Gongfu Infusion/ Chapter 1: the basics

Making tea in the gongfu style is NOT a tea ceremony. It is a way to maximize the taste and health benefits of a tea selection, especially a finer one. The teaware employed may look different to some people, but they are just tea's equivalent to such specialized ware as the expresso pots or wine glass. The process may seem complicated to some people, but they are as instrumental to a finely made cup of tea as the attention needed in pouching an egg, or making a salad.

In another word, this is just a more skillful way to enjoy tea.

the fundamental steps: a slide show

Step 1
When you are heating up the water, measure the required amount of tealeaves.

Step 2
Preheat the pot with water at the required temperature. Fill pot by pouring around the rim slowly, so there is spill onto the outer wall of the pot.

Step 3
Empty the pot into the chahai and then the chahai into the cups to warm the wares.

Step 4
Tealeaves should be put into the center of the pot and heaped like a small mound.

Step 5
To blanch the tealeaves, add water as you did when heating the pot, but a little more quickly. Make sure the water hit the tealeaves from around the perimeter of the mound. Fill to the rim. A small amount of foamy bubbles may form on the surface of the water.

Step 6
Use the underside of the 'neck' of the teapot lid to scrap off the foam and cover the pot. Empty the blanching water into the chahai to warm it again.

Step 7
Fill the pot again this time to steep the tea. Meanwhile empty the cups and arrange them in a tight circle. It is an old tradition to always use 3 cups, but use a number at your discretion according to the need.

Step 8
Upon the required infusion duration, decant into the empty chahai and then into the cups. If you do not use a chahai or a decanter, make sure the strength of the tea is even in all the cups. Tea sinks. Therefore the later half of the pour is always stronger than the earlier one, and the last few drops are always the strongest. A decanter is needed for this reason. However, people traditionally solve the problem by having the pot going round the cups a few times to even out the strength. This takes some practice to do well.

Since we have been using the analogy, the skill levels in gongfu tea infusion approach can be understood as the skill difference between making a cup of distilled coffee and a fine cup of expresso. However, tea is a little different because the difference in the great varieties of tea is much larger than that in different types of coffee beans; working out the difference requires some experiments and understanding. It is not as difficult as becoming a Michelin star chef though, most people can achieve great results with some practices.

There is a great advantage in gongfu tea making other than the taste. It takes much less time to enjoy the first cup than the standard 5 or 6 minutes to make a pot of tea, usually less than a minute. Some teas, such as bouquet style Phoenix oolongs, actually delivers better of their health properties when infused in the gongfu method. Strong character teas, such as Puers, are also more malleable this way. Fine green teas, when given a skillful infusion, can attain taste profiles unachievable in conventional method.

However, let's begin by learning some important basics in this chapter.

What you'll need

1. A tea selection which you want to explore (post-fermented teas, gongfu black teas, and oolongs have more room for exploration)
2. A Yixing teapot, porcelain teapot, or a gaiwan. It may be easier for beginners to use one between 160 to 180 ml capacity (when completely filled). Migrate to either lower or higher capacity when you have better control over the tools and the tea.
3. A hot water source, e.g. an electric kettle etc
4. An infusion table, or a deep, flat bottom porcelain plate to hold spills (there will be spills)
5. A dark colour tea towel
6. Matching size tea cups
7. A timer
8. A scale
9. optional: a kitchen thermometer
10. optional: A chahai, or any matching size decanting vessel
11. optional: A strainer
12. optional: tea picks for clearing the teapot spout, and clearing tealeaves etc
13. optional: tealeaf holder for weighing and dispensing
14. optional: A bowl as the reciptical for used tealeaves and refuse water

The basic steps are presented in the slide show. Try it until you get results that satisfy yourself. Then we'll go on to the next level in the next chapter.

For details of tea to water ratio, temperature requirements for water, and timing for gongfu infusion, click <here>.