Wednesday 5/06/09 Critical temperature?

[entropyembrace]

Drank cheap Dancong today. Not only quite sensitive to water temp, but requires slightly different temps for different infusions.

I am struggling with a cheap Milan DC today and not happy with the bran-like taste I am getting and a tad more astringency than I would like.

Are you using lots of leaf or minimal? I did almost a half gaiwan and flash infusions of near boiling water. Maybe I am treating it too much like a yan cha.

I find the plantation Milan Dancong to have a really unpleasant roughness to it brewed hot...it's nice cold brewed in the summer though.

I've been drinking 2007 si mao maocha today.

I think that water temp is important, but I don't stress about it...full boil for most teas, small bubbles for heat sensitive teas and cold brew when I want tea but don't want the heat.

[orguz]

Drank cheap Dancong today. Not only quite sensitive to water temp, but requires slightly different temps for different infusions.

I am struggling with a cheap Milan DC today and not happy with the bran-like taste I am getting and a tad more astringency than I would like.

Are you using lots of leaf or minimal? I did almost a half gaiwan and flash infusions of near boiling water. Maybe I am treating it too much like a yan cha.

I shopped online for D.C which tasted so-so, and recently got some store bought which was their regular stuff and it tasted great with a tinge of astringency and a peachy/yam/honey taste. The same parameters as yours were used, try less than a 1/3 full with a slightly longer steep next time, this is how the tea store brewed it and there was no astringency detected at all just sweetness almost honey like.

[Salsero]

Thanks guys for the DC suggestions. I have 100 grams of it, so I am motivated to find a good approach to brewing it.

[xuancheng]

Drank cheap Dancong today. Not only quite sensitive to water temp, but requires slightly different temps for different infusions.

I am struggling with a cheap Milan DC today and not happy with the bran-like taste I am getting and a tad more astringency than I would like.

Are you using lots of leaf or minimal? I did almost a half gaiwan and flash infusions of near boiling water. Maybe I am treating it too much like a yan cha.

Firstly, to let you know what I am working with, I paid about 15 dollars for a half pound. I think the guy may have been trying to get rid of it. Huangzhixiang Songzhong.

I use a very thin Qingshuini Yixing. It is 2 or 3 times thinner than any other pot I have ever seen. I heat the pot, and use less leaf than for Yancha (1/3 like orguz said), at least for cheap Dancong. I don't rinse. I usually never do flash infusions for any Oolong unless the leaf is really broken up. About 20 seconds, 30, 40 etc. I use boiling water at first, and then let the water cool through the next couple of infusions. Heating the kettle up again for the 4th, but not quite boiling. I try for a high pour for the first few infusions, and a really low pour after the fourth. Also, I never use a gongdaobei or pitcher for Dancong. I like to put it in three cups to practice my pouring and often put the top of the pot in the first cup, the middle in the second and the bottom in the third. I usually mix it up a bit, but if you make a few cups of different strength, you are almost guaranteed to get at least one good cup :p

I got any Dancong skillz I may possess (nothing to write home about) from Imen's tea obsession web log. I think using the thin vessel to cause a fast temperature drop does help.

[silvermage2000]

I consider the brewing temp pretty important.