Back on the sample train — this time another sample (it does seem like they’re endless, aren’t they?) from Will. Sample D. I opened it and saw dancong leaves
So it must be dancong! Light fired, from what I can tell by the smell and look. And indeed it is
I think it’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of light fired oolongs in general, and dancongs in particular. I don’t find them interesting, and more often than not, they make me feel unwell. With that in mind, I brewed this tea fairly lightly, using only minimal amounts of leaves (pot maybe 1/5 to 1/4 full of dry leaves) and fairly quick infusions. The result is quite pleasant — it’s a nice tea, even though it’s not really my kind of thing. My fiance, however, really liked it, and said this tea “smells like a man”. It’s a mixture of “good natural clean scent and some sort of cologne”. No, I don’t wear cologne.
Obviously, such subtle aromas elided me. I only tasted a fruity medium (not quite low) roast dancong, processed fairly well so that the bitterness is not very evident, and has qi and tenacity. It lasted quite a few infusions, despite the fact that it’s a dancong — which generally don’t last as long. Perhaps this is one of Tea Habitat’s patrician level dancongs? Or one of Will’s many other hidden gems? Only he knows the answer.
This is certainly the best dancong sample among the ones that Will sent me, and gave me a good reason to use my severely underused dancong pot. I still remember once upon a time when I was drinking that sort of thing everyday. That no longer happens…
6 responses so far ↓
Anonymous // May 27, 2008 at 12:44 pm |
Yeah – another of Imen’s; a 2007 (so younger than the other one) Chuan Du Lao Ming Cong (I am not sure that’s the right first character, and between my lack of Chinese and Imen’s handwriting, I’m not sure about the thing as a whole, but I think something like 川都老明从). I had good luck brewing this one with a pretty good amount of leaf once or twice, and it was really, really good. Haven’t made it in a while – maybe this will remind me to break it out again.
lewperin // May 27, 2008 at 2:41 pm |
Actually I think it’s the next-to-last character that’s wrong: not 明 (brilliant) but 名 (name or fame.)
MarshalN // May 27, 2008 at 2:43 pm |
Yes, probably ming (fame in this case). Although, there’s a faint possibility that Ming 明 is of use here as a mark of age — that this tree is from the Ming dynasty, or some such, but without seeing the characters myself in its original form it’s hard to say for sure.
Anonymous // May 27, 2008 at 10:30 pm |
The “ming” character is definitely the right one (明 not 名), at least based on the label Imen wrote out. I’m familiar with 名, but even though the handwriting is a little hard for me to make out, it’s definitely not that.
lewperin // May 28, 2008 at 1:41 pm |
The 2 ming characters, having the same tone in Mandarin, would be easy to confuse in speech. Imen, if you’re reading this, could you please check with your supplier?
imenstudio // May 28, 2008 at 5:00 pm |
Will, I mislabeled your bag. It’s 名 meaning famous. Sorry for the confusion. 🙂
Imen