Funalliance Dancongs

[Herb_Master]

How are the Dancongs from Dragon teahouse?
Lately I ordered teas from them, and I like their Supreme Huang Shan Mao Feng, it is super high quality leaf.

I like them, quite a lot, but they may not be in the same league as Imen's from tea habitat. I had several last October, November and December and my brewing style was not quite the same as it is now.

I was advised to try gaiwan's, which I did (enjoyably).
I was advised to try less leaf, which I did (less successfully, the fragrance was good, but the reulting brew was lacking for my preferences)

I eventually settled for my favourite Dan Cong go to as 140ml Yixing pots which I got from Zen8Tea.

As I say, I like DTH Dan Congs, but have been swamped with my enthusiasm for Imen's since my first order arrived at Xmas. 3 Tea Habitat orders later, it is about time I switched back to DTH for they are considerably cheaper.

I find I can control the bitterness in Imen's, but the bitterness that was showing in some of the DTH DCs was quite enjoyable in that it ennervated my lips and tongue tip in a pleasant tingling way.

I know one or 2 people have enjoyed DTH DC, including fellow chatter 'Thanks'. But my favourite DTH DC was not liked at all by 'Thanks'.

Horses for courses I suppose!

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0

[Herb_Master]

Not me! I go with 7gm to 140ml medium walled yixing

5 sec, 7sec 10 sec for Aroma and Fragrance

Then 25 and increase by 20(+- 10) secs, 40(+- 20) 80(+-40) secs etc for next 4 infusions for Body and deeper Flavours.

I suppose my approach is due to the fact that any length of time infusing brings out bitterness, too short an infusion with a more regular amount of leaf makes the tea less flavourful and textural than is my preference. So I increase the leaf level within the bounds of my brewing method and decrease the steep time.

I do not do a rinse, some of the best fragrance and floral character comes in the first few infusions, if you do a rinse you are wasting something you have paid for.
What I do do is fill the pot to overflowing and brush the bubbles aside with the lid, on the first 3 to 5 infusions.


I tried 10gm in a 140ml and found some of the leaves would be floating amongst the bubbles and interfering with my brush aside technique. I think the brews are even better, but found was losing bits of leaf, or being too clumsy to successfully complete the operation in the number of seconds allowed. With 10gm my first infusion is down to 3 seconds.

Note that my infusions are timed for pots with a 12 to 16 second pour, and start after the 3 or so seconds pouring from the kettle, replacing kettle, adjusting yixing lid and turning my watch to start counting. (sometimes I just count in my head)

[Oni]

Thank you for the information Herb_Master, I was hoping for teahabitats Dancongs to be better than any other, because of the price, but for starters I would experiment on the cheaper stuff for now, and I too prefer shorter infusions lots of leaf, strong aromatics and taste and no bitterness, I like to maximize these.

[Herb_Master]

Thank you for the information Herb_Master, I was hoping for teahabitats Dancongs to be better than any other, because of the price, but for starters I would experiment on the cheaper stuff for now, and I too prefer shorter infusions lots of leaf, strong aromatics and taste and no bitterness, I like to maximize these.

Just as long as starting on cheaper offerings does not leave you disaffected with the genre as a whole.

I tried DTH Da Wu Ye alongside TH TeaHabitat's Winter Snow 2008 Da Wu Ye.

Both 8 gm in near identical 140 ml Yixings. There was a huge difference.

My 5 second first infusion from TH was full and flavoursome, the DTH was weak and not a lot there. I had forgotten that I used to do a rinse before I bought from Imen. I think the cheaper Dan Cong's need a wake up call, but Imen's don't.

The TH stayed wonderfully sweet and fragrant through 10 infusions. And could have gone on. I did not need to 'nose' the fragrance it was immediate inside the mouth.

Whilst the fragrance was evident if nosed immediately after pouring, The DTH needed 'sploshing' round the roof of my mouth to release fragrance internally, and the flavours were gentler and more subdued. I gave up after 5 infusions.

The one plus that I personally get from the DTH is a mouthfeel on the lips and tongue tip of a lightly viscous ennervating tingling sensation. 6/10

The extra bonus I get from the TH (in addition to an all round superior performance) is that brews 4,5,6 I could actually discriminate a light Gingery Flavour element to the fragrance/taste - which is useful because Imen recommends grouping it with other Ginger Flower DCs such as Por Tou. 9/10

One thing to remember when considering price is that you can generally expect twice as many infusions from TH DCs. Some have boasted of even more - 30 plus - but 20 would be stretching way too far for any that I have tried.

[sriracha]

a mouthfeel on the lips and tongue tip of a lightly viscous ennervating tingling sensation

I've often wondered about this tingling, sort of numb feeling. Mostly when drinking TGY or certain greens.

Only on my tongue, though.

[Tead Off]

I even tried brewing in a gaiwan and Herb Master's suggestion of 1gr for 2 minutes or whatever he said. Nothing.

Not me! I go with 7gm to 140ml medium walled yixing

5 sec, 7sec 10 sec for Aroma and Fragrance

Then 25 and increase by 20(+- 10) secs, 40(+- 20) 80(+-40) secs etc for next 4 infusions for Body and deeper Flavours.

The first 3 infusions are reasonably standard for me now, but the next 4 or more highly variable hence bracketed figures - I up the next intended steep if the previous infusion is weakish, lower it if the previous is starting to bring out bitterness.


I have never had DanCong from Kam, most of mine are TeaHabitat, several from DragonTeaHouse and a few others of no particular note.

I have had some good results with a Gaiwan, but my first love is with the Yixing pots.

HM, I came back to the Snow Flake this evening. 8g in a 240ml zhuni. Those jumbo leaves filled half the pot. Didn't fill the pot with water, maybe 160ml. 10/10/10/15/20. Both fruity flavor and aroma were present. The battle after 10 sec brews is with the astringency. The tea tends to have a drying effect in the mouth and will become bitter for me with anything past 20 secs for the first 7 or so brews.

I'm not very good comparing flavor to actual flowers or fruits. There is an elusive and familiar flavor that this tea has that I can't quite put my finger on. One poster said peaches. Sort of, but, I was also reminded of juicy fruit chewing gum at times. It is quite a floral, high toned tea. Pleasant enough, but, not captivating. Maybe a bit light for me. Trying to deepen it only increased the dryness in my mouth. But the short brewing times seems to be the way to go with this tea and I will continue to 'play' with it as it is a bit of a challenge to get it 'right'. Thanks for suggestions.

[Herb_Master]

Tead Off, Oni, Sriracha et all

I hope you have read Imen's contributions on brewing Dan Cong
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -cong.html

Note that other tricks to add to high leaf and short infusions are

1st Infusion only with high temperature water, lower the temp for the next 3 infusions and lower again for the longer steeps will help to stop the bitterness creeping in.

When you have mastered your preferred ratios and temperatures, pay attention to your water. Imen suggests that a slightly higher ph brings out the best results with Dan Cong.

When you have mastered your water source you have to heat the water in a Chao Zhou stove fired with Olive Pit Charcoal.

[drumhum]

just my penny worth but I find every dang cong needs a bit of perseverance. Its like it wont let me have a nice brew till I've had at least two or three sessions with it. I've written off quite a few DG's as bad only to be surprised after thinking "oh go on on more try". Its what I like about Dang Cong cha. It can also be frustrating. Its always worth another go though.

I'm a fan of Teaspring at the moment and enjoying their Song Zong Dan Cong. Worth every penny IMO.

[Tead Off]

HM, I have read Imen's instructions. Yes, I am lowering the temp after initial infusion. No, I will not be using a zhao zhou kettle with olive pit charcoal. It's already 32C here in Bangkok. I don't need more heat in my apartment!

Drumhum, what you say seems to be the case. It's a work in progress.

[Oni]

I sampled all the Dancongs teaspring had to offer, but they are cheap and considering teaspring`s prices, those teas must be low end DC`s, I had the same feeling after brewing as Tea Off had, it made my mouth dry, and the astringecy was a bit bothering, I too used very short infusions around 10 seconds for the first 4 brews, the tea lasted long, the brews were strong and floral but that mouth drying instead off filling my mouth with fragrance and to detect fragrances with each breath that was missing.

[Tead Off]

To wrestle with a tea, goes against my better judgement. I have always found good teas to offer themselves readily without elaborate strategies for brewing. This is not to say adjustments in brewing after some sessions is not necessary to bring out the best in a tea.

Regarding the Funalliance Dancongs. There is no best in these teas. This is not high grade tea, IMO. For myself, the reward does not equal the effort. None of these give me what I want in a tea. My best analogy is substituting chewing gum for the taste of good, ripe, fruit. Some people love chewing gum. I'll take a fresh longan or lychee any day. Hey, they are even in season here right now!! 2 thumbs down for these Dancongs. No matter what pot you use.

[Pouvla]

Regarding the Funalliance Dancongs. There is no best in these teas. This is not high grade tea, IMO.

Cant wait till I try some other dancongs then, as the FunA's winter dancong is one of my favourite teas at the moment, its a light tea wif a floral/peachy aroma. Very nice for the summer evenings for my tastes.

About the bitterness, I dont use alot of leaves brewing it in my yixing, I fill the bottom of the pot wif leaves and brew it for very short time (count to 5 and pour)

[teaisme]

My 3 samples arrived from fun alliance 2 days ago and I have been trying them out.
Finally got around to trying the snow flake. Sample also had tgy 09 and dragonwell 09.
I honestly did not expect much from these teas being that the prices are so low.
All 3 samplers came in their own individual commercial packaging.

TGY: not the prettiest to look at out of bag or when inspecting leaves after brew, but when brewed I have to give it much credit. It is really not half bad taste and aroma wise. Would brew some more if I had more. Maybe mine got a little crushed . of course its machine picked not hand picked

Dragonwell: hard to judge it...tastes and smells very good , looks good too, but there are a lot of little hairs/somethings that float to top of cup. I dont like drinking stuff that refuses to settle at the bottom of the cup. I ended up overflowing my cup and blowing that stuff off. It also didn't seem to quench thirst very well, maybe even leaving my throat a little hoarse after. Are those hairs supposed to be there in such number?

Snow flake: after reading others reviews I did not get the astringency,bitterness, or lack of taste that other people have been talking about. This tea is subtle in taste ( it is still a good taste though, nice and light but still distinctly there). It has a very pleasant aroma and as I sip this 3rd infusion I am satisfied and content with it. I am assuming what i am drinking is last years tea. When I opened the bag there was basically no aroma. I would imagine this tea fresh could be one of my regulars or semi regulars. My sample looked nothing like Kams pictures. In real life the tea looks much more visually appealing. Everything is not nearly as red and there are many more shades of green. This is my favourite out of these 3 samples.

[Oni]

Kam`s TGY is very good, it is better than Teasprings Jade TGY, and it is the same as nonprail grade from Dragon teahouse, and it is handpicked, only the stems are removed that is caracteristic for TGY, and the leaves are intact, it is also better than Rich Barbarians TGY, so do not look at the price, that is a good tea, the rest I amd about to find out, but currently I have a lot of teas, I really do not have any canisters to store more.

[Herb_Master]

.... .... .... .... .... .... .... ,
it is also better than Rich Barbarians TGY, so do not look at the price, that is a good tea, the rest I amd about to find out, but currently I have a lot of teas, I really do not have any canisters to store more.

It is a shame, I was hoping you would get round to WanLing TeaHouse one day,

I had several offerings from Rich Barbarian and none of the Autumn ones, were as uplifting for me as the Summer Supreme Plus with it's rich glycerol element.

I have had several WanLing TKY's 3 last Autumn, and 4 this Spring, and I feel they all have more green notes, and mineral notes to offer than the Rich Barbarian teas.

P.S. You don't need another canister, the tins of individual foil packets fit easily into the fridge!