I am having problems getting this tea to be much other than astringent and little bitter. I’m playing with the parameters, but since I’ve only got a sample I won’t get much experimental room. I do get hints of floral and citrus.
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Are you rinsing your leaves? Traditional oolongs like these benefit greatly from a short infusion prior to the brews you will drink either poured off immediately or settled for a couple seconds and then dumped. Mellows out the astringency, liberates wet aroma you can take in prior to your kept infusions, further preheats the tea and pot, removes very small tea particles from the leaves, and opens up the leaves a bit to improve extraction balance.
DanCogs and YanChas really shine when you use a lot of leaf for a relatively small amount of water and a short steep time. Hard at first since brewing with a flat 3-5 minutes using 4g per 150-200ml produces something astringent and bitter, so it may seem counter-intuitive to increase the amount of leaf. But if you bring it up to 6-8g for the same amount of water, use steeps of 1 minute or less (15 seconds at high concentration), and keep water temperature below 90 degrees C, you will get these really lovely, milder infusions. First two may seem a little weak but by the third the character of the tea really starts coming out without the harshness.
Are you rinsing your leaves? Traditional oolongs like these benefit greatly from a short infusion prior to the brews you will drink either poured off immediately or settled for a couple seconds and then dumped. Mellows out the astringency, liberates wet aroma you can take in prior to your kept infusions, further preheats the tea and pot, removes very small tea particles from the leaves, and opens up the leaves a bit to improve extraction balance.
DanCogs and YanChas really shine when you use a lot of leaf for a relatively small amount of water and a short steep time. Hard at first since brewing with a flat 3-5 minutes using 4g per 150-200ml produces something astringent and bitter, so it may seem counter-intuitive to increase the amount of leaf. But if you bring it up to 6-8g for the same amount of water, use steeps of 1 minute or less (15 seconds at high concentration), and keep water temperature below 90 degrees C, you will get these really lovely, milder infusions. First two may seem a little weak but by the third the character of the tea really starts coming out without the harshness.