Brewing Information
Why do the Chinese called it Gong Fu / Kung Fu
Tea?
When we say Gong Fu / Kung Fu Tea in China, we
don't mean it tea leaves or a tea name, but a brewing techniques.
The reason is called Gong Fu/Kung
Fu tea, is because we need to put in a lot of effort to brew a nice cup
of tea, included brewing and tasting techniques. Gong Fu/Kung
Fu Tea originated in the Song Dynasty(AD960) in Guangdong's Chaozhou and
Fujian. In these area almost every
single household will have a Gong Fu/Kung Fu teaset at home!
How to brew tea in Gong-Fu
Style: (Suggest for Puerh Tea, Oolong Tea and Black Tea)
What you
need:
- A Gaiwan or Teapot (Brewing)
- A Pitcher (serving)
- A Strainer (filtering)
- Cups
- A Utensil / Cha Dao
Brewing:
- Step 1: Have your tea and tea ware ready.
- Step 2: Have your tea ready in the Gaiwan/Teapot.
- Step 3: Pour hot water into the Gaiwan/Teapot.
- Step 4: Pour the water into the pitcher.
- Step 5: Pour the tea from pitcher to the cups for
washing.
- Step 6: After washing pour the tea away.
- Step 7: Redo the process and drink the tea this
time.
- Step 8: Enjoy and repeat the brewing progress
until tea is exhausted.
***Note: For tea such as ripe
puerh we normally suggest to rinse the tea twice.
How to brew
tea in a Glass Cup: (Suggest for Green, white, and yellow Teas)
What you need?
1. Tea
2. Glass Cup (suggest 200-250ml)
Brewing:
- Step 1: Use around 3-7 gram tea, put it into you
glass cup(around 220ml).
- Step 2: Pour boiled water(80C-85C) into the cup,
try to lift up your hand higher while pouring and pour it to the
side of the cup, try fill the cup with 40 % water.
- Step 3: Gently rotate the cup side to side for
around 30 second.
- Step 4 : Pour in more water into the tea.
- Step 5: Leave the cup on the table now and watch
the tea leaves sink to the bottom of the cup.
- Step 6: Drink the tea when almost 80-90% of the
lea leaves is at the bottom.
- Step 7: Refill hot water in once the tea gets to
1/3 of the cup and drink again.
***Note: Try to avoid using water temputure higher
than 85c when brew Green tea, yellow tea or white tea. Using high temp
water to brew green, yellow or white tea will makes the tea taste vanish
and tea leaves get yellow and old easily.
How to
use the Utensil / Cha Dao?
There are five different tool
for the Utensil / Cha Dao set:
- Tea Tongs/Clips: for holding cups
- Tea Spoon: for putting tea into Cups, Gaiwan or
Teapots.
- Tea Needle: for cleaning your teapot if the holes
got stuck with tea leaves.
- Tea Digger: for digging out the teas inside your
teapot.
- Tea Funnel: Used to put tea into your teapot when
you have a real small teapot around 100ml or below.
How to store your teas?
It is very
important to store your tea properly. The way you store your tea will
affect the quality of the Taste. Some teas like Pu-erh are best if aged
for many years.
The following pointers are useful:
- Keep it away from the open air to avoid humidity.
- Keep tea out of sun shine.
- Keep the tea away from any odor.
- It is best that you store your tea in airtight
containers and in a dry place.
- For Green Tea and Tie Guan Yin is best to store
tea at 5°c - 10°c to keep it fresh.
- For the famous Yunnan Puerh, best to store tea at
50%-60% humidity and 60-70 degrees temperature range. Puerh tea has
a tendency to absorb odors in the environment, so avoid storing your
tea in places like kitchen or other place contain strong odors.
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