Dan Congs considered bitter?

[Rainy]

Are Dan Congs always a little bitter? I tried maybe 5-6 of them and
they've always had bitter aftertaste for me. It tastes a bit like if
you add a few drops of alcohol to a glass of water. At the same time,
I am very sensitive to bitter taste, I can't stand dark chocolate,
endives, kirby cucumber skin, dark coffee (unless very well light-
roasted and really fresh and I'm in the mood for it). I don't like
bitter teas such as Assam or Ceylon unless it's got milk in it. All
because of bitterness.

Is that something that's true for all dan congs, or for most of them,
or maybe there's some trick to brewing them without bitterness? I love
the aroma of dan congs, and I like the peach/apricot taste.. but the
aftertaste turns me away every time. Today I tried to finally sit down
and experiment with gong-fu and dan cong and no matter what I tried,
the bitterness is still there.

[Space Cowboy]

DC is a high mountain tea. Cut back on the brewing times to reduce
the harshness. At altitude the leaf is anemic fighting for every
nutrient it can get and the soil is notably acidic. It is in the same
category as Rock teas where your your tongue feels like it was scraped
raw. Its a learned taste like a roasted TGY. There are teas I dont
drink on a regular basis but on some days nothing taste better.

Jim

[Lewis Perin]

Rainy <andre...@gmail.com> writes:

> Are Dan Congs always a little bitter? I tried maybe 5-6 of them and
> they've always had bitter aftertaste for me. It tastes a bit like if
> you add a few drops of alcohol to a glass of water. At the same time,
> I am very sensitive to bitter taste, I can't stand dark chocolate,
> endives, kirby cucumber skin, dark coffee (unless very well light-
> roasted and really fresh and I'm in the mood for it). I don't like
> bitter teas such as Assam or Ceylon unless it's got milk in it. All
> because of bitterness.

I'm afraid that bitterness is always an issue with Dancongs. Every
one I've ever tried will get bitter if pushed too hard. I have a
fairly high tolerance for bitterness, so it isn't prohibitive for me,
but you may be different on that score. As Jim said, the way to
minimize bitterness with these teas is to do very short infusions. I
actually pour off the liquor *as soon as* the brewing vessel is full
of hot water for the first few steeps.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

[TokyoB]

I also find all DCs to be somewhat bitter. I do like bitter
vegetables, bitter dark chocolate, etc. though so I do like DCs.
However I find that if you brew some of them even a bit too long they
can be extremely bitter. So, like the other recommendations, I would
try relatively short brewing times. I do find that short times give a
nice, not weak, tea and thus also provide for many steepings.

[Rainy]

Thanks to all who answered, by the way, I always pour first
infusion right out when I gong-fu. With Dan Congs, if i make
them with less leaf, they're almost not bitter but too weak.
It seems like DCs are just not for me. Too bad because
I do like peachy aroma.

[Kevo]

High altitude teas are not necessarily bitter, a DC by its variety is
high on the astringency leaning towards bitterness - most of the DC
and its variants I encountered in Hongkong in the past were dark
roasted to take off its astringency, but its bitterness lingers.

One way to counter this problem is to lower the temperature of the
water. For an easy approach, sufficiently cover the leaves with room
temperature water first, then fill up with hot water that has been
cooled slightly. Always take short brewing time for DC, unless you
want to do it the Chaozhou style, with full impact of astringency and
bitterness which might leave you light headed...

The other method requires some skills...easier if you use a gaiwan.
Bring the kettle spout as close as possible to the edge of the gaiwan,
and pour on the edge of the gaiwan. The leaves should float up gently
with the water filling the vessel. If the leaves start to swirl, you
would have failed. As much as possible do not disturb the leaves while
the water flow into the vessel. With this method you can let the tea
sit in there for a longer period and brew up a DC that is thick in
flavour without much of the astringency and bitterness.

Play with the DC, you'll get it at a perfect brew one day.

Kelmo