master gongfu tea

Okay I’ll admit that by the Chinese standard I’m no tea master when it comes to the gongfu tea ceremony. In fact I’ve come to realize that there are types of tea such as blacks and greens that do better with English brewing. Further for puerh and oolongs which do better with gongfu I’ve found that less tea leaves and more time works better for me. But in the end I’m not concerned about my deviations as after all the Chinese consider the tea ceremony as an art and not an exact science so I think its safe to say that my deviations still fall within the art of tea as they call it.

Here are a few videos to demonstrate what gongfu tea looks like. At the moment I’m learning gongfu tea with a gaiwan

Gaiwan brewing is simpler but not as good as a yixing pot when it comes to Puerh. Here is a video of a fancy and formal gongfu tea with a yixing teapot. This demonstration in the video is almost at the level of showing off, and the level that I’m after is a more casual and practical, as in I would pour into a single large cup and not bother with the aroma cups and multiple rinses.

I’m sure many of my subscribers are curious about what this goal is about so let me enlighten all who are willing to stay awhile and listen. Gongfu (also known as Kungfu in some dialects of Chinese) literally means with great skill. So within the context of martial arts Kungfu is literally fighting with great skill, in the world of tea Gongfu means to brew tea with great skill. Even though Gongfu and Kungfu are the same word, Gongfu is the version which is favored by most in regards to tea to prevent confusion with the fighting style by the “same name”. So in short this goal can be said to simply be about the Chinese Gongfu Tea Ceremony, which differs from its more commonly known Japanese counterpart. In short Gongfu is a completely different way of brewing tea from what most people are used to here in the West. The main difference between Gongfu and English Brewing (what most American tea drinkers use) is the size and time ratios used in the brewing. As English Brewing generally uses a teaspoon of loose tea per 6-8 ounces of water generally brewed for 3-5 minutes depending upon the type of tea. Gongfu tea on the other hand focuses on numerous short infusions, so one much might brew a tablespoon of the same tea with 3oz of water for 5-30 seconds a round depending upon the type of tea and how many times it has already been brewed.