On Oct 7, 12:22*am, Rainy wrote:
Are Dan Congs always a little bitter? I tried maybe 5-6 of them and
they've always had bitter aftertaste for me. It tastes a bit like if
you add a few drops of alcohol to a glass of water. At the same time,
I am very sensitive to bitter taste, I can't stand dark chocolate,
endives, kirby cucumber skin, dark coffee (unless very well light-
roasted and really fresh and I'm in the mood for it). I don't like
bitter teas such as Assam or Ceylon unless it's got milk in it. All
because of bitterness.

Is that something that's true for all dan congs, or for most of them,
or maybe there's some trick to brewing them without bitterness? I love
the aroma of dan congs, and I like the peach/apricot taste.. but the
aftertaste turns me away every time. Today I tried to finally sit down
and experiment with gong-fu and dan cong and no matter what I tried,
the bitterness is still there.

I also find all DCs to be somewhat bitter. I do like bitter
vegetables, bitter dark chocolate, etc. though so I do like DCs.
However I find that if you brew some of them even a bit too long they
can be extremely bitter. So, like the other recommendations, I would
try relatively short brewing times. I do find that short times give a
nice, not weak, tea and thus also provide for many steepings.