Bitter Dong Ding

[bryan_drinks_tea]

So Recently I purchased some Taiwanese Dong Ding. The manufacturer is Tradition. I sampled it today gongfu style and noticed an extreme bitterness. The buttery, floral notes were there but the bitterness overwhelmed the tea. I gave the tea a 10 second rinse, following a minutes rest. I brewed the tea for 20 seconds, adding enough water so that the leaves were just below the surface.
Here are some pictures of the tea and it's canister. (please excuse the quality) Please inform me if I am making any serious mistakes. oh, the water was at 180 as well.

[Tead Off]

The photos are not great but it looks like a roasted type of Dong Ding. This will produce stronger flavor but bitter it shouldn't be. You don't mention how much leaf into how large a pot. I use about 1g per 30-40ml for gong fu and after a quick rinse, I would start with 20-30sec and adjust from there. I also use close to boiling water for the 1st infusion. So, I would either use less leaf than you are using or less infusion time. It shouldn't be bitter, though.

[Oni]

Use 5 grams for 120 ml teapot, a little less is good with DD, those leaves might be tightly rolled, you should always be careful that the leaves open up equally in the teapot so no leaves remain unopened, I do not rinse, use 30 sec first brew, 20 sec for second brew, increase with 10 seconds for later brewings until flavour is lost.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Here's the thing..it's actually a light roast, the photos are just awful. I added enough tea to make a solid layer on the bottom of the pot, so it wasn't that much, maybe 2-2.5 grams. the teapot is 120 ml. I'm going to try both of your suggestions for brewing and give an update.

[gingkoseto]

This product is a Taiwan supermarket brand and is not for serious tea drinkers, so probably it's not your fault at all. Some of the supermarket products are for people who never practice gong fu style. So probably it works better if you use less leaves and larger volume.

If nothing works eventually, you can still try cold brewing. Some Taiwan oolong that fails in regular brewing can works pretty well in cold brewing

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Gingko,

i was thinking that it might be a "fancy looking" supermarket brand. I got the tea in an oriental market, and it came in a set with jasmine pearl oolong, but I just bought the dong ding. It looked good out of the vacuum sealed bag and had an excellent scent. my most recent brewings of this stuff have turned out rather insipid, no matter what I did differently. I followed the advice of the guys ^up there to try and change things around. If the tea continues to taste awful then I might just give it away, bake it, or something. i'm not sure yet.

[woozl]

I've had this exact tea.
I ended up throwing out the tea.
But the tin is a keeper.

[Chip]

I've had this exact tea.
I ended up throwing out the tea.
But the tin is a keeper.

Throw the tea, send the canister to the Moderator!

Dong Ding is so extremely variable. Used to be that Dong Ding indicated it was grown on Dong Ding, now it simply designates a style in many cases. I have had the good, the bad, and the ugly.

[Oni]

Your Dong Ding is a Ding Dong.

[ABx]

Was it vacuum packed? I've noticed that anything vacuum packed will often take some time to acclimate after opening to lose the bitterness and really get the full body that you expect. If you only open the pack then it will probably take a few times of opening it (and thus exchanging air) to really "fill in," but you can get results faster by just taking out the leaf that you intend to brew and letting it breathe for a few hours before actually brewing. Exactly how long will vary between teas, but give the tea a few times before you judge it. I've had some that really took quite a while (months) to be any good, but it was well worth the wait.

[Chip]

Very interesting, ABx, I have somewhat noticed this with some sencha.

[Tead Off]

Was it vacuum packed? I've noticed that anything vacuum packed will often take some time to acclimate after opening to lose the bitterness and really get the full body that you expect. If you only open the pack then it will probably take a few times of opening it (and thus exchanging air) to really "fill in," but you can get results faster by just taking out the leaf that you intend to brew and letting it breathe for a few hours before actually brewing. Exactly how long will vary between teas, but give the tea a few times before you judge it. I've had some that really took quite a while (months) to be any good, but it was well worth the wait.

Very good point. I routinely take my tea out of its wrapper and put it into a tea caddy to breathe. It usually takes a couple of days for it to 'open' again.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

good points you guys. I will take my DD and let it breathe in the can for a little while. Given that I'm a little bit tight on cash, I didn't want to throw out that stuff unless there was no way that it was going to improve. I'll try that tonight.

thanks!

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Letting the dong ding sit for a little while has really knocked most of the bitterness out. unfortunately, its a real pain to brew exactly right. you live, you learn.

[tenuki]

my local ranch 99 used to carry that exact tea. I threw mine out after the first sample...