Some new (to me) oolongs

The best Dancong isn't exported...hell, it usually isn't even taken out of Chaozhou. There are many different variants of it ranging from a sorta fruity flavor with a vanilla-smooth finish to your rmore grassy-green edged astrigent flavor; also everything between. It's a very interesting tea that isn't worth your total dismissal, and if your only references are of some restaurant in HK, I think you've hardly scratched the surface.

But, I prefer teas from Fujian and other provinces, actually. Guangdong has nearly totally ruined it's tea producing capabilities in it's uber-industrialization in the past 10 years. The only places you can get tea now are in sorta the outskirts. The stuff nearby the mechanized center ain't even worth calling tea.

snipped-for-privacy@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com5/13/06

Not to mention that Silk Road Teas carries a number of them, varying in style and quality. Some have precisely the fruity flavor with vanuilla smooth finish that Mydnight speaks of.

How about higher in the mountains? It's always a shame to hear about self-destructive industrialization and development, no matter where.'

Michael

OK, I'll try not to dismiss it outright. I'm drinking some right now, actually. It's certainly rich and smooth, and does taste a bit of vanilla/oak, and again the mouthfeel is great ... next time I'll go up a grade. I am still a Fujian patriot though.

It is, and that is certainly a huge problem in China. I don't know where Fenghuang Dancong is from exactly, but if it's from the mountains between Chaozhou and Fujian, that is certainly less polluted than many other areas of Guangdong. Tieguanyin is grown not far from the industrialized areas of Quanzhou and Xiamen, and its quality does not seem to be suffering, but it would be interesting to know what the pollution levels are like there and if there is any discernible impact on tea.

snipped-for-privacy@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com5/15/06

Actually your descrption of the Dan Congs you've been drinking ring just the right note. I'm always amazed at the variation among them.

Yes, I'd also like to know. Sad to hear about all the polution you mention. Ultimately it has to have some deleterious effect, me thinks.

Michael

In Guangdong, the mountainous areas are inhabited mostly by the Kejia (hakka) peoples, and they don't have much of a history with tea. They used to grow tea more widely, but in the past 10 or 15 years, they have grown more edibles and things that can be sold for higher prices at market. Most mountains in Guangdong aren't really so high, so the best they could produce is some decent grade green tea and some kind of gaoshan wulong that is nearly too bitter to drink. I have drank some of the teas produced in these areas like around Shaoguan, Qingyuan, etc, and while they weren't so bad, they would never go for much at the market. What they COULD market, though, is their water. They have some of the last remaining natural springs that haven't been polluted that makes the tea so sweet when you brew with it, you wouldn't believe it.

You can search my old thread about the spring water there. Space Cowboy kept telling me I was going to get some kind of bacteria and die or something....

heh.

Hey, I wish I knew this a while ago. When I lived in Hong Kong, most of my (non-geordie) friends were hakka. But they were fine with Heineken, not much use regarding tea.

Picked up some -- lovely scented -- fenghuang dancong in shanghai last summer, market behind north station, fairly cheap at 30 kuai 100g ... but had difficulty getting a good flavour from it -

I had to gong fu (or gong fu on a small bed of cold water to make it slightly less than boiling .. ) ... and I mean being stingy with leaves relative to normal gf practice ..

can you recommend another brewing practice to try, Mydnight, or others?

cheers,

The Immoral Mr Teas teaismud at yahoodotcom

Ya, they ain't much on tea. They do drink some pretty nice green tea that they grow up in the mountains. But, it is their culture to drink it very strong and bitter. Just like their wine. hah.

I usually take my Wulongs from Taiwan in a zisha pot and use wen xiang bei (sniffer glasses) in the Taiwanese style if my friends are around. With the Dancong, I would often brew it using a mid-sized gaiwan with boiling water and whatever flavor would come out pretty well. You have to put a little more leaf than usual because of the size and shape of the leaves. Water temp should be boiling; it's a wulong.

The Chaozhou people also prefer their tea very strong, btw.

It's not so easy to get good Dancong outside of Chaozhou.

In Hong Kong you can buy some nice varieties in the Best Tea House. They roast their own Songzhong Dancong, and is very good (but expensive). I typically buy my dancong from them. It's hard to get good ones.

I actually use somewhere between 1/4 to 1/3 leaves and fairly quick infusions in my yixing for dancong. Works pretty well. Too much leaves and you might get tea that's too bitter. It's a fine balance and it really depends on the amount of fire the tea has.

Thanks for the brewing tip. Very useful. I tried that this morning in a small porcelain teapot that I use for 'unfurled' oolongs and green tea, and it came out much more nuanced than before.

Glad it worked out. It is very easy to overbrew/underbrew this tea. It's a bit fussy that way. Keep drinking! :)

I'll try boiling again, for a very quick infusion .. . see how that goes. I wasn't using 'too much' leaf, in a small glass pot, but really there was a lot of taste coming out of the leaf anyway. Hmm, nonscientific mumbo-jumbo, just the way I like it.

TIMTetc

teaismud at yahoodotcom