]

On second thought, it's probably the pot shape (pear shaped, high round and narrow). I tried the tea again in a gaiwan and it was good, I think this dancong needs more horizontal room to expand. oh and I don't brew at 45 from the beginning, I mean 45 max like after 9 or 10 rounds or so.