Gongfu brewing, step by step

Gongfu cha means, roughly, “making tea with skill”. Instead of a big pot and one long steep, you use a small vessel, a lot of leaf and a series of short infusions. Each cup tastes a little different from the last, and a good oolong or pu-erh will keep going for eight, ten, sometimes fifteen rounds.

What you need

• A gaiwan or small teapot of 100 to 150 ml. A porcelain gaiwan is the best place to start: it doesn’t hold on to flavour, and you can see the leaves.
• A fairness pitcher (gong dao bei), so every cup is equally strong.
• Small cups, 30 to 60 ml each.
• A kettle, ideally one that holds a temperature, and a scale that weighs to 0.1 g.
• A tray or a bowl to catch water. Gongfu is splashy.

The ratio

Use about 5 to 7 g of leaf for every 100 ml of vessel: roughly three times what you would use for a western mug. For a 120 ml gaiwan, start with 6 g of rolled oolong or 7 g of pu-erh.

Step by step

1. Warm everything. Fill the gaiwan with hot water, pour it into the pitcher, then into the cups. Warm ware keeps the brewing temperature steady.
2. Add the leaf. Put the dry leaf in the warm gaiwan, close the lid and give it a gentle shake. Lift the lid and smell: this is the first taste of the session.
3. Rinse, if it needs it. For rolled oolongs and pu-erh, pour in water, then pour it straight out after a few seconds. This wakes up the leaf. Delicate greens and whites don’t need a rinse.
4. First infusion. Fill to just below the rim, cover, and steep for about 10 to 20 seconds (up to 40 for tightly rolled oolong).
5. Pour it all out. Hold the lid slightly open and decant every drop into the pitcher. Leaving water on the leaf over-steeps the next round.
6. Serve and taste. Pour from the pitcher into the cups. Notice aroma, sweetness, texture and finish.
7. Keep going. Add 5 to 10 seconds each round. When the flavour fades, give the last infusions a minute or more.

If it isn’t right

• Too bitter or harsh: pour faster, or drop the temperature by 5 °C.
• Thin and watery: use more leaf rather than longer steeps.
• Fades after three rounds: the first steeps were too long. Keep them short and let the tea open slowly.

Write down the leaf weight, water and times. The next session starts from what worked.