I tried doing this to my wife's cooking when she made a stew, I took a spoonful and I go: "I'm getting notes of chrysanthemum soft serve ice cream, I'm getting orchid, there's a bit of tart like peach" then I go for another sip and I go: "now it's transforming, even though it was sitting here for a few minutes I'm still getting that mouthful of flavour, it has body and I'm still getting cherries, dried cherries" she slapped me in the face, I felt my ear ringing for a good hour after that dinner.
In my experience. The best teaware for rocky tea is Yixing Zhi Sha. It is much better than porcelain in keeping the heat. And there's a useful skill to keep the temperature during steeping by pouring hot water on the teapot. So you need a deep bowl-shaped teaboat to sink the teapot in the hot water. For rocky tea, if it's 5 grams for 100 ml, 50 seconds for first brew would give you the punch. That's fantastic for rocky tea lovers.
Thanks Don. I find these brewing guides super helpful and with so many fantastic teas in my collection invaluable to my tea journey. Thanks so much. PS I love the new Gold Brush Gaiwan!!
My first order from you had stone milk and it's the best tea I have ever tried and smelled. An absolute pallette blaster to rocky stoney autumnal smokey autumn berries pumpkin dark and medium oily woods, very nice body feel perfect study or even social chatting. Thank you Don!!
I am an amateur,a novice, an acolyte. This is how I steep. I tend to shy away from Gaiwan,I prefer Yixing. I have a Master Wu. I have not yet seasoned it. I will,after I visit you in Camdentown. Right now(and I will bring it to England), I use a beautiful old pot,darkened by thousands of steepings,I pour the rinse into gongdaobei,and then i begin the steeping. My favorite so far is a green,Lu’an Gua Pian. After the rinse,I pour that rinse over the teapot. I watch it dry,evaporate,it is a beautiful thing to behold! The surface of this old teapot,it tells me a story of something I am about to experience. Once dry on the outside,I know that the steep is ready. Further steepings,I repeat a second time,watching the teapot dry once again. This produces a heavenly liquor. I look forward to sharing this magnificent little tea pot with you!
I had been ignoring the Yan cha category myself for some time because I had been sharing your same frustration. I recently revisited your Lost Robe with essentially the same extended brewing process. Less formal timing and more just letting the steeps sit. I really enjoyed the longer brews but was expecting a short lived session because of it. I was very wrong. It was almost as if regardless of brewing time the steep would reach a "saturation" point and keep itself from over extracting. I got many steeps out of my session but by the end I was probably closer to 2 minute steep times. I will be brewing my Yan cha with much longer steeps from now on.
I’m having a Yancha night with a few friends with a new Jianshui just for that in a month… I gotta say, I’m kinda nervous now and I hope I can brew it well
Hey Don! Thanks for the brewing guide! I have a question regarding pu erh tea. I have always wondered if pu erh tea, particularly shu pu erh contains any alcohol, due to the fermentation process. I know kombucha has some trace alcohols, but that is processed differently.
Don, great video! As a new tea drinker I have been struggling with a Qi Dan. I can only brew it at 210 to 212 5g /100ml but for only 5-7 seconds. Anything more than that is extremely bitter. Taste is only good for two or three steeping's before getting flat. The supplier (also the farmer) emailed me and said don't go over 5 or 6 seconds at 212. So I'm confused, this is definitely bitter above 5 seconds. Isn't Qi Dan a Yan Cha? Are some Yan Cha bitter, or is this one i have possibly not what they say it is?
I am drinking Qi Dan right now and brewing it like Don said and im getting good results. It's more intense and the texture is much richer, it's certainly not getting bitter. In fact I like to push Yan Cha a bit, I always use a lot of leaf and I never go lower than 20 seconds, and I've never felt too much bitterness. Maybe the Qi Dan you bought is not that good, there are more than a few duds in the market. You could try buying another one from another supplier and see if the same thing happens to it.
I agree the "returning cup" shtick feels off. A bit like when you see 70s boomer rock bands performing at the Super Bowl who should have been retired to an old folks home 20 years ago. PS: "almond brittle" Wait...they make almond brittle? Where has this been my whole life? I need to try this 😄
Nice video. But I have one question maybe someone can help me, I noticed that you aren't using the Fellow Stag EKG, why is that? Since I want to either buy a Fellow Stag EKG or a Bonavita, which one should I pick? Thanks
First of all, I think based on the reviews from Don Fellow Stag EKG would be the better choice. But you should watch both reviews and compare for yourself what would be better for you. As for why he isn't using the Stag EKG, one of his main critisism was that the poor is very controlled, too controlled. It's a slow and steady pour, so it was hard agitating tealeaves that need kind of a "harsher push". But I think that problem could be solved by pouring from more upwards, making the stream stronger or pouring over the leaves in a zigzag motion.
@@makkachin9614 I did buy the Fellow Stag EKG because I found it for only 10€ more than the Bonavita and I have to say I am loving everything about this kettle, it is comfortable to hold, it hold enough water for me,. the cable is long enough, because I have it on my desk and I love the controls aspecially the timer, the hold funktion and the precise temparature control. But the poor sucks and I have found that the best way to poor is as you said from high up so that the stream has more force, the problem with that is that the stream breacks up pritty quickly, wich leads to a bit of splatering but I am fine with it. I will probably buy the Bonavita sometime in the future, just to really test the difference. Still thank you for your answer.
@@fabianlieret2077 Oh thank you a lot for the detailled insight! Sometime in the future I was thinking about buying the Fellow Stag EKG as well, especially as my boyfriend is a barista so we could both use it. The thing with the pour seems a bit annoying, but based on what you said I'll still give it a try :)
I tried doing this to my wife's cooking when she made a stew, I took a spoonful and I go: "I'm getting notes of chrysanthemum soft serve ice cream, I'm getting orchid, there's a bit of tart like peach" then I go for another sip and I go: "now it's transforming, even though it was sitting here for a few minutes I'm still getting that mouthful of flavour, it has body and I'm still getting cherries, dried cherries" she slapped me in the face, I felt my ear ringing for a good hour after that dinner.
It must've been the "bit of tart" wot dun it
In my experience. The best teaware for rocky tea is Yixing Zhi Sha. It is much better than porcelain in keeping the heat.
And there's a useful skill to keep the temperature during steeping by pouring hot water on the teapot. So you need a deep bowl-shaped teaboat to sink the teapot in the hot water.
For rocky tea, if it's 5 grams for 100 ml, 50 seconds for first brew would give you the punch. That's fantastic for rocky tea lovers.
Thanks Don. I find these brewing guides super helpful and with so many fantastic teas in my collection invaluable to my tea journey. Thanks so much. PS I love the new Gold Brush Gaiwan!!
My first order from you had stone milk and it's the best tea I have ever tried and smelled. An absolute pallette blaster to rocky stoney autumnal smokey autumn berries pumpkin dark and medium oily woods, very nice body feel perfect study or even social chatting. Thank you Don!!
I actually agree on extending the brews, my qi lan was still apricot and marzipan ladled but also had some woody and resinous notes, so good!
I am an amateur,a novice, an acolyte.
This is how I steep.
I tend to shy away from Gaiwan,I prefer Yixing.
I have a Master Wu.
I have not yet seasoned it.
I will,after I visit you in Camdentown.
Right now(and I will bring it to England), I use a beautiful old pot,darkened by thousands of steepings,I pour the rinse into gongdaobei,and then i begin the steeping.
My favorite so far is a green,Lu’an Gua Pian.
After the rinse,I pour that rinse over the teapot.
I watch it dry,evaporate,it is a beautiful thing to behold!
The surface of this old teapot,it tells me a story of something I am about to experience.
Once dry on the outside,I know that the steep is ready.
Further steepings,I repeat a second time,watching the teapot dry once again.
This produces a heavenly liquor.
I look forward to sharing this magnificent little tea pot with you!
I can't help but read this as a poem due to the formatting :D
Thank you,friend!😊
I had been ignoring the Yan cha category myself for some time because I had been sharing your same frustration. I recently revisited your Lost Robe with essentially the same extended brewing process. Less formal timing and more just letting the steeps sit. I really enjoyed the longer brews but was expecting a short lived session because of it. I was very wrong. It was almost as if regardless of brewing time the steep would reach a "saturation" point and keep itself from over extracting. I got many steeps out of my session but by the end I was probably closer to 2 minute steep times. I will be brewing my Yan cha with much longer steeps from now on.
I've been noticing this with my Yan Chas as well! I haven't quite started at 30 seconds yet, so I'll have to try taking this philosophy even further.
I also found benefits from extending the brewing time with classical (deeper roast) dancongs.
Love the tasting graphics on the left side!!!
For those interested in parameters: 44:40
Congrats with your 100k subscribers! I'm one of them ;)
I just tried this with Empress Oolong, 5.3g, 70ml, 99°C, 35+5s. Holy cow, this is for grown-ups.
Try an generous rinse of Undercover DHP let it sit for 10min and stirr in a dried teaspoon of cognac🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Hey dude can you go through ur teapots in a vid? At least the most unique and wild ones? Thanks
Wow! This is only for tea Experts 👍
I’m having a Yancha night with a few friends with a new Jianshui just for that in a month… I gotta say, I’m kinda nervous now and I hope I can brew it well
Hi Don, 100°C, use water with low TDS preferred ...
Hey Don! Thanks for the brewing guide! I have a question regarding pu erh tea. I have always wondered if pu erh tea, particularly shu pu erh contains any alcohol, due to the fermentation process. I know kombucha has some trace alcohols, but that is processed differently.
Don, great video! As a new tea drinker I have been struggling with a Qi Dan. I can only brew it at 210 to 212 5g /100ml but for only 5-7 seconds. Anything more than that is extremely bitter. Taste is only good for two or three steeping's before getting flat. The supplier (also the farmer) emailed me and said don't go over 5 or 6 seconds at 212. So I'm confused, this is definitely bitter above 5 seconds. Isn't Qi Dan a Yan Cha? Are some Yan Cha bitter, or is this one i have possibly not what they say it is?
I am drinking Qi Dan right now and brewing it like Don said and im getting good results. It's more intense and the texture is much richer, it's certainly not getting bitter. In fact I like to push Yan Cha a bit, I always use a lot of leaf and I never go lower than 20 seconds, and I've never felt too much bitterness. Maybe the Qi Dan you bought is not that good, there are more than a few duds in the market. You could try buying another one from another supplier and see if the same thing happens to it.
I agree the "returning cup" shtick feels off. A bit like when you see 70s boomer rock bands performing at the Super Bowl who should have been retired to an old folks home 20 years ago.
PS: "almond brittle"
Wait...they make almond brittle? Where has this been my whole life? I need to try this 😄
Seeing Duran Duran perform at the New Year’s Eve thingy was cringe, and it makes me sad to say that 😔
The smell of tea leaf in a gaiwan is nice but what frustrates me is that the water doesn't have enough flavor.
How did listening to wang dang doodle bring me here
I always brew for extended time for Oolongs ,darker teas , I am a flavour hog !!
Short brews seem to be a little " Meh " ..
Hey Don...
Tobias
😄
Nice video. But I have one question maybe someone can help me, I noticed that you aren't using the Fellow Stag EKG, why is that? Since I want to either buy a Fellow Stag EKG or a Bonavita, which one should I pick? Thanks
First of all, I think based on the reviews from Don Fellow Stag EKG would be the better choice. But you should watch both reviews and compare for yourself what would be better for you.
As for why he isn't using the Stag EKG, one of his main critisism was that the poor is very controlled, too controlled. It's a slow and steady pour, so it was hard agitating tealeaves that need kind of a "harsher push".
But I think that problem could be solved by pouring from more upwards, making the stream stronger or pouring over the leaves in a zigzag motion.
@@makkachin9614 I did buy the Fellow Stag EKG because I found it for only 10€ more than the Bonavita and I have to say I am loving everything about this kettle, it is comfortable to hold, it hold enough water for me,. the cable is long enough, because I have it on my desk and I love the controls aspecially the timer, the hold funktion and the precise temparature control. But the poor sucks and I have found that the best way to poor is as you said from high up so that the stream has more force, the problem with that is that the stream breacks up pritty quickly, wich leads to a bit of splatering but I am fine with it. I will probably buy the Bonavita sometime in the future, just to really test the difference.
Still thank you for your answer.
@@fabianlieret2077 Oh thank you a lot for the detailled insight! Sometime in the future I was thinking about buying the Fellow Stag EKG as well, especially as my boyfriend is a barista so we could both use it. The thing with the pour seems a bit annoying, but based on what you said I'll still give it a try :)