Musings on Dancong…

[Brent D]

I should try some more Dancong, anyone have recommendations for a good vendor (I'm in the US)?

I believe that TeaHabitat is widely considered as a great source for Dancong http://www.teahabitat.com/store/

After I learned about all the Dancong doping that goes on, this is the only place I buy the stuff

[Bok]

After I learned about all the Dancong doping that goes on, this is the only place I buy the stuff

Yes, that is what the vendor was also lamenting.

[octopus]

lol i know that shop, is the guangdong guy who smokes the pipe, he's got tiny teaware haha. I would go there more often if it wasn't for the smoking he was nice.

What did you think of his teas? Haven’t had a lot of Dancong, but I found his teas pretty decent so far and at reasonable prices. Big plus for not trying anything sketchy either. Most of the other shops around there look not very trustworthy.

to be honest i have been there once in my life around 2 years ago, bought something called spring something fragrance and rice fragrance )(forgot) never went back. seemed ok? I don't really like most dancong in general nor drink them often so I can't really make judgements. He seemed friendly and i remember he had all these tiny teaware. although might be one of the best shops i tried in that market (which doesnt say much since i havent tried many and i kind of find tea markets a bit depressing so dont really go often). went back a few weeks ago with my friends and proposed to go try some dancong there but the pipe smoke dissuaded us. We had white tea instead. if i try again i will let you know.

edit: saw your other message and those two teas i cant remember are the same you had chun lan xiang and rice one. must be those he makes new customers try first.

[Bok]

lol i know that shop, is the guangdong guy who smokes the pipe, he's got tiny teaware haha. I would go there more often if it wasn't for the smoking he was nice.

What did you think of his teas? Haven’t had a lot of Dancong, but I found his teas pretty decent so far and at reasonable prices. Big plus for not trying anything sketchy either. Most of the other shops around there look not very trustworthy.

to be honest i have been there once in my life around 2 years ago, bought something called spring something fragrance and rice fragrance )(forgot) never went back. seemed ok? I don't really like most dancong in general nor drink them often so I can't really make judgements. He seemed friendly and i remember he had all these tiny teaware. although might be one of the best shops i tried in that market (which doesnt say much since i havent tried many and i kind of find tea markets a bit depressing so dont really go often). went back a few weeks ago with my friends and proposed to go try some dancong there but the pipe smoke dissuaded us. We had white tea instead. if i try again i will let you know.

edit: saw your other message and those two teas i cant remember are the same you had chun lan xiang and rice one. must be those he makes new customers try first.

Yes that mall is depressing! I only went back because I was lucky with that shop the first time. Wasn’t even expecting to buy anything as the whole place seems little inspiring.

Did not have any better clues on where to go either, haha. Tea shops around where I stayed seemed a bit too nice to get a decently priced tea. And with my usual spending on tea in Taiwan a lot lower than China for what is mostly much better tea, I was only looking for a horizon expansion rather than anything else.

[octopus]

What did you think of his teas? Haven’t had a lot of Dancong, but I found his teas pretty decent so far and at reasonable prices. Big plus for not trying anything sketchy either. Most of the other shops around there look not very trustworthy.

to be honest i have been there once in my life around 2 years ago, bought something called spring something fragrance and rice fragrance )(forgot) never went back. seemed ok? I don't really like most dancong in general nor drink them often so I can't really make judgements. He seemed friendly and i remember he had all these tiny teaware. although might be one of the best shops i tried in that market (which doesnt say much since i havent tried many and i kind of find tea markets a bit depressing so dont really go often). went back a few weeks ago with my friends and proposed to go try some dancong there but the pipe smoke dissuaded us. We had white tea instead. if i try again i will let you know.

edit: saw your other message and those two teas i cant remember are the same you had chun lan xiang and rice one. must be those he makes new customers try first.

Yes that mall is depressing! I only went back because I was lucky with that shop the first time. Wasn’t even expecting to buy anything as the whole place seems little inspiring.

Did not have any better clues on where to go either, haha. Tea shops around where I stayed seemed a bit too nice to get a decently priced tea. And with my usual spending on tea in Taiwan a lot lower than China for what is mostly much better tea, I was only looking for a horizon expansion rather than anything else.

yeah is fun in a way but after a few times is a bit time investment and although there is ok tea for sure is pretty hard to find something a bit special. I guess all tea markets in china are the same on different scale even if shanghai ones are kind of small. dusty "Bingdao" "xihu longjing" "dahongpao" etc. also easy to end up arguing with shop owners if they are saying ridiculous stuff so these days if not at home or friends I mainly rather go to drink tea at my friends teahouse which has good environment, service and nice tea. if you return to Shanghai I quite recommend to try it.

edit: btw im sure there is nice stuff hidden in markets, just takes time to find it. can be even fun if time and is not a concern. recommended to experience at least once. there is also daning tea market in shanghai where i have been more often although is pretty much the same of tianshan just bigger.

[Bok]

yeah is fun in a way but after a few times is a bit time investment and although there is ok tea for sure is pretty hard to find something a bit special. I guess all tea markets in china are the same on different scale even if shanghai ones are kind of small. dusty "Bingdao" "xihu longjing" "dahongpao" etc. also easy to end up arguing with shop owners if they are saying ridiculous stuff so these days if not at home or friends I mainly rather go to drink tea at my friends teahouse which has good environment, service and nice tea. if you return to Shanghai I quite recommend to try it.

I am in Shanghai around three times a year at least, so I certainly appreciate any recommendations! Where is your friends teahouse?

[octopus]

yeah is fun in a way but after a few times is a bit time investment and although there is ok tea for sure is pretty hard to find something a bit special. I guess all tea markets in china are the same on different scale even if shanghai ones are kind of small. dusty "Bingdao" "xihu longjing" "dahongpao" etc. also easy to end up arguing with shop owners if they are saying ridiculous stuff so these days if not at home or friends I mainly rather go to drink tea at my friends teahouse which has good environment, service and nice tea. if you return to Shanghai I quite recommend to try it.

I am in Shanghai around three times a year at least, so I certainly appreciate any recommendations! Where is your friends teahouse?

on jianguo lu, called 归扑. you can find on 大众点评。 if anyone wants to go feel free to pm me and i can help you book. Haven't found a better place so far.

[Bok]

on jianguo lu, called 归扑. you can find on 大众点评。 if anyone wants to go feel free to pm me and i can help you book. Haven't found a better place so far.

cheers, will check it out next time!

[Andreas]

My second musing concerns the associated tea ware from Chaozhou. All tea I sampled was prepared in a small gaiwan for fairness of course, but I noticed a few pots on the table and we got into clay talk. He said, that with a CZ pot the tea becomes sweeter and more balanced. Which to prove a point he showed me, moving the leaves from the gaiwan to a pot. It really did change the flavour to the better!

Does anyone have experience with that? How do vintage/older CZ pots fare? So far, all the older CZ pots I have seen, seem to be wonky copies of Yixing styles, is there a distinct CZ pot shape? The shop had a set of Guava shape pots from two-cup to eight (8) cup sizes.

Hello there!!

Thats so nice, its been a while since i have had some nice Dancong, lately i am kind of drinking most of my oolongs left from the past year. Currently i am having aYa Shi Xiang oolong from two years ago which i forgot about it Also a Dancong from Baixiang.

As i had been scrolling down, i saw your post about the tea pots, and its something that interests me as i find different shapes and how highly fired as well as the thickness of the pot matters depending on which type of tea you drink. For example a nice sheng puerh will be good in a thicker wall tea pot as it keeps the temperature more , same goes with the cups. I thiner walled and more open lip cup will cause , faster cooling down and opening of the taste(sweeter) which is nice for oolong, therefore i find more flat cups and wide open hat like cups to be best for oolongs. As i have also seen between two of my tea pots, the differ from there clay and shape . The one is a zisha clay- shi piao teapot 120ml and a Jian shui-Dragon Egg 90ml. When i first tried it i could feel there was some kind of difference on the taste. I found it through some test i made with both tea pots , that the clay tends to make the tea more sharp or more rounded. I found out that a Zisha Clay pot will make the tea bit explosive(or kinda leak firework effect on the roundness of the taste) compare with the more rounded and polished taste from a Jian shui pot.

Iti s really interesting how each piece of tea ware can have its own signature on the tea you drink and what kind of tea you can brew in it.

Hope this helped a bit

[OCTO]

Recently had the opportunity to taste some competition grade DanCong and it was phenomenal! The entire harvest only yielded 9Kg. All you need is 3-5g to bring you to tea heaven! Hahahahahaha....

Here are some photos of the harvest... totally forgot to snap a picture when savoring the tea... too engrossed and absorbed into the tea.

Cheers!

[Bok]

Recently had the opportunity to taste some competition grade DanCong and it was phenomenal!

Jealous! Sounds delicious. So far my venture into Dancong have been promising, but very limited in extent. What is your pot of choice for Dancong? I had good results with flat-ish Taiwanese wood fired pots and 80ies Neiwailinhong Biandeng. My new Hokujo did still produce an excellent cup, but somehow I felt the other two were doing a slightly better job. Almost not noticeable though.

[OCTO]

Recently had the opportunity to taste some competition grade DanCong and it was phenomenal!

Jealous! Sounds delicious. So far my venture into Dancong have been promising, but very limited in extent. What is your pot of choice for Dancong? I had good results with flat-ish Taiwanese wood fired pots and 80ies Neiwailinhong Biandeng. My new Hokujo did still produce an excellent cup, but somehow I felt the other two were doing a slightly better job. Almost not noticeable though.

Don’t be jealous. I source direct from the farmer. We can always organize a group buy and I can always fill you in whenever we are buying the next batch of DanCong.

I brew my DanCong with several different teapots. For light roast DanCong, I use a fine ZhuNi pot... medium roast I always use my ChaoZhou pot. On the other hand, I subscribe to the school of tea & pot affinity. I have one 450cc ROC QingShuiNi pot that brews a perfect pot of DanCong. Sometimes LueNi (Green clay) and DuanNi (high fire) also works for light roast DanCong.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!!

[Bok]

Don’t be jealous. I source direct from the farmer. We can always organize a group buy and I can always fill you in whenever we are buying the next batch of DanCong.

I brew my DanCong with several different teapots. For light roast DanCong, I use a fine ZhuNi pot... medium roast I always use my ChaoZhou pot. On the other hand, I subscribe to the school of tea & pot affinity. I have one 450cc ROC QingShuiNi pot that brews a perfect pot of DanCong. Sometimes LueNi (Green clay) and DuanNi (high fire) also works for light roast DanCong.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!!

Yes please let me know if that opportunity arises!

Thanks for the pot info as well. Sometimes pots are weird and seemingly unlikely pairings work. A lesson in keeping an open mind and continue experimenting.

Still waiting for a nice Chaozhou pot opportunity. I find they often have weird shapes or just the same as all the other Yixings.

[OCTO]

Yes please let me know if that opportunity arises!

Thanks for the pot info as well. Sometimes pots are weird and seemingly unlikely pairings work. A lesson in keeping an open mind and continue experimenting.

Still waiting for a nice Chaozhou pot opportunity. I find they often have weird shapes or just the same as all the other Yixings.

This is my latest purchase.. 18 cups ChaoZhou shuiping pot. So far my experiences brewing DanCong with ChaoZhou pot has been good. Enhances a lot of nuisances that was not brought forward in other teapots.

Cheers!

[Bok]

This is my latest purchase.. 18 cups ChaoZhou shuiping pot. So far my experiences brewing DanCong with ChaoZhou pot has been good. Enhances a lot of nuisances that was not brought forward in other teapots.

Wow, that is some seriously large teapot!

I am interpreting it in the way that you use more Western-style brewing parameters for your Dancong?
Or do you still fill it up to reach gongfu-style levels?