Correct way to brew sheng?

[dagestan1980]

What's the correct way to brew sheng using gaiwan, to minimize bitter stringent taste.

[entropyembrace]

Try reducing your infusion times.

Also larger pieces will make a milder brew...try separating the dust and tiny broken bits and avoid putting them into your gaiwan.

[wyardley]

I don't mean this in a snarky way, but if you don't like bitter or astringent tea, why are you intent on drinking young sheng pu'er? Bitter and / or astringent tastes are kind of a given with this kind of tea, and there are plenty of other teas which are more pleasant to drink young.

Brewing it more like green tea (cooler water, less leaf) will probably result in more drinkable results, and of course the quality of tea and the area it's from also plays a role. As compression and broken-up-ness vary a lot, this is one type of tea where it may be a good idea to use a scale some of the time, at least until you get a sense of a specific tea.

[debunix]

I don't mean this in a snarky way, but if you don't like bitter or astringent tea, why are you intent on drinking young sheng pu'er?
...
Brewing it more like green tea (cooler water, less leaf) will probably result in more drinkable results, and of course the quality of tea and the area it's from also plays a role. As compression and broken-up-ness vary a lot, this is one type of tea where it may be a good idea to use a scale some of the time, at least until you get a sense of a specific tea.

I don't like bitter, but I do like young shengs, because I enjoy the herbaceous/anise notes, the spicy and the sweet, and some smoky/umami as well. Some of that gets lost in the old shengs along with the bitter.

So I use less leaf--1 gram leaf for 50-60mL water; very short infusions like flash rinses; and sometimes start with a longer first rinse/infusion to let some of the most bitter out before I go to town with the short quick infusions. That enables me to enjoy some rather aggressive young shengs, which I enjoy more than the old shengs or ripe puerhs.