Fenghuang Dancong

[Herb_Master]

Some great thoughts here, I have been getting better delicate results, from infusions: 2,3,4,5,6

if I modify my pouring action for the rinse and the first infusion and don't pour it straight down the centre.

Will I see a difference in infusion 1 ?

And if a vulgar forceful pouring extracts too much roughness, may there even be more flavours left for infusions 2,3,4,.....

[gingkoseto]

Sal and ABx, thanks for the suggestions! It's fun to see video clip of people using gaiwan, especially using 3 pieces. I didn't see many people grabbing the saucer along when using gaiwan. That definitely helps the fingers. But I tried it with cold water, with one hand, and did't feel safe without having my other hand right under the gaiwan for protection. Even using both hands holding the 2 pieces, I don't feel safe I guess, the more traditional style gaiwan, with deeper saucer, may be less smooth and more stable than the eggshell kind gaiwan. But then it will be much bigger and heavier to hold.

Currently what I can achieve with gaiwan, is using a 80ml gaiwan and give it water to only about 60ml level, so the rim won't be too hot. But that doesn't seem to be a proper use of gaiwan either Besides, in winter time, gaiwan gets cold very fast between infusions. Yixing doesn't get cold that fast, and I can pure hot water on pot between infusions to keep it warm. But what to do with gaiwan? It would be nice to have a chaozhou stove right next to the tea table but that's too good to be true for now

[Salsero]

I remember having the same issues when I started using gaiwans, but now it just seems quite easy and natural. Practice will make you a pro, Gingko.

BTW, I prefer holding top-to-bottom including the saucer. I usually use my other hand to lift the set and get my pouring fingers underneath.

[ABx]

Some great thoughts here, I have been getting better delicate results, from infusions: 2,3,4,5,6

if I modify my pouring action for the rinse and the first infusion and don't pour it straight down the centre.

Will I see a difference in infusion 1 ?

And if a vulgar forceful pouring extracts too much roughness, may there even be more flavours left for infusions 2,3,4,.....

Give it a try and let us know

[silverneedles]

with dancong i use 60C/140F (measured in cup) (i am actually drinking a Fenghuang DC from Houde at 40C and came out oh so nice) >190F comes out too much tannin for me.
after filtering i wait for the liquor to cool down as i enjoy it more that way.
depends on the "quality" of the leaf as well, "cheap"/crappy DC doesn't have much flavor/aroma and alot of tannin/astringent flavor.

[evilberg]

I didn't like to use gaiwan for oolong. But will try and practice By the way, do some of you use hold all three parts of the gaiwan when pouring out tea? With one hand or two hands? I want to practice using gaiwan but don't really want to improve heat tolerance of my fingers :-p

When I pour teas that require higher temperatures I usually grip the gaiwan with my thumb on the lid and my other fingers under the saucer, also I turn it sideway (ie I twist my wrist) so the hot steam from the gaiwan does not land in my palm.

My fingers are kind of used to high temperaturs from my job, but the steam on the palm when holding the gaiwan 'traditionally' sting like a ....

[Gu-Ao-Rui]

Some good advice here. I switched over from my glass gaiwan to my porcelain gaiwan (its thinner) with some success, and brewed at about 205-207ish. I think the temperature was the biggest problem here..

What temperature were you using before?

Make sure to read the linked blog post - Imen is probably the top Dancong person in the US, if not the west. I use 208 because that's what my Zoji keeps it at, but otherwise I would use boiling. I don't think that the 4 degrees make that large of a difference, however. Iman does recommend using cooler water in later steeps.

I tried between 175 and 190 before.

[gingkoseto]

I remember having the same issues when I started using gaiwans, but now it just seems quite easy and natural. Practice will make you a pro, Gingko.

BTW, I prefer holding top-to-bottom including the saucer. I usually use my other hand to lift the set and get my pouring fingers underneath.

evilberg
PostPosted: Dec 27th 08 3:22 pm Post subject:
When I pour teas that require higher temperatures I usually grip the gaiwan with my thumb on the lid and my other fingers under the saucer, also I turn it sideway (ie I twist my wrist) so the hot steam from the gaiwan does not land in my palm.

My fingers are kind of used to high temperaturs from my job, but the steam on the palm when holding the gaiwan 'traditionally' sting like a ....

Ok, I tried again and found a problem is if I hold 3 pieces all together with one hand, it's impossible to keep my palm away from the hot rim of the gaiwan. Maybe that's why I saw most people hold the gaiwan without the saucer - fingers are generally tougher to burn than palm

About pouring hot water on the tea leaves with least disturbance on the leaves, I tried some green tea technique on my darker roast dong ding (so this may not exactly the same for dan cong). I let the gaiwan lid sit slightly slant, with a split between lid and bowl, then pour water on lid rim, so the water get in through the split in a gentle way. I feel that makes the tea smoother with less smoky flavor. This is the only time I've brewed the tea in a gaiwan, so am not sure if it's because of the gaiwan or because of pouring water gently. But I guess that's one way to let the tea leaves soaked in hot water without being hit by hot water.

[ABx]

I tried between 175 and 190 before.

Ah, yes. Dancong definitely needs lots of heat in the beginning.

[Herb_Master]

You guys have set me a challenge here, I suspect I am even clumsier than any of you

But I have to have a go at this, I bought some Gaiwans for Green Tea or something, but since I have become hooked on Oolongs they are just gathering dust.

My temerity was partly because of my clumsiness I was fearing how to pour out the tea without spilling it everywhere lest it sits on the leaves and oversteeps

Now my temerity is increased by all these tales of scorched fingers and blistered palms

Any way sometime soon I will dip my toe in the water, or do I mean Gaiwan

[Herb_Master]

Imen did a nice write-up on brewing dancong. I will add that I was still having problems and so when I ordered from her recently (I should get it tomorrow) I asked about a brewing vessel. She said to use something as thin as possible, and that she uses an eggshell gaiwan - which surprised me quite a bit. I just tried the eggshell gaiwan a bit ago (still working on it) and it did indeed produce much better results!

Phew! I don't have to stop using all my thicker walled pots currently used for Dan Congs. Note that Imen's instructions you reference are probably for younger Dan Congs.

Here she recommends thicker vessels for Aged dan Congs.
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/12/cute-pot.html

This pot brews VERY good pu-erh (green or cooked) and anything old (Dan Cong/Liu Bao). However less good for young Dan Cong because the thickness of wall conceal too much heat for too long.

[ABx]

Phew! I don't have to stop using all my thicker walled pots currently used for Dan Congs. Note that Imen's instructions you reference are probably for younger Dan Congs.

Here she recommends thicker vessels for Aged dan Congs.
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/12/cute-pot.html

This pot brews VERY good pu-erh (green or cooked) and anything old (Dan Cong/Liu Bao). However less good for young Dan Cong because the thickness of wall conceal too much heat for too long.

Are you drinking exclusively 20+ year old dancong?

The aged dancong from Hou De seems to do better in a thinner gaiwan. I would hope that everyone here is trying everything to find what works best. See, the thing is that everyone here could agree 100% that x, y, and z produce the best results - but what actually works for you may be the complete opposite.

Once again, go by taste and not by research. With your unique environment, something else may work best for you. For some things, my thick porcelain cebei does much better than anything else, including yixing with similar heat retention or glazed yixing, for example.

Personally, what matters to me is the resulting tea and not what teaware I did or didn't have to use to get it.

You might re-read the first instructions because she covers young, slightly aged, and old dancong. Old dancong might do better with thicker walls.

[Gu-Ao-Rui]

That's the thing. Still new to Dancong here so experimenting whenever I get the chance.