The name “gongfu” often spelled “kungfu” often conjures up images of Bruce Lee, Jet Lee or Jayden Yuen (depending on which generation you are from) performing otherworldly stunts.
Hence it is often mistaken for one that requires skills honed under the tutelage of masters in the mountains.
Make no mistake, gongfu tea does require skill but it is more about effort and time, which is actually what the phrase gongfu (工夫) means in Chinese instead of gongfu (功夫) which means skill. More about this can be found in this post.
The Essence of Gongfu Tea
The essence of gongfu tea is simply this: “Small vessels, small cups”
If you are drinking casually, you would make a big cup or rather a mug so you can chug from it without worrying too much about the effort required to prepare it. You might also think about “pairing” tea with all manner of irrelevancies such as books, movies etc because the tea and the process of making it is unable to hold your attention on its own.
Small vessels, small cups.
You make carefully and you drink carefully.
Else you scald yourself.
It forces you to focus on the tea and process of making it.
Preamble aside, let’s look at the “how to” of brewing gongfu tea.
Equipment
It doesn’t need to be really fancy- though it can be- but at a minimum you would need the following:
i) Kettle (see here for more info)
iii) Tea leaves (duh)
iv) Water (preferably filtered, see here for more info)
v) Drinking cups
vi) Serving pitcher (fairness cup, see here for more info) optional though, see here
vii) Brewing vessel
For brewing vessel, it is recommended to have either a gaiwan (or shuozhuawan) or a Yixing pot.
For oolong and puer, porcelain or clay vessels are recommended.
For newish tea drinkers, I recommend a gaiwan (see here). The main reasons are
i) Inexpensive
ii) Versatile, Yixing/Zisha pots are porous and hence you need to dedicate one to each type of tea
iii) It requires concentration, forces you to focus
There is a natural inhibition against using a gaiwan because it is perceived as difficult (tomorrow I will blog about overcoming your fear of gaiwans) but it is preciously the tendency to scald your fingers that forces you to focus.
The Steps
This slide shows the essential steps. You can find out more about the basis behind the basics here.
Gongfu brewing oolong tea Basic parameters- i.e. temperature, quantity and infusion time found hereOvertime you might gravitate towards Chaozhou, Fujian or Taiwanese styles but the basics are the same.
Selecting the Teas
In the beginning, gongfu tea was “invented” for oolong teas which were the preferred tea in Chaozhou, home of gongfu tea.
Puer is another category of tea that thrives under gongfu brewing as well.
Green, white and yellow are not typically associated with gongfu brewing, especially since these are favored for the light refreshing taste.
Black tea- especially Chinese blacks- work well with gongfu brewing as well.
For beginners, I recommend Minnan or Taiwanese Oolongs because of their ball shapes and huge leaves, it becomes
i) Easy to control
ii) Shape of the leaves are more uniform, easier to estimate quantity of tea leaves based on volumetric measure
Next
In upcoming related posts, we will look at
i) Overcoming your fear of the gaiwan
ii) Going Deeper with Gongfu Tea
Let’s explore the satisfying world of gongfu tea together.
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