Brewing Gongfu Cha is not complicated. You might have heard of a lot of rules and procedures but all that you need to pay attention to are temperature, time, and amount of tea leaf.
As a starting point:
- Leaf to water ratio : 4g to 100ml water (so if you brewing vessel is 100ml you use 4g of leaf)
- Temperature : Unless you are brewing green tea or white tea just use boiling water.
- Steep Time : Start with 10 seconds and if it tastes weak add 5 seconds.
Things you need
Brewing Vessel
- Gaiwan : This is basically a bowl with a lid that you use to steep your tea. As you can see gaiwans can come in many shapes and sizes. This brewing vessel can be a little hard to pour at the beginning so here is a video to teach you.
2. Tea Pot : I know in the picture these are all clay pots but it could be any old tea pot. But aren’t these clay pots cute though!!
3. All in one teapot : This is something that you can take to the coffee. Just put in some tea, pour in water and press the button! You got tea!
Gong Dao Bei (Fairness cup)
This is another cup that you pour your tea into after steeping. The reason why its call a fairness cup is because if pour tea in 3 cups one after another the first cup would be the strongest and the last weakest. So you pour into a fairness first so everyone gets the same tea.
Tea cup
You can use anything that can hold liquid.
Water Tray (Optional)
A water tray is a tray that you pour your water or tea into so it doesn’t go all over your table. You pour your first rinse into it or for when you pour hot water on tea pot to reheat it.
This is what the whole set can look like
Conclusion
Choose the way of brewing that suits you. If you want the whole experience go with whole tea set. If you don’t have time at the office just get an all in one brewer. Tea is only as complicated as you want it to be.
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