Dancong Aria

2nd infusion w/ dinner. Left over Chinese- Lemon Chicken w/ white rice… my FAVE! My family are not Chinese food eaters so I only get it on my birthday.

Crazy day so far. Got new washer and dryer. Watched the husband install the thing without really looking at the manual. Had a gas leak. Hardware store trips. Fixed leak. Put stuff in the washer and during the spin cycle the washer sounded like an airplane taking off and smashing into the side of the house – which was the washer smashing around the closet trying to escape and kill everyone. Husband fixed that, which was him failing to do Step 1 and 2 of the instructions. Sigh. Now sitting down for tea. How about a perfumey oolong?

I’ve had this tea in my stash for awhile, I guess I didn’t drink much of it as it was kinda a pricey tea and I’m weird like that.

First off, steeping instructions said 5 mins, boiling. Yeah I’m not risking drinking another astringent tea so I went 190 for 4 mins.

Overall mild, but quite peachy perfumey, which lingers as an aftertaste as well. Starting to get astringent, but still good. Pretty good – I love my oolongs floral! I have a few more cups left, but not sure if I’d buy more, rather try some other dangcongs from other tea companies first.

I’m glad the description for this one says ‘perfumey’, because I definitely got that when sniffing this tea dry, and even now as it is brewed, and thought it was perhaps contaminated. I now doubt it :) Anyhow, thanks to Awkward Soul for this tea! I haven’t tried any dancongs aside from one or two from Verdant, and was interested to taste one that required less care and attention.

Even at 5 minutes, this tea is pretty mild. I can taste the “woodiness” that I get from darker oolongs (enjoyable), and also some perfumey, peachy notes that I wouldn’t have expected. Not bad, but not as flavourful as I would like, and I have doubts that it could hold up to a second infusion. There’s a lingering peachy aftertaste though that is quite appealing :) I’ll have to brew my next cup a bit stronger to see if it’s better that way.

Thanks again, Awkward Soul!

Wow. I love this tea more and more each time that I’m actually rationing it off. I am definitely going to buy this after I’ve decupboarded a couple of teas. :) Lychee sweetness! So great! I get about 5 steeps from this tea!

Still my favorite oolong? Yep.

Apparently boiling water into room temp tiny glass pot → 200°F starting temperature. This is a little hotter than the last time I had this tea, and the aroma is roastier than I recall. There’s still some fruit, fortunately. Likewise for the taste: a little toast, but still peachy, and a nice tropical fruit aftertaste (or maybe that’s orchid? I haven’t eaten an orchid before). Still, think I understeeped this a little – more leaf next time.

2nd steep at 195 and 4 minutes

In honor of today’s Steepster Select, I’m drinking a cup of Dancong Aria. I honestly didn’t know that I had any until I noticed the “in cupboard” icon lit up. Oh cool…tea that I don’t remember buying. A sure sign of owning way too much leaf! :)

Dancong Aria is…different. It has a natural sweetness but also slips into a dryness like a white wine. There is sharpness to the smell and taste that I do not care for. Maybe it’s the notes of orchid? It’s just…“ok” in my book. sips Man, that astringency is killer. Dancong Aria is not smooth. I’ll just put this back into my “to be swapped” drawer.

On a happier note, I love reading all of the interviews for Adagio’s Roots Campaign. I wish more companies would do this. The tea tastes a little better if you know the story and people behind it.

I think I finally found “MY” perfect amount and length to steep! Unfortunately I am almost out. I prob have one more attempt after today. Still woodsy, but sweeter than other attempts – which is fine by me. I can finally taste the semi-peachiness that was talked about by others but I must say this is the first time I have been able to taste this. I know it’s because I steeped for less time this time. I have a tendency to oversteep stuff often. :) Regardless – this is a nice cup

2/2/14 Groundhogs day! Gongfu brewing in my water chestnut clay teapot. 3.6g/150ml pot/195F Drinking tea with my husband. He wanted something lighter this morning, after lots of western brewed black tea at work. Lighter then I brewed this in my gaiwan – the clay pot is still very young. Floral and fruity.

Taking this down a bit – I really don’t taste any orchid and the peachiness is tougher to find this time, but the honey is definitely there.

I must be doing something wrong, or I’m having a bad tea week (but only with this tea?) because my sample tin is almost gone and I still have yet to produce a cup that has all that supposed honeyed peach ginger lychee goodness that other Steepsterites are raving about. I tried brewing in two different porcelain gaiwan, a glass gaiwan, two different yixing pots… using different water temps (from 190 to 200+), diff quantities, diff times… Gah. I even tried leaving the container open for a minute to let the leaves ‘acclimatize’. The best result I had was when cold brewing, but there was a rubbery taste I got like when I brew the Adagio peach oolong. Maybe my taste buds are off, maybe they’re wired wrongly and instead of “mmmm peach” they like to send me “ech, rubber”. Just for fun.

But, I will persevere! At the very least, I’ll have an empty tin to use to store other more cooperative teas.