wow, it is amazing how many dedicated people work towards achieving that great liquor in your cups; from an 80+ year old chinese woman, to people like Don that search constantly for the worthiest tea to bring to the western market. Tea surely outpasses with ease any other drink there is, in terms of complexity, variety, culture etc.
These tea trip videos and the master class videos are my favorite. I can binge watch them all day. I always loved proper tea but after learning so much through your videos over the past year or two, I've come to love and appreciate tea so much more. Both the new tea tour and these old ones are so great for learning all the little bits that make each type what they are and really helped renew my love with tea. Thanks, Don! ❤️💕
I am just learning about this tea as it relates to my ancestral roots. To stand where you stand for one sec, Don... Thanks for taking us there; with a well produced video at that. It would be wonderful to view a follow up video focusing on the history, people, and cultural practices of this tea. It would be lovely to hear more spoken Teochew. Cheers, Brian.
I so want to do more of these trip videos with more extensive subject matter going into the history and culture. The issue is time but I will keep pushing to improve this content for you!
This video was the first video on the Mei Leaf channel that I watched. I have since gotten a better sense of this channel's voice and learned about your time constraints. Your commitment to excellence is without doubt.
Don, you are my mentor! For me you are the most trustworthy man in the entire Universe when you speak about tea. Because you go beyond traditional beliefs, you taste a lot, you make experiments, you talk about myths but also the science of tea and you are so an open-minded person. You are not that kind of person that learn things by studying by heart. When you say something you have proof of what you said and I think that in the world of tea, made of lots of legends and traditional beliefs (that they are cool of course, don't misunderstanding me please), knowing the scientific approach of tea is VERY interesting too. You are doing such a GOOD GOOD GOOD job! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO WRITE A BOOK?! (Sorry for my english, I'm Italian) Byeeeeeee
I just tried this tea (Mei Leaf mi lan xiang, April, 2019, vintage) for the first time. In fact, it is my first dan cong ever. Simply amazing. Wow, I have no words. I will definitely be drinking more of this tea and I suppose this begins my dan cong journey. Well, there goes my pocket book. :)
Dan Congs are truly magical. First time I tried Duck Shit I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I have an order of Dan Cong and Wuyi Yan Cha samples coming and I can’t wait to try them.
Fantastic video! Dan Congs are some of my favorite teas, especially Huang Zhi Xiang. The process that goes into creating them is really amazing to see.
Hi Don - thank you so much for this precious vid! I absolutely love how I much I have learned about Dancong! I had a little Phoenix Dancong (Rishi) from the local coffee shop (Verve in Northern Cal) and love it! Wish you are more local - will pay visit when I go to London next :)
Thanks so much for the video a lot of great information on Dan Cong, It gives me some new respect for the tea and tea farmers. It looks like y'all had a wonderful time. I want you to know I have learned a lot about tea and it has enhanced my tea experience and knowledge. Thanks for all you do. Cheers!
i look forward to these! i think they help people who are new to tea like me understand what to look for in tea better, and if possible maybe do a series on what to look for when choosing quality tea, it could be broken up into a section for each major type of tea if you feel it would be better for your audience. Although I personally love long form content.
Dayle Armstrong Yes we are doing the quality markers for different tea. We have done more informal ones like ua-cam.com/video/ymYWaowfcK8/v-deo.html but more are on their way!
Excellent video! These videos where you travel and explore the tea origins and process of production are so very interesting - more of those will be appreciated.
It was so fascinating and helpful to actually see the various step of the production. Gives a nice point of reference, when you discuss the different tea types in other videos.
Love your videos! I respect and love the fact that you source your tea directly. I feel like I'm able to ecperince through your videos what I would absolutely love to experience in person!
No problem Mr Frog and thanks for watching. All the Dancongs that we source are here: chinalifeweb.com/shop/category/oolong-tea/ if you are interested in tasting our selection.
I also love your videos, the sincere enthusiasm is really contagious! I have a question: In my very last week in China, a friend took me to his favorite tea seller, who introduced me to a dancong from Chaozhou. He said that Chaozhou was becoming increasingly recognized for the quality of their dancongs. I do, actually, love this tea more and more--to be truthful, I had originally bought it more from politeness. Now, I love the fruity taste, the mellow undertones and the lingering aftertaste which is refreshing. I haven't in the past actually appreciated very roasted oolongs etc because of the dry astringent taste they seem to have, but I think you are helping me appreciate. Anyway, I'm sure this one is not the best quality, because I do see a few stems in it occasionally. My question is, is dancong from Chaozhou really becoming increasingly respected? Again, thank you for your wonderful videos!
Great video, full of respect for your passion and dedication for tea Definitely gonna visit your shop in Camden to try out the tea. Please make more videos!
Greetings Don! Tea-head Dentist Dr. Randy here again...so I have a 2016 Spring 'Single Bush Ya Shi Xiang Dan Song'...It is quite similar you your own Duck Shit in appearance, but also much different in nose and flavor, what with your additional roasting. Are you familiar with this particular cultivar, and while I find it delicious, do you have an opinion? Also, I have some of your Ya Shi, it is capable of 9 infusions...I'm the only 'head' in the house and want to get all I can form each brewing. While I know the best way to keep leaves for later (thanks to another of your fabulous vids), I wonder for how long...you mention 12 hours...can they be dried completely and stored in a container and still be good? I've tried it but still not sure what's best on time limit. Thanks so much, and Cheers!! ;^)
The landscape looks beautiful and one can imagine that up there its basically like a nature reserve area, nevertheless i ask myself do they use things like pesticides?
We did not witness any pesticide use and all the high quality plantation farmers say that they never use pesticides (they really care about their product quality) and we saw quite a few plantations with insect bitten leaves so we are confident that they are not used for high mountain plantations. I have heard that the garden tea plantations lower down sometimes use pesticides so that is another reason to avoid this lower quality tea.
During one of your trips have you ever tried to make tea with leaves fresh out the tree? I imagine it probably won't be nearly as nice as it gets after processing and oxidation (I'm a fan of black teas), but curiosity bugs me every time I see pictures of cultivars and tea plantations.
Wonderful video, very informative. Thank you for sharing. I have a question, when you brew your tea in the Gong Fu Cha method, I know you can brew it many times. So my question is, once you brew it one time, How much time can you leave the the in the teapot, until you brew it again? What I mean, is, Can you brew it again the next day? Thank you again.
thanks for the video! And how would they do the high quality maocha Don? the same steps as what you have shown with hand shaking replacing the bamboo oven? or are they doing hand shaking / rolling and frying too?
Hope you don't mind me necroing a 3 year old thread, but raw tea leaves can actually be eaten. I have a potted tea plant (don't know the strain but it is a sinensis) at home and I've eaten some of the buds straight a couple of times. I've found that they had a slightly sweet, rough astringent and very strongly grassy vegetal cilantro-y taste. Some of the older leaves I tried were just tough, unbearably bitter and tasted like a stinkbug. Granted, it is a very young plant and has been kept under a grow light for most of the year in my cold homeland of Finland, which aren't exactly ideal conditions for tea making. But from my experience I wouldn't recommend eating them straight. If you feel like eating tea leaves I'd recommend just drinking matcha. Though tea leaves that have been processed into tea and then brewed can actually be genuinely good. Whenever I get a tea leaf in my cup I don't bother throwing it away, I'll just eat it.
Great and very interesting video, as always. It looked as if the people shaking and firing the tea were not quite pleased with the interest you showed in the whole process... Is it perhaps because they like to keep their techniques a secret? Or were they just a bit sad because their crop was lowered in quality due to the rain?
Definitely because they do not particularly like revealing too much information but we try to explain to them that the more that we can teach, the more people will understand the value of their hard work and this will help their sales.
+chinalife Tea House Thanks, I suspected as much. I think it's great that you're teaching people about the production of tea. That way the farmers will make more money, and the consumer knows how to get higher quality leaves. Keep up the good work!
Hi, we do cover Chinese and Taiwanese blacks in some of our videos with more content being made so stay tuned but we do not currently offer teas from India or Nepal. This is being planned but we want to ensure that the sourcing is as detailed and personal as in China/Taiwan/Japan so this takes time to build relationships.
I was wondering if you ever listen to music when you session? And if so what are some of your picks? I love listening to all kinds of music from Van Morrison to The Cure while sessioning:) -Josh Terrazas p.s. much love from California!
Absolutely, it is kind of annoying that we have to turn the music off when we are filming :) We sessioned to the entire Doolittle album (pixies) a few weeks ago but otherwise we listen to everything from golden oldies to experimental to beats and bass to indie to UK hip hop to whatever spotify is recommending for us! We miss California, love that place and try to get over there for the tea expo. Maybe we can session in 2017!
Hey but when is happening the (partial) oxidation? I mean, are the shaking sessions the only process that "ruin" the leaves enough to start the oxidation?
Oxidation actually begins the moment the leaf is picked and the shaking and tumbling processes are ways to increase the amount of oxidation and make the oxidation more even for all the leaves.
6:12 "very green, very celery-like, almost like a raw leaf I just picked from a tree"
As a Chinese, I actually learned most of my tea knowledge from this British guy 😂😀
@@ironinthesoul9680 BECCATO
same here.
He says "Wah" quite a bit, so honorary Chinese.
Same here! Plus I am living in China right now!
Respect for the old lady 👏🏻
Yes, total respect to her.
1:04 the very rare “Don-bitten” tea, rival to the insect-bitten Bai Hao oolong!
Hahahaha 😂... now that we are talking about Bai Hao oolong, i should really buy some again cause it’s delicious.
I absolutely love your videos, very informative and I love your passion for tea!
Thank you Breanna, we are happy to share this passion with other teaheads!
wow, it is amazing how many dedicated people work towards achieving that great liquor in your cups; from an 80+ year old chinese woman, to people like Don that search constantly for the worthiest tea to bring to the western market. Tea surely outpasses with ease any other drink there is, in terms of complexity, variety, culture etc.
These tea trip videos and the master class videos are my favorite. I can binge watch them all day. I always loved proper tea but after learning so much through your videos over the past year or two, I've come to love and appreciate tea so much more. Both the new tea tour and these old ones are so great for learning all the little bits that make each type what they are and really helped renew my love with tea. Thanks, Don! ❤️💕
Who knew there was such a process towards making tea. Fantastic. I am truly fascinated. Makes you appreciate good quality tea
china is such a beautiful country !!
that scenery is....omg.
I'm a big fan. Please keep them coming. 👏👏👏👏
Love seeing this more casual content!
I am just learning about this tea as it relates to my ancestral roots. To stand where you stand for one sec, Don... Thanks for taking us there; with a well produced video at that. It would be wonderful to view a follow up video focusing on the history, people, and cultural practices of this tea. It would be lovely to hear more spoken Teochew. Cheers, Brian.
I so want to do more of these trip videos with more extensive subject matter going into the history and culture. The issue is time but I will keep pushing to improve this content for you!
This video was the first video on the Mei Leaf channel that I watched. I have since gotten a better sense of this channel's voice and learned about your time constraints. Your commitment to excellence is without doubt.
Amazing how much work goes into growing tea. And that it is still affordable. I just hope the farmers earn enough to have a decent living. ♡
Don, you are my mentor! For me you are the most trustworthy man in the entire Universe when you speak about tea. Because you go beyond traditional beliefs, you taste a lot, you make experiments, you talk about myths but also the science of tea and you are so an open-minded person. You are not that kind of person that learn things by studying by heart. When you say something you have proof of what you said and I think that in the world of tea, made of lots of legends and traditional beliefs (that they are cool of course, don't misunderstanding me please), knowing the scientific approach of tea is VERY interesting too. You are doing such a GOOD GOOD GOOD job! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO WRITE A BOOK?! (Sorry for my english, I'm Italian) Byeeeeeee
Great visit and video, thank you!
Dancong is my favourite chinese tea. Thank you so much for the information you have shared in this video!
Wow! Great video Don! The content , character and videography are really good. I felt like I was on a tea adventure!
Thanks!
I adore the Ya Shi Dancong! Lovely to learn more about it.
New to the channel. Love these documentary-style traveling videos! Hopefully you'll be able to make more of these in the future.
I just tried this tea (Mei Leaf mi lan xiang, April, 2019, vintage) for the first time. In fact, it is my first dan cong ever. Simply amazing. Wow, I have no words. I will definitely be drinking more of this tea and I suppose this begins my dan cong journey. Well, there goes my pocket book. :)
Dan Congs are truly magical. First time I tried Duck Shit I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I have an order of Dan Cong and Wuyi Yan Cha samples coming and I can’t wait to try them.
@@Dimasterim Yes, dancongs and yanchas became fast favorites for me. Cheers!
The old 80 year old woman is gorgeous! Thumbs up :D Very interesting video!
Instructive, and very interesting.
Actually, it should be pronounced as Cong (more like "tson"), instead of Song with an "s":)
Fantastic video! Dan Congs are some of my favorite teas, especially Huang Zhi Xiang. The process that goes into creating them is really amazing to see.
Hi Don - thank you so much for this precious vid! I absolutely love how I much I have learned about Dancong! I had a little Phoenix Dancong (Rishi) from the local coffee shop (Verve in Northern Cal) and love it! Wish you are more local - will pay visit when I go to London next :)
Thanks so much for the video a lot of great information on Dan Cong, It gives me some new respect for the tea and tea farmers. It looks like y'all had a wonderful time. I want you to know I have learned a lot about tea and it has enhanced my tea experience and knowledge. Thanks for all you do. Cheers!
Thank you Randy!
Your information is a blessing.
Beautiful video, Don! Thank you for bringing us closer to the source and processing of one of my favorite tea types!
I adore your videos. I love to discover everything I can about tea and not gonna lie I'm a little jealous of all the amazing tea adventures you take!
These are definitely the best videos you guys make!
Agree, we have to do more field trip videos!
i look forward to these! i think they help people who are new to tea like me understand what to look for in tea better, and if possible maybe do a series on what to look for when choosing quality tea, it could be broken up into a section for each major type of tea if you feel it would be better for your audience. Although I personally love long form content.
Dayle Armstrong
Yes we are doing the quality markers for different tea. We have done more informal ones like ua-cam.com/video/ymYWaowfcK8/v-deo.html but more are on their way!
Your videos of trips to China are truly fascinating and informative. A big thank you from Paris :)
Merci, come and visit us if you are in London.
Great video, I love watching these documentary style videos. Extremely informative content, this makes me want to taste high quality Dan chong tea.
Excellent video! These videos where you travel and
explore the tea origins and process of production are so very interesting -
more of those will be appreciated.
It was so fascinating and helpful to actually see the various step of the production. Gives a nice point of reference, when you discuss the different tea types in other videos.
Very neat video to see the process.
here is a man with great passion for tea
Love your videos! I respect and love the fact that you source your tea directly. I feel like I'm able to ecperince through your videos what I would absolutely love to experience in person!
I absolutely love your channel! Really makes you appreciate tea even more when you see the incredible amount of work that goes into making it!
Thank you for this video! Just great.
Bless you
This is a great doc explaining a tea that is very hard to find here in Canada, nevermind find information about. Thanks a lot!
No problem Mr Frog and thanks for watching.
All the Dancongs that we source are here: chinalifeweb.com/shop/category/oolong-tea/ if you are interested in tasting our selection.
Really love your videos Don,Im sad your videos are not comming as often as I would like.Keep up the great work also this is one of the best videos !!
Thank you, we are trying to do them as quickly as possible but other work gets in the way a little!
great music!
That was really interesting. Thank you much for the upload.
fantastic vid!
That is so amazing, great trip, nice video
love the tea trip videos!
Thanks we want to do more and will be heading to the mountains for Spring harvesting.
wow, great video! Accurate Info and very nice visuals.. thanks!!
can just try it now !!!
,Wonderfull ... Thank you
I also love your videos, the sincere enthusiasm is really contagious! I have a question: In my very last week in China, a friend took me to his favorite tea seller, who introduced me to a dancong from Chaozhou. He said that Chaozhou was becoming increasingly recognized for the quality of their dancongs. I do, actually, love this tea more and more--to be truthful, I had originally bought it more from politeness. Now, I love the fruity taste, the mellow undertones and the lingering aftertaste which is refreshing. I haven't in the past actually appreciated very roasted oolongs etc because of the dry astringent taste they seem to have, but I think you are helping me appreciate. Anyway, I'm sure this one is not the best quality, because I do see a few stems in it occasionally. My question is, is dancong from Chaozhou really becoming increasingly respected? Again, thank you for your wonderful videos!
Great video, full of respect for your passion and dedication for tea
Definitely gonna visit your shop in Camden to try out the tea.
Please make more videos!
Greetings Don!
Tea-head Dentist Dr. Randy here again...so I have a 2016 Spring 'Single Bush Ya Shi Xiang Dan Song'...It is quite similar you your own Duck Shit in appearance, but also much different in nose and flavor, what with your additional roasting. Are you familiar with this particular cultivar, and while I find it delicious, do you have an opinion?
Also, I have some of your Ya Shi, it is capable of 9 infusions...I'm the only 'head' in the house and want to get all I can form each brewing. While I know the best way to keep leaves for later (thanks to another of your fabulous vids), I wonder for how long...you mention 12 hours...can they be dried completely and stored in a container and still be good? I've tried it but still not sure what's best on time limit.
Thanks so much, and Cheers!! ;^)
So how does Meileaf dan cong tea fit into the definition of dan cong?
What is the music used at 1:00 ?
The landscape looks beautiful and one can imagine that up there its basically like a nature reserve area, nevertheless i ask myself do they use things like pesticides?
We did not witness any pesticide use and all the high quality plantation farmers say that they never use pesticides (they really care about their product quality) and we saw quite a few plantations with insect bitten leaves so we are confident that they are not used for high mountain plantations. I have heard that the garden tea plantations lower down sometimes use pesticides so that is another reason to avoid this lower quality tea.
During one of your trips have you ever tried to make tea with leaves fresh out the tree? I imagine it probably won't be nearly as nice as it gets after processing and oxidation (I'm a fan of black teas), but curiosity bugs me every time I see pictures of cultivars and tea plantations.
I heard the most graded dan cong is still hand made and mixed by a tea chief and the combination is a secret recipe
Wonderful video, very informative. Thank you for sharing. I have a question, when you brew your tea in the Gong Fu Cha method, I know you can brew it many times. So my question is, once you brew it one time, How much time can you leave the the in the teapot, until you brew it again? What I mean, is, Can you brew it again the next day? Thank you again.
Your team needs to wear T-shirts with "Beware of the teabag" on them))
Amazing video!!! I am enjoying an Oriental Beauty, but can't wait to get my Dancong's :D
Have you ever explored shan tuyet tea in VietNam? I’m pretty sure you have to exclaim “ amazing” :)
thanks for the video!
And how would they do the high quality maocha Don? the same steps as what you have shown with hand shaking replacing the bamboo oven? or are they doing hand shaking / rolling and frying too?
I don't really understand the question but all Dancong Maocha is made using the methods shown in the video.
Great video as always! Just wondering what the song is that you used at the beginning of your video?
Great track: ua-cam.com/video/8b3gL7kHpG0/v-deo.html
+chinalife Tea House thanks!
should i just eat my tea? :D
its eatable for sure , but u want to drink it acutaly :D
Hope you don't mind me necroing a 3 year old thread, but raw tea leaves can actually be eaten. I have a potted tea plant (don't know the strain but it is a sinensis) at home and I've eaten some of the buds straight a couple of times. I've found that they had a slightly sweet, rough astringent and very strongly grassy vegetal cilantro-y taste. Some of the older leaves I tried were just tough, unbearably bitter and tasted like a stinkbug. Granted, it is a very young plant and has been kept under a grow light for most of the year in my cold homeland of Finland, which aren't exactly ideal conditions for tea making. But from my experience I wouldn't recommend eating them straight. If you feel like eating tea leaves I'd recommend just drinking matcha. Though tea leaves that have been processed into tea and then brewed can actually be genuinely good. Whenever I get a tea leaf in my cup I don't bother throwing it away, I'll just eat it.
Could anyone inform me, where in China this is located?
Great and very interesting video, as always. It looked as if the people shaking and firing the tea were not quite pleased with the interest you showed in the whole process... Is it perhaps because they like to keep their techniques a secret? Or were they just a bit sad because their crop was lowered in quality due to the rain?
Definitely because they do not particularly like revealing too much information but we try to explain to them that the more that we can teach, the more people will understand the value of their hard work and this will help their sales.
+chinalife Tea House Thanks, I suspected as much. I think it's great that you're teaching people about the production of tea. That way the farmers will make more money, and the consumer knows how to get higher quality leaves. Keep up the good work!
I realize this is "Chinalife Tea House," but could you cover some Blacks? Darjeelings would be nice.
Hi, we do cover Chinese and Taiwanese blacks in some of our videos with more content being made so stay tuned but we do not currently offer teas from India or Nepal. This is being planned but we want to ensure that the sourcing is as detailed and personal as in China/Taiwan/Japan so this takes time to build relationships.
I was wondering if you ever listen to music when you session? And if so what are some of your picks? I love listening to all kinds of music from Van Morrison to The Cure while sessioning:)
-Josh Terrazas
p.s. much love from California!
Absolutely, it is kind of annoying that we have to turn the music off when we are filming :) We sessioned to the entire Doolittle album (pixies) a few weeks ago but otherwise we listen to everything from golden oldies to experimental to beats and bass to indie to UK hip hop to whatever spotify is recommending for us!
We miss California, love that place and try to get over there for the tea expo. Maybe we can session in 2017!
+chinalife Tea House Awesome album choice! Hopefully we'll cross paths someday and we can share an adventure or song or two:)
Hey but when is happening the (partial) oxidation? I mean, are the shaking sessions the only process that "ruin" the leaves enough to start the oxidation?
Oxidation actually begins the moment the leaf is picked and the shaking and tumbling processes are ways to increase the amount of oxidation and make the oxidation more even for all the leaves.
he eats a green leaf " yeah it tastes really green"
Im not sure bonghwang can transfer to phoenix I mean, bonghwang doesn't resurrect
So is the yasha Dancong lightly roasted or is it dark roasted?
It depends on the producer. Our Ya Shi Dan Cong is light to medium roasted to accentuate the high notes of the tea.
They have hats for their heads why don't they have hats for their tea baskets???
I miss the original, knowledgeable 'grandpa' Don. The new party-guy Don is too London, for this non-Londoner.
Na Du?
Tobias