Gongfu Guide: An Experience, Not a Science
Hey all!
I’ve made a little guide to help some of you into the world of Gongfu Cha. I’ve included some guidelines and a short video tutorial.
http://whisperingpinestea.com/gongfu
Hope this helps someone. Let me know if you’ve got any questions! :-)
Happy Sipping,
Brenden
Nice video. I agree Gongfu is better called an experience than a science. It is in my view more of an art.
Off-topic, but thanks for introducing me to Nahko and Medicine for the People. :)
Agreed. I’ve already listened to everything I can find from them on Spotify. But that Budding Trees song is special.
For sure! Such great vibes! Also check out Tubby Love, Xavier Rudd, and Trevor Hall :)
I hope this is not a silly question. Why do you pour from the gaiwan to the little teapot to the cup? Why not just pour from the gaiwan into the cup?
Also, I have one of those little teapots, and I use that rather than a gaiwan to brew gongfu (which is not very often). I always seem to burn my hand when using a gaiwan, clearly I need practice! Is that wrong?
Even if its a silly question, I was wondering the same thing myself. I’m glad you asked it. :)
The cha hai (serving pitcher) is traditional in gong fu cha. There are a couple of reasons why you would want to use one.
First, Chinese teacups are typically smaller than the gaiwan although in this case he had a large cup and could have elected to pour directly from the gaiwan.
The other reason is the flavor of the tea is different from the beginning of the pour to the end. If you’re serving tea to more than 1 person, a pitcher ensures an even infusion strength for everyone.
Group setting you want a pitcher as per reasons stated already.
If you are just drinking solo, you don’t really need it. There is no reason to pour into a cha hai/pitcher if you have a big enough drinking cup.
Though one perk of using a pitcher is it will cool your tea off some as you transfer it into your cup.
I also use the pitcher to speed up solo brewing, so round 1 I pour into the cup, I start steeping round 2. While I’m drinking round 1, I pour round 2 into the pitcher. That way I’m chaining tea and don’t have to wait long between steepings. Or yeah, could just have multiple cups, haha!
There is another reason I use a cha hai for just myself. I like to pour the tea through a strainer but not directly from the pot or gaiwan. Strainers can be slow and can clog up. If you pour the tea into a cha hai and then strain it into the cup you have time to wait.
all the reasons above, plus you can better examine the color of the tea through the cha hai.
Thank you so much – we’d love to share this on our Twitter feed (@rosalitea) if you don’t mind!
I saw that this wasn’t linked on your webpage under ‘quick links’. It took me a while to find this.
Haha! Just used a gaiwan for the first times and you definitely have to be careful of burning your fingers, both with the hot water and the temperature of the gaiwan, depending on the material it is made from. I do love to brew this way but have been using professional cupping sets. I’ve never got water on myself using those but you still have the issue of the teaware being hot. With practice, I’m sure I’ll get it. And my fingers will toughen up and be less sensitive to the hot teaware.
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