Fenghuang Dancong

[Gu-Ao-Rui]

I'm having a bit of a hard time getting much of a taste out of this tea. How do you usually brew this kind and at what temperatures?

[Salsero]

With Dan Cong, think aroma and mouth feel. Forget taste.

[ABx]

Indeed, dancong is more about aroma, though it's the kind of aroma that you can taste.

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!

I plan on trying a glass gaiwan next (without preheating, so it will give it a short period of very high heat, and then quickly bleed off the heat), and Tenuki mentioned that's how he brews dancong (presumably with good results). So you can take that for what it's worth Just make sure you're using something as thin as possible.

[Herb_Master]

Strange, Dan Cong is the one Oolong I have never had trouble with either at regulation temperature or (as seems the preferred norm on this site) near boiling.

I use about 1 gm for every 25ml of the Yixing Pot, do an an instantaneous rinse, and start with an infusion of about 20 seconds increasing subsequent infusions by more or less time as indicated by the strength of the previous one.

Indeed if the rinse water is strong my first infusion would be 15 seconds, and if weak my first infusion would be 25 - 30 seconds.

[xuancheng]

Strange, Dan Cong is the one Oolong I have never had trouble with either at regulation temperature or (as seems the preferred norm on this site) near boiling.

What is regulation temp for Dancong?

[ABx]

Strange, Dan Cong is the one Oolong I have never had trouble with either at regulation temperature or (as seems the preferred norm on this site) near boiling.

I should have mentioned that I was using water at 208. I did preheat the eggshell gaiwan, but will not do so with the glass. Preheating glass will have the opposite effect - it's a poor conductor of heat, so it doesn't release heat at all at first, but then it releases it all at once. So if I pour boiling water in a glass gaiwan that's not preheated, then it will maximize the temperature for a short time before bleeding it all off. Dancong does need as much heat as possible, but only for a short time.

I should also have mentioned that the one I brewed last night was one that I never really had much problem with before. There was one particular dancong that I've had problems with, and I was starting to suspect that my others were not reaching their potential - there's a... difficult to describe roundness to any quality tea that's brewed right that I just wasn't getting. Dancong didn't seem very exciting, because it seemed a bit one-dimensional. Having refined my palate a bit I was getting a bit more than I did when I first started really getting into tea (and subsequently giving up on dancong because I didn't think it was complex enough), but having made it in the eggshell gaiwan last night rather surprised me with the difference it made.

[Herb_Master]

Having refined my palate a bit I was getting a bit more than I did when I first started really getting into tea (and subsequently giving up on dancong because I didn't think it was complex enough),

Another viewpoint that you may want to experiment with is to try brewing it the way the locals supposedly do.

I believe the modern day Oolong drinkers spread around the world tend to drink it the way that we may have been taught to drink Oolongs from Min Bei, Min Nan and Taiwan.

Quite a few on line cultural sites about Guangdong suggest the local preference is fo a strong, heavy brew that at first is totally offputting to visitors from other parts of China.

I have not saved references to those but to quote from 'All the Tea in China' by Yan Kit Chow and Ione Kramer in their section on [Fenghuang Tan-chung] 'Fenghuang dan Cong or Select'

The people of nearby Shantou (Swatow) are known for their particular way with the leaves for Gongfu Tea (tea brewed with a great skill) They make it strong ............ Particular attention is made to cleanliness and the purity of the water. The first infusion is 1 minute, the second of 3 minutes is the best for savouring the mellow taste sip by sip, the 3rd infusion of 5 minutes is by now considered by many to be too weak.

[Herb_Master]

Strange, Dan Cong is the one Oolong I have never had trouble with either at regulation temperature or (as seems the preferred norm on this site) near boiling.

What is regulation temp for Dancong?

I used the phrase "regulation temp" as a catch all for the various advice given generally, and on Oolong in general.

In malay tea houses I was informed that as it approaches boiling point (this is their method of determining temperature and accounts for their preference for electronic glass kettles") - the tea first exhibits 'prawn's' eyes, then 'fish eyes' and finally as it boils 'dragon's eyes. It was stressed that prawn's eyes was not hot enough and dragon's eyes was too hot - it had to be fish eyes.

I have noticed that since I came online and started exploring the terminology for these changes from region to region and vendor to vendor.

Bird's eyes, Crab eyes, Snake eyes and several other kinds of eyes (plus other terms such as String of Pearls and Turbulent waters -see below) but more worringly the position in the sequence of 3 depends on the size, and frequency of the rising bubbles choose 3 different sized eyes and the smallest comes first, so worryingly some people call the smallest bubbles 'fish eyes' and some people call the largest bubbles 'fish eyes'

Nearly all the books on tea that I have refer to temperature ranges give or take a little bit off each end of the range as 85-95c

Frequently when buying tea online the vendor will describe the brewing preference and this again falls in the same range.

I am not going to try and search them all out but here are 2 specific quotes

1. The Story of Tea by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J Heiss

White Tea, Japanese Green Tea, and many new Spring Green Teas
71-77c

Standard Green Tea
77-82c

Oolong
82-93c , fish eyes.

Black Tea
88-93c , string of pearls.

Pu-erh
93-100c, turbulent waters

2. Instructions for using the Kamjove Temperature Adjustable Induction Cooker
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Temperature-Adjus ... dZViewItem

Microcomputer control system.
Temperature adjustable cooking system accompanied by indicator and beep.

65ºC-75ºC For hot milk,

75ºC-85ºC For green tea,

85ºC-95ºC For oolong tea,

95ºC-1055ºC fast working mode.

Green light - standby / red light - heating

Whether DanCong should come at the lower end of the range or at the higher end of the range I have never seen specified.

[Herb_Master]

Indeed, dancong is more about aroma, though it's the kind of aroma that you can taste.

Another source that suggests how the locals like it is Kam's Chinese TeaNet

http://chinese-tea.net/htm/1011.htm

General information: Lone bush is a subclass (Oolong > Lone Bush) of tea that has good price-performance. It's very popular amongst Chao Zhou people (the super tea loving group who invented Kung Fu Cha) because 1) tea flavor is thick and strong, 2) good price for everyday heavy drinking (just Kam's own interpretation ). There are quite a few teas under this subclass (a result of long rooted tea culture of Chao Zhou people).

[ABx]

Indeed, dancong is more about aroma, though it's the kind of aroma that you can taste.

Another source that suggests how the locals like it is Kam's Chinese TeaNet

http://chinese-tea.net/htm/1011.htm

General information: Lone bush is a subclass (Oolong > Lone Bush) of tea that has good price-performance. It's very popular amongst Chao Zhou people (the super tea loving group who invented Kung Fu Cha) because 1) tea flavor is thick and strong, 2) good price for everyday heavy drinking (just Kam's own interpretation ). There are quite a few teas under this subclass (a result of long rooted tea culture of Chao Zhou people).

Yes, most of what we taste is actually aroma. With most dancong, however, the balance tips more toward aroam, even in the hui gan. Recent studies, in fact, found that aftertaste is created by sulfuric compounds with no aroma (or taste), until bacteria in our throat consumes these compounds, releasing the aromatic volatiles.

There's a lot of advice about brewing wulong at slightly cooler temps, but just about any quality wulong can take boiling water, and even benefits from it. This has been my experience as well as most quality vendors and experienced drinkers that I've talked to (see Imen's Dancong brewing instructions above, if you haven't already). Keeping everything at maximum temps is also a big part of Chaozhou gongfu (Big enough, in fact, that there are health warnings about it causing cancer because of the constant burning of the throat and ulcers, neither of which ever get to heal.) Just another one of those things where theory can conflict with practice, though you can also find plenty of sources to back up using boiling water.

[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..

Still experimenting with DC here. thanks for the help.

[gingkoseto]

I remember reading some yan cha brewing method (I guess, somewhat similar to can cong brewing), which uses different explanations but somewhat confirms ABx and Imen's brewing method from another aspect (especially about using gaiwan and the timing). The article mentioned using a porcelain gaiwan, and when pouring water, let water pour out on the upper portion of the gaiwan wall (closer to the rim rather than the bottom). When pouring, let the water column circulate around the upper wall of the gaiwan, so the hot water doesn't hit the tea leaves, but flow down to the tea leaves. That's for people who are after the fragrant aroma. Hitting the tea leaves with hot water will give out the rough kind of fragrance, which is loved by some other people. And after adding water, put on the lid and get tea water out within few seconds. So the tea never stay in hot water under lid for long time, so the tea doesn't get a chance to release much roughness.

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

Also it's interesting that porcelain and chao zhou clay pot are actually very different textures. Chao zhou clay was used traditionally, I guess, because dan cong was good tea but with some rough features, and the clay texture helps absorb away the rough part of the flavor. Now porcelain is more used, I guess, because dan cong is made in more elegant way, there are more dan congs with good flavor and less roughness, and therefore it would even be a loss if the clay texture absorbs some flavor.

[Salsero]

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.

You will find both styles used among members of TeaChat. Here are some references.

Videos of the two different gaiwan pouring styles
Side to side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee-oPM537jQ&NR=1
Top to bottom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ1Ze48DAaE

Additional references
Imperial Tea Court (chicken way): http://www.imperialtea.com/classroom/Ga ... ssroom.asp
Tea Nerd: http://www.teanerd.com/2007/03/beginner ... iwans.html
Kam at FunAlliance: http://chineseteas101.com/brewingmethod.htm

[ABx]

I remember reading some yan cha brewing method (I guess, somewhat similar to can cong brewing), which uses different explanations but somewhat confirms ABx and Imen's brewing method from another aspect (especially about using gaiwan and the timing). The article mentioned using a porcelain gaiwan, and when pouring water, let water pour out on the upper portion of the gaiwan wall (closer to the rim rather than the bottom). When pouring, let the water column circulate around the upper wall of the gaiwan, so the hot water doesn't hit the tea leaves, but flow down to the tea leaves. That's for people who are after the fragrant aroma. Hitting the tea leaves with hot water will give out the rough kind of fragrance, which is loved by some other people. And after adding water, put on the lid and get tea water out within few seconds. So the tea never stay in hot water under lid for long time, so the tea doesn't get a chance to release much roughness.

I've been finding this as well. The only problem is that when I've poured the water in around the rim, it makes the leaves roll around in the water quite a bit once you get to the top, and that doesn't seem to do it any favors; it seems to be better to disturb the leaves as little as possible.

But you're right - pouring directly on the leaves does seem to bring out a roughness of sorts. It's a little hard to describe adequately, other than to say that pouring more gently does make it more elegantly smooth. I think that it actually has to do with the bitterness that dancong is known for; it's easier to avoid even the light bitterness when you don't pour directly on the leaf.

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

I generally don't like the eggshell gaiwan for wulong either - in fact I was just wondering what I was ever going to do with these gaiwans. Normally I do use a yixing gaiwan, however; most wulong benefits from maximizing temperatures, although I have found some teas for which the yixing gaiwan (which does not hold heat as well as a yixing teapot) works best. Particularly with teas that are a little too highly fired. For others, however, it simply does not hold enough heat to bring out a tea's potential.

Use whatever is most comfortable for you - that is what will produce the best tea If you try to use another way just because someone thinks it's the "right" way, then your movements will not be as efficient or smooth, and the tea will suffer for it. Personally I hold it with the saucer as well, and I find it easiest to grab and control that way unless the individual gaiwan isn't suited for that, but others find the other way easier. Ultimately there is no "right" way.

Also it's interesting that porcelain and chao zhou clay pot are actually very different textures. Chao zhou clay was used traditionally, I guess, because dan cong was good tea but with some rough features, and the clay texture helps absorb away the rough part of the flavor. Now porcelain is more used, I guess, because dan cong is made in more elegant way, there are more dan congs with good flavor and less roughness, and therefore it would even be a loss if the clay texture absorbs some flavor.

I still need to get a good Chaozhou pot to try with Dancong. I do have a small yixing pot with relatively thin walls that does fairly well, though I don't really have a suitable Chaozhou pot yet. I got one but it's 6oz, which is larger than what I generally like to use (especially for the better, more expensive Dancong.

[ABx]

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.