Tasting Da Hong Pao

[Herb_Master]

I don't know how much more I would like to do this boiling tea thing. But for boiling tea or water, I have been thinking about this equipment. It looks nice and convenient, and there are brick clay versions, which is cheaper but actually may be even better than faux yixing. Such a set costs only about $15 in China. But I can't imagine how much it takes to internationally transport this 6lb. thing, shipping costs, potential damages...

I wonder if a Chao Zhou Clay Stove with matching clay teapot would work ?

[gingkoseto]

Might we find you repeating the procedure with other tea manufacturers ?

I wonder if a Chao Zhou Clay Stove with matching clay teapot would work ?

There are so many of them. There is no end

That (faux) yixing stove is basically the same thing as the chao zhou stove, except that it's not made of red clay.

[Herb_Master]

I have bought some more of the DHP and bought a spare packet to mail to AbX (Not sure when I will get round to posting it).

The shop is owned/run by 2 people
? Ming (male)
May ? (female)

both were members of a tea drinking fraternity (over a dozen members plus friends) that got deeper and deeper into their love of tea. Eventually Ming and May decided to drop their jobs and open a tea business. In addition to selling tea specifically bought for their new business they sold off the vast surplus stocks of the other members whom had over enthusiastically purchased more than a lifetimes supply in their eagerness.

Ming is the tea purchaser, tea brewer and tea drinker par excellence and May brings operational, business skills to the partnership.

They have a loyal following of customers and several times a week half a dozen or so will drop by the shop and there will be a tea party - of which I was a highly involved participant on about 6 occasions. Teas consumed during the extended tea parties were sometimes provided by the visitors - including pu-erhs that all had been familiar with in the past, but which this particular visitor had been storing for a decade or two and wanted to demonstrate what it now tasted like.

Often they would produce bottles of wine to show, apparently many of the tea group have now discovered that the nuances of wine are similar to those of tea and are beginning to explore wine. On discovering that I have been drinking wine for 50 years and have 500 books on wine the latter tea parties consisted of them answering one of my questions on tea, then asking me a question about wine.

They were also keen to see what I had been buying at other tea shops prior to visiting them. I showed them a packaged collection of the 4 famous wuyi yan cha that I bought at Purple Cane and asked why Ming only stocked 2 of the 4.

Ming replied that he always sampled the teas extensively before buying them and he personally rated the DHP, Shui Jin Gui and Shui Xian as exceptional value for the quality / price but did not rate their TLH and BJG as worthy of him to sell.

I opened this post on the shop PC and they were delighted to see the reference to them, I showed the reply of Ginko with the superior quality DHP and Ming shrugged saying in his opinion like the TLH and BJG it was not one he would be happy to sell / did not think his customers would buy it.

I mentioned the enthusiasm on this topic for the authentic Yan Cha version of DHP contrary to the numerous offerings that could be found which were of dubious origins and said that that forum members were always on the look out for authentic, high quality Yan Cha. His eyes sparkled and a whimsical smile spread as he told me this was NOT a high quality DHP - all GOOD DHP is both very expensive and immediately snapped up by the Hong Kong tea drinking community that has a voracious apptetite for Wuyi Yan Cha and exceedingly deep pockets to fuel their appetites. No - not a terribly good DHP but in Mings opinion one that performs above it's station in keeping with the reputation of the factory - a reputation which he feels is not deserved in some of their other teas.

Again looking at the packaging of some of my other Chinatown Wuyi purchases he delighted in telling me that his tea comes in it's Original factory packaging not the branded packaging of Purple Cane and Evergreen.

[Oni]

I saw on teacuppa 4 original chinese packaging DHP one was really expencieve worth checking out, on is Tribute DHP, that is a famous tea company, that also has Long Jing on teaspring, and 3 fancy packs of exquisite, premium and yuxing grade, http://www.teacuppa.com/Tribute-Da-Hong ... ng-Tea.asp
It cost 450$ for the whole set, so it must be special.

[Herb_Master]

I saw on teacuppa 4 original chinese packaging DHP one was really expencieve worth checking out, on is Tribute DHP, that is a famous tea company, that also has Long Jing on teaspring, and 3 fancy packs of exquisite, premium and yuxing grade, http://www.teacuppa.com/Tribute-Da-Hong ... ng-Tea.asp
It cost 450$ for the whole set, so it must be special.

well this one was not too expensive
http://www.purplecane.com.my/purplecane ... 001-0.html
Just 165 Ringit for 4 times 30gm - $45

[Tead Off]

I saw on teacuppa 4 original chinese packaging DHP one was really expencieve worth checking out, on is Tribute DHP, that is a famous tea company, that also has Long Jing on teaspring, and 3 fancy packs of exquisite, premium and yuxing grade, http://www.teacuppa.com/Tribute-Da-Hong ... ng-Tea.asp
It cost 450$ for the whole set, so it must be special.

well this one was not too expensive
http://www.purplecane.com.my/purplecane ... 001-0.html
Just 165 Ringit for 4 times 30gm - $45

.

Herb Master,

Great discussion you've started. Lately, I've been drinking the DHP from Jing Tea Shop, bought online. $11.70 for 100g. They also claim it's organic! At this price point, it's as good or better than other DHP I've had at 5 times the price. In fact, it has made me appreciate the tea in a deep way. I never use a gaiwan with it, only red clay teapot and I can't seem to ruin it in any way. It's an intriguing brew with a finish that lasts forever. Can't think of another tea at this price better than this one.

[Herb_Master]

Just tried the Teance Big Red Robe again

and really enjoyed it!

I have been brewing a lot in various gong fu pots between 140 and 160 ml
mainly Anxi and Guangdong - and I have been getting mildly irritated by the speed with which I finish each brew.

Maybe I need to develop a more comfortably relaxing Tea Corner - acquire some meditation skills and sit back between brews!

Anyhow I decided to satisfy my thirst this evening by breaking in one of my 400ml Yixings

I actually decided about 2 days ago - I have been seasoning it and preparing for tonight

14.2 Gms of Teance Big Red Robe - water from my Kamjove a little lower temp than usual - water from Volvic bottles that have been lying around since I read a water article that said Volvic was not good for Chinese tea

First Infusion 20 seconds after quick wash
Then 30
Then 55
Then 125

All were great - much better than I remember

Why ?
Just my mood maybe, maybe the tea (in a ziplock) has mellowed since I first opened it, maybe the Volvic IS good for this tea, maybe the slightly lower temp!!!
Maybe the large pot and quantities helped?

Anyway tomorrow I shall try said pot and water and method with the Wisdom Arts Da Hong Pao and see what happens.

[Herb_Master]

I tried my Wisdom Arts Da Hong Pao tonight in the same teapot as last night



And it was good - so comforting and easy to drink just like the Teance Red Robe.

I was hoping to find it better than the Teance, and I believe I did but it may have been wishful thinking - the Teance now tastes so much better than my first encounters. Just as well I have another packet.

The Wisdom Arts [Play Ball?] seems to have a nice mineral edge that the Teance lacks - but the new pot, volvic water and slightly lower temp seem to make them both so easy going and thirst quenching, I may try tomorrow with a higher temperature and see if it exercises my mind a little more.

[ABx]

maybe the Volvic IS good for this tea

I've actually heard from a couple of experienced tea-heads that prefer Volvic water above others for DHP

As for that particular pot, it's probably a combination of things. One thing you might really want to try, though, is getting a small gaiwan and filling it most of the way with dry leaf. 60ml gaiwans are ideal for this, for obvious reasons You can also just use the smallest that you have and just cover the leaf with water instead of filling the whole way.

[Herb_Master]

I tried a new DHP tonight one that I purchased from Golden Teahouse

http://www.goldenteahouse.com/Da-Hong-Pao.htm

I had visited the site whilst searching out Tea Canisters and the canister came at5 a substantial discount if ordered with certain teas. I had to log in several times before the canister I wanted appeared with a tea that I wanted. That offer does not appear to be running these days.

The teas that arrived - I also ordered Bai Sui Xiang - plus several small samples (such as little red robe) that they sent all appear to be sourced from the same production company

An Jing

http://www.anjingteas.com/

In the past week I have been concentrating on DHP, playing with tea, pot sizes and brewing. It has been educational.

2 great nights of enjoyment followed by a disastrous evening when both the Teance and Play Ball DHP were shocking - bitter and musty - both of them
and I could not detect anything I was doing differently to cause this.

However that was followed by my experiments in high packing a small new Yixing from Wisdom Arts and shorter infusions - which has been highly illuminating.

Very different profiles on the different infusions and some great new flavours I had not experienced before - I have now finished off the Teance DHP - hence opening a new one tonight.

Despite the new taste encounters I could not find a mental handle to describe them

until tonight - I found several descriptors coming to mind

So just when I felt I was coming to the end of a 10 day session on Wuyi and DHP and ready to break out some Dan Cong or TKY - I have renewed vigour and interest to last me several days.

I felt good enough tonight about this session to start jotting down a few notes

THEN on my 4th or 5th infusion I noticed the temperature dial on my Kamjove was lower than it should be nearer 85 than 95 ?? Shock horror - why was I enjoying the tea so much - I readjusted the dial for the last few infusions and got a more robust brew - but the steep times by now were shooting up.

I need another session tomorrow - under stricter control!

I also need to understand the temperature drop between lifting the kettle and pouring into a warmed teapot / mug with thermometer.
Because though I thought my kamjove was pretty accurate when regarding temp on dial and temp in pot with thermometer when I initially tested it last year - tonight it was registering a lot lower when I tested it!

[Herb_Master]

I had been testing a few DHPs in side by side brews using different pots of the same size and was quite happy with the infusions and differences I was detecting - but began to wonder if the teapot shape, clay type, firing etc may have been at least partially responsible for the differences.

If you do side by side tasting do you have duplicates of the same teapot ?

I can fear a barrage of advice from Gaiwan enthusiasts giving me some advice that I don't want to hear at this point - I appreciate the logic but love using Teapots

How many Teachatters purposefully buy identical teapots ?

The above content, I had thought of posting but decided against - until tonight

I was breaking in a new DHP with a new to use Teapot

Pear shaped ZhuNi clay Yixing teapot - from Necessiteas



The teapot was prewarmed (and the lid too) the tea was measured in - the Kamjove was about to deliver

I had to move quickly I was using ahigh density packing and only wanted a flash infusion, picked up the lid to place and pour - ouch - VERY HOT LID - lid on floor - broken

A thought ocurred

If I bought another, or two more - I could do side by side testing of two or 3 teas using 2/3 pots and 1/2 lids might suffice!!

Would that be a sensible purchase!?

[MarshalN]

Possibly -- although the exact dimensions of your pot might differ ever so slightly from whatever other ones from the same batch -- rendering it having a poor fit.

[Tead Off]

HM, so much tasting depends a lot on the chemistry of your body. Our ph varies throughout the day.

I think experimentation is great but the equipment we use must suit the experiment. Gaiwan is good for those who can't spend much money on a good clay pot or a very quick, easy session, but will never give the equal of a high quality clay teapot. It's apples and oranges. Porcelain cannot change the water in a positive way.

If clay teapots are used to experiment, the quality must be assured that they are 100% natural clay with no additives. If you choose red clay teapots, shape will come into play. DHP nees a wider pot because of the long leaves. If you have 3 red pots that you want to test with the same tea, brew the tea in a glass or gaiwan, then pour into porcelain faircup. Fill up each tea pot with the brewed tea and pour into porcelain cups for the taste test. You should be able to see which pots are best. You can even use purple clay pots vs red pots vs gaiwan. The key is to make sure that your pots are high quality. Most of us have been taken to the cleaners by sellers selling inferior equipment. Please post your findings as usual. I enjoy your enthusiasm!

[TIM]

Xi Qiu, ok I will check it out cos I will be at MLD this week. However, over hundreds of vendor sell Wuyi from various sections, so don't get your hopes up

There seem to be too many vendors but information we get is too small, Puerh and Yixing is encyclopedia comparing to Wuyi. It's important cos quality and price differ a lot depending on what area of rock, what factory it is from.

So in hopes of gathering further info, some basic 101.

Grading Wuyi first needs to understand 3 categories. Zheng Yan Cha, Ban Yan Cha and Zhou Cha.

First, Zheng Yan Cha. The finest grade, grown on rock-surrounding area, 70km2 around the center of Wuyi Shan. Best of all is called Ming Yan Cha. Environment of this area belongs to tropical climate, 700m above sea level, averate temp 18C, rains over 200mm, average humidity 80%.

Areas of Zheng Yan Cha : 天心岩, 慧苑坑, 牛欄坑, 大坑口, 流香澗, 悟源澗

Second, Ban Yan Cha. Also called Dan Yan Cha. Grown on lower altitude than Zheng Yan Cha as larger farms mostly of soil than rock.

Areas of Ban Yan Cha : 靑獅岩, 碧石岩, 馬頭岩, 獅子口, 九曲溪

Third, Zhou Cha, farm tea. Even larger area 200m above sea level. North-west Zhou Cha is famous.

Areas of Zhou Cha : 崇溪, 九曲溪, 黃柏溪


I am sure more data and opinion are needed, and also heard Chinese goverment will be forwarding of grading (like Taiwan?), kinda doubtful without thinking about bribery or Guanxi

Here are the complete list of Cliffs and summits:


and The name of the famous bush and location:


But someone who read/write Chinese have to be graceful enough to translate them.....

[Herb_Master]

and The name of the famous bush and location:


But someone who read/write Chinese have to be graceful enough to translate them.....

I was hoping someone would have responded now with at least a few translations.



I have been going down a path not too contrary to this recently. Trying to build up a list of top or favourite Wuyi varietals. Somehow I arrived at a target of 24 -which seems a neat number in view of your posting. I can find access to 20 on the web or elsewhere and seeing as the famous 4 would go at the top and I would likely find at least a few more decided to aim for 24 divided into groups of 4.

My list is basically in English, I will try and match to Characters, but without precise scrutiny many of the characters seem similar to me.