Gaiwan Tea Brewing

I am often asked how long I brew my teas for. To be honest, I don"t time myself. I only time my tea brewing is when I am brewing teas for initial tastings or comparison using the competition brewing set.

However, I understand the curiosity or frustration with using a Yixing tea pot or Gaiwan for the first time. I remember when I brewed Gongfu style tea the first few times and my tea didn"t taste right. I had friends who would brew the same teas, and what they brewed tasted better. When I asked them how they did it, they always looked at me a bit puzzled and told me to use my feeling and intuition.

That"s pretty vague, right? Feelings? What kind? I decided to watch them whenever I had a chance to watch people brewing tea. I discovered experienced tea people have developed their feelings and intuition so that brewing tea has become natural for them. They feel the tea. It"s like a beautiful dance between tea leaves and the brewers. It"s like the person who brews tea has a thougtful conversation with the leaves.

This can sound fu-fu. If you have been doing something well for a long time, like cooking, brewing your own beer, making kombucha etc., you will probably know what I am talking about. You build a very good sense of how you are going to tranform the ingredients into something delicious. You simply know when it"s ready for the next step.

However, we don"t start by being perfect. We try and make mistakes even when we follow the recipes. I encourage you to be open to making mistakes when you start to do Gongfu tea. If you can watch an experienced tea person brew tea, that might be the best way to learn how to brew tea.

If you have to measure the amounts of leaves, water temperature, and time yourself, do that. But please don"t follow any brewing instructions like they are laws. You can follow them the first couple of times to get used to brewing tea in a gaiwan or yixing tea pot, but go out of that box and see what you might discover.

With that being said, it"s still difficult if you are new to this. So in my next couple of posts, I will let you know what my brewing times are with some of the teas, with the help of a friend who secretly timed me.

*photography by Douglas King.

Gaiwan Tea Brewing

I am often asked how long I brew my teas for. To be honest, I don"t time myself. I only time my tea brewing is when I am brewing teas for initial tastings or comparison using the competition brewing set.

However, I understand the curiosity or frustration with using a Yixing tea pot or Gaiwan for the first time. I remember when I brewed Gongfu style tea the first few times and my tea didn"t taste right. I had friends who would brew the same teas, and what they brewed tasted better. When I asked them how they did it, they always looked at me a bit puzzled and told me to use my feeling and intuition.

That"s pretty vague, right? Feelings? What kind? I decided to watch them whenever I had a chance to watch people brewing tea. I discovered experienced tea people have developed their feelings and intuition so that brewing tea has become natural for them. They feel the tea. It"s like a beautiful dance between tea leaves and the brewers. It"s like the person who brews tea has a thougtful conversation with the leaves.

This can sound fu-fu. If you have been doing something well for a long time, like cooking, brewing your own beer, making kombucha etc., you will probably know what I am talking about. You build a very good sense of how you are going to tranform the ingredients into something delicious. You simply know when it"s ready for the next step.

However, we don"t start by being perfect. We try and make mistakes even when we follow the recipes. I encourage you to be open to making mistakes when you start to do Gongfu tea. If you can watch an experienced tea person brew tea, that might be the best way to learn how to brew tea.

If you have to measure the amounts of leaves, water temperature, and time yourself, do that. But please don"t follow any brewing instructions like they are laws. You can follow them the first couple of times to get used to brewing tea in a gaiwan or yixing tea pot, but go out of that box and see what you might discover.

With that being said, it"s still difficult if you are new to this. So in my next couple of posts, I will let you know what my brewing times are with some of the teas, with the help of a friend who secretly timed me.

*photography by Douglas King.

Single Estate Tea

I love single estate teas. The flavor profile not only change from season to season, they also change from week to week. I enjoy the surprises! Take my winter High Mountain Oolongs, for example. When I first received them in December 2015, I brewed them in Gaiwans. I liked ShanLinXi and Lishan the most. The salivation effect from ShanLinXi showed up right away and it was bold, and one couldn"t miss the buttery-ness of this Lishan.

In January 2016, I did a blind tasting of these High Mountain Oolong with my tea club members. We didn"t know which high mountain Oolong was in which tea bowl. The point of this kind of tea tasting is to use our senses and tasting skills to evaluate teas. It can be challenging, but it is fun for sure! From this blind tea tasting, I was amazed to discover that my two favorites were Lishan and
DaYuLing.

By the middle of January, I was a bit worried about the HeHuanShan. I wondered if it would open at all. Then one day in February, I brewed the HeHuanShan High Mountain Oolong and was delighted that so many good qualities in the flavor, salivation and aftertaste showed up!

In the middle of February, I was in Portland doing a Lunar New Year tea tasting with my tea friends. I decided to do a blind tea tasting with all the High Mountain Oolongs again. I noticed most of the teas opened up nicely at that time. ShanLinXi did well during this round, Lishan and DaYuLing maintained their qualities, HeHuanShan bloomed and Alishan was its usual self, affirming that "I am a beautiful tea!"

A good tea is like life:  it changes. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. I love these changes though. I embrace changes and surprises. Every time when I brew a pot of tea, I am always looking forward to the known and the unknown qualities.

*photos provided by Lee Damon.

Single Estate Tea

I love single estate teas. The flavor profile not only change from season to season, they also change from week to week. I enjoy the surprises! Take my winter High Mountain Oolongs, for example. When I first received them in December 2015, I brewed them in Gaiwans. I liked ShanLinXi and Lishan the most. The salivation effect from ShanLinXi showed up right away and it was bold, and one couldn"t miss the buttery-ness of this Lishan.

In January 2016, I did a blind tasting of these High Mountain Oolong with my tea club members. We didn"t know which high mountain Oolong was in which tea bowl. The point of this kind of tea tasting is to use our senses and tasting skills to evaluate teas. It can be challenging, but it is fun for sure! From this blind tea tasting, I was amazed to discover that my two favorites were Lishan and
DaYuLing.

By the middle of January, I was a bit worried about the HeHuanShan. I wondered if it would open at all. Then one day in February, I brewed the HeHuanShan High Mountain Oolong and was delighted that so many good qualities in the flavor, salivation and aftertaste showed up!

In the middle of February, I was in Portland doing a Lunar New Year tea tasting with my tea friends. I decided to do a blind tea tasting with all the High Mountain Oolongs again. I noticed most of the teas opened up nicely at that time. ShanLinXi did well during this round, Lishan and DaYuLing maintained their qualities, HeHuanShan bloomed and Alishan was its usual self, affirming that "I am a beautiful tea!"

A good tea is like life:  it changes. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. I love these changes though. I embrace changes and surprises. Every time when I brew a pot of tea, I am always looking forward to the known and the unknown qualities.

*photos provided by Lee Damon.