How to Brew Dancong Oolong (Chaozhou Style Gongfu Brewing)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ย. 2020
- Do you want to like Dancong, but can't quite get it to taste right when you brew it? Well, we're here to help. These are the basic steps for Chaozhou style gongfu brewing, which is the ideal method, in our opinion.
First, you need to boil some water. We like to use as hot as possible water, or at least 95C. Once your water is boiled, you can warm up the teaware to get it up to temperature.
We'll then add some tea. A standard 1 gram of tea per 15ml of water should do the trick, although you're more than welcome to use more or less tea, if that works better for you.
The first round will be a rinse of the tea to open up the leaves. Pour the water in, and pour it out as fast as possible. Don't knock things over or burn yourself rushing, things, but also don't let the infusion sit for too long. We're just giving it a flash brew to help open up the leaves.
The first through 3rd infusion will be the same. Pour the water in quickly, and then pour it out. When we pour from the gaiwan (or teapot), however, we'll be pouring into 3 small cups in a circular motion, as opposed to a pitcher. This is part of what separates Chaozhou style gongfu brewing from "regular" gongfu brewing.
When you pour, try to keep it even from cup to cup from the start to the end of the pour. The tea will be weakest at the start, and strongest at the end of the pour, since the water has had more time to sit in the gaiwan. A good way to gauge the pour is if the colour of the soup in each cup is the same.
From the 4th infusion on, we can start adding a few seconds to the brewing time. About 5-10 seconds should be enough.
And that's it. Now all you have to do is enjoy your tea.
Ok, so we might have a tip or 2...
The first would be to make sure there is no excess water sitting in the gaiwan between brews. None. Zero. Nada. This will oversteep the leaves on the bottom and contribute to bitterness. Simply shake out those last drops after each pour.
The second is to use boiling or at least really damn hot water. This will draw the most flavour out. This is especially important for the later steeps as the tea starts to slow down.
Lastly, use good, or at least decent tea. It doesn't have to cost a fortune, but this is a type of tea where you tend to get what you pay for. Lower quality teas can be extremely cheap, but often are thin in flavour, bitter, or worse yet, flavoured.
And it doesn't even have to be Dancong from us, but if you're looking for quality Dancongs, then this would be the natural place to tell you to try ours. We've sampled hundreds of different ones over the years so that you don't have to waste your efforts to sort the gems from the garbage.
Try for yourself: www.bitterleafteas.com/produc...
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I've watched this video a couple of times now. So good! :)
Love the video, particularly this style. Love the balance of seriousness and playful humor.
Still enjoying all your teas. Thanks!!
We definitely have to have some fun with these things, but it's good to remember we're also a company... it's a fine line sometimes 😉
Glad you're digging the teas!
Adore this video :) Great production, narration, and aesthetic. Thank you!
Thank you so much 😊
Great videography and information. I’ll admit though the sarcastic tone the entire time was my favorite part. Very funny stuff!
Thank you! I think we're only capable of being serious for short amounts of time 😂
Really nice video! Calm and funny at the same time. Superb quality of the shots and nice editing with the focus on the essentials. Looking forward to new videos.
🙏 Well we don't want to waste people's time, but hopefully can still inspire them to make some tea 😉
This video is so great. Think I've watched it like 5 times in the last two days! Brewing Chaozhou Style right now.
I love your video production. Keep it up!
Thank you!
I think this is my favorite of your videos. Love the oldies music and the helpful advice.
Many thanks! 🙏
It’s beautiful and relaxing to watch
Thx
🙏
Ahh, so peaceful
🙏 Glad to add a little calm to the day
You guys make a Wonderful materials!! Love the vid as well as your store! I wish I could come to visit you one day!
Many thanks! Hopefully one day that can happen.
I love it, thank you! ❤
Our pleasure! 😊
Great vdo for arguably the best olong tea out there.
agreed!
Whoa! Just found your channel. Amazing video, surprised that you only have 1,12k subs so far. I think if you do these videos more consistently it would fly. I see so much potential!
Thank you! ❤ Consistency is certainly key, but as you can see from the last few months with no uploads it can be tough to adhere to, especially when we get preoccupied with holiday sales.
But videos are a fun passion for us, so we'll try to get back to it more in 2021 😁
Ha ha nice. I love it
Really good video, I had a love and hate relationship with dancong, either I loved the tea or hates it, I am getting it right, it is not as easy as with anxii or wuyi or gaoshan, these are forgiving, with dancong it is a joy when you get it right.
That sounds like a lot of people with DC! It's generally pretty unforgiving, so that little extra attention can go a long way.
Yummy dancongs
One of the best types, after puer of course ;)
this is up to teochew standards. chinese approved.
Thank you, we're honoured! Apparently not everyone agrees that this is authentic 😂
@@BitterleafTeas unlike us, they probably have drank tea with teochews.keep it up!
Too good! 🤣
🙏🙏🙏
Very nice difference. Any tips on a trip to Chaozhou? I'm in Guangzhou.
I don't really have any specific tips - there are so many tea and teaware shops (like a lot of other cities in China) that it can get overwhelming. It takes some time to find the hidden gems, so just be prepared to drink a lot of tea and don't feel bad if you don't buy something from a place, even if they're really nice.
Also, there's a lot of excellent food, so bring an empty stomach. The beef balls, Chaoshan beef hotpot and oyster fried eggs are always my favourite.
How is that charcoal stove for boiling water is called? Where can I find it?
I don't know if it has much more of a specific name in English than just a charcoal stove 😣 In China they're quite easy to buy, especially in Chaozhou area where they keep the water boiling a lot. We have sold some previously, but don't have any right now. We are looking for new sources though, so perhaps in the near future 😊
Nice cinematography. But where's the gong dao bei
Chaozhou style gongfu brewing doesn't use one. You just pour directly into (usually) 3 cups, which is the primary difference between "regular" gongfu brewing.
Can you use Chaozhou style for teas that aren’t Dancong?
You can. A lot of people brew Yancha the exact same way. There are no rules though, so you could also experiment with other teas.
Wait so boiling water is recommended for Dancong? I’ve been brewing at 185 this whole time
I'm sure plenty of people might disagree with it, but for Chaozhou style brewing the water is usually kept on a rolling boil. However, there's nothing wrong with using cooler water if that produces better results for you. 200f or higher would be my recommendation, but for some that might make it more bitter and unpleasant.
What size is the Gaiwan you are using?
this gaiwan is around 50-60ml, I believe
cat
😻
Is it the same as the Cantonese way?
I'm not sure what the Cantonese way is, but if you mean standard gongfu brewing, it's similar. The main difference it that regular gongfu brewing often uses a gongdaobei/pitcher and then the tea is poured for each person from that to ensure everyone has the same concentration. For Chaozhou style the person brewing needs to ensure an even pour across all cups. Too much from the early pour is weaker, while later in the pour will be stronger, so they need to distribute the tea evenly across all 3. The easiest way to ensure this is the case is by looking at the final tea's colour/shade to see if it's consistent for all 3 cups.
Is that black tea ?
The tea is Dancong oolong
Where'd you get the weighing scale at 1:04?
I believe that was from TaoBao - not sure where a similar one is sold for western market
We actually sell these scales now, without the batteries (2 x AAA) since we can't ship them.
This is definitely not how locals in Chaozhou do this, it's not entirely wrong but there's a lot of omissions. Why is using a clay teapot not even mentioned? Why not talk about yancha too which is also often brewed this way? If you're going to use a gaiwan, an already untraditional choice, why not use a pitcher too? And why not mention that you can drink the rinse if you want? There's no reason not to drink that, you're basically just throwing out tea. I'm not asking you to spell out everything but this seems like an underselling of the brewing style, and not particularly informative in general.
No, this is actually pretty much how locals do it in Chaozhou. We've made multiple trips and a majority of people we drink with and see brewing in shops use a gaiwan. Yes, some people use teapots, but most, at least from what we've seen and experienced, use a gaiwan. Sometimes when we say gaiwan or teapot, we really just mean "vessel". Maybe we shouldn't assume people will pick up on that.
But see it for yourself. You should go check out our posts on Instagram from April 2021 - there are a few posts that make up a series of candid street photos we collected from visits to CZ over the years of people drinking tea in their shops/homes/wherever. These are ordinary people and I think only one setup has a clay teapot, the rest are gaiwans: instagram.com/p/COBMfa-gq2i/
Yancha can also be brewed this way (although if you think our explanation isn't correct, then is it really?), but this is mostly a guide for people who have bought Dancong from us and want to know how to brew it. Feel free to apply it to Yancha too.
It's true, you can also drink the rinse, but it's not as common and it's usually a bit weaker. I've heard knowledgeable and respectable people say "it's the best infusion" as well though. It's not what we do, but to each their own. I think it's a matter of personal preference.
The intention of this video was to provide a relatively short and concise guide to get people brewing Dancong in a way that produces good results for them, not necessarily a definitive and exhaustive discourse on all things Dancong (and apparently Yancha should be mentioned?) and CZ brewing. Even though we seem to disagree on what's traditional or common in Chaozhou (we only visit ~1 time per year, so perhaps you have more experience and a deeper understanding), you still have good points. There is more to CZ brewing than what we covered, we just wanted to keep the video easy to digest.
@@BitterleafTeas Okay perhaps I was a little unfair. It doesn't hurt to be more informative though, maybe your philosophy on this is different but I think sacrificing pertinent information to make it easier to swallow just isn't a thing I associate with obscure chinese regional tea brewing styles. I see it as an opportunity to learn. I will say though that you did better than some other people. I've seen people really say that just using a teapot and not a fair cup is brewing chaozhou style. So like, you definitely beat them at this.
@@Dumpsterhuggies We could absolutely add a lot more information and history about this brewing style and the region, but that's a different video. I can't think of any pertinent information that's missing from this video in order to achieve the goal, which is: explaining ho to brew Dancong wulong Chaozhou gongfu style. All the steps and major variables are covered. More complexity doesn't achieve that better from this point on.
I also wouldn't say it's about making it easier to swallow, just sticking to the point and making it more direct. No filler. I can understand some people want more outside information than what's in this one and that's fine - there are dozens of other videos out there that offer all the peripheral information.
the english narration and jazz music detracts from the authenticity
i love america but this just doesnt fit
moreover if i want to buy tea then i am generally into chinese culture music history
and would definitely enjoy chinese teahouse music and calm chinese narration
I think it's simply a matter of preference, which everyone is entitled to. But that's interesting. I can see your angle and why that's appealing for some, but I guess it's not what appeals to us. We are also into Chinese culture, both in the context of tea and outside of it, but I don't think that tea has to be bound to it. Our (and many others') enjoyment of tea exists outside of the dominant culture it developed in. It would also be inauthentic and inconsistent with our own enjoyment, as we don't listen to classical Chinese music or have a very rigid approach when we enjoy it. A majority of other brewing videos are made in the way you mentioned, so why the need for more?
We don't shy away from embracing Chinese culture in tea entirely, we just don't confine ourselves to the idea that all elements of tea have to be Sinosized to be understood and appreciated. From a practical standpoint, I also don't know why we would give instruction in Chinese. Our audience is mainly English speaking, so they wouldn't understand anything...
Anyway, this is not to insult on your preference or say it's wrong. Any approach is right and any approach is good as long as you get something out of it, but this sparked some interesting thought.
what clay is best suited for brewing dancong?
We don't really have any hard set beliefs about what type of clay to use, but if you have lighter roasted Dancong, something more dense and less porous makes sense in order to retain the high fragrance (ie: Zhuni clay), whereas something more porous can help clean up teas that have had a darker roast or have been reroasted (ie: Duanni, Zini).