I came into a crapload of this tea in Fall 2012, the week it was getting discontinued by Teavana. Despite my reservations about the company, I was more than happy to accept the free Wudong-shan Dancong which seemed to have nothing wrong with it other than being $12 an ounce. I brewed it a few times in a gaiwan last year, but mostly forgot about it until a friend gave me my first Yixing pot a few weeks ago. I decided to pair it with this tea, using the opportunity to hopefully move beyond my noob status concerning both Yixing and Dancongs.
This was my fourth session with this pairing. I covered the bottom of the 190 mL pot with leaves, then shoved in almost the same amount once again. (I wanted to avoid ending up with weak-tasting liquor like I had in my previous sessions—it’s a bit hard to gauge how much tea to use with the dry leaf being so long and flat.) After a rinse I went through 8 steeps, with the second being the most heavily-perfumed for some reason. All throughout there was an inviting toastiness, and a light body with no noticeable astringency. The floral notes came and went unpredictably, sometimes lingering in the fairness pitcher, at other times appearing in the first sip of a cup. But they were mostly weak or absent throughout this session.
Perhaps my pot is actually inappropriate for this tea, or maybe the clay is still taking more than it’s giving. Next time around, I’m not gonna hold back at all on the leaves, because even with the pot being about a 10th full of leaves, I didn’t get much of what I expected.
