How to Serve Traditional Chinese Tea
Serving excellent Chinese tea can bring great pleasure to both you and those who enjoy tea with you. There are two common methods of brewing and serving Chinese tea: gongfu style and gaiwan style. In gongfu style, one uses a Yixing pot, a type of teapot made from a special unglazed clay that absorbs the flavors of the tea. In the gaiwan style, the tea is brewed in a special ceramic bowl known as a gaiwan. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Water kettle
- Water
- Thermometer
- Chinese loose tea: black, pu-erh, oolong, green or white
- Yixing pot or gaiwan
- Timer
- Pouring vessel
- Tea cups
Instructions
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1
Choose your tea. For gongfu-style brewing, you will be using either a black, pu-erh or oolong tea. If you choose to use gaiwan, you may use black, pu-erh, oolong, green or white.
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2
Add your loose tea to the Yixing pot or gaiwan. For white tea, use a gaiwan and fill it half full of tea leaves. For green tea, use a gaiwan and fill it one quarter full of tea leaves. For oolong tea, use a Yixing pot or gaiwan and fill the loose tea leaves to one third to one half of the brewing vessel. For black tea, use a Yixing pot or gaiwan and fill it one quarter full of tea leaves. For pu-erh tea, fill either the Yixing pot or gaiwan one third full of loose tea leaves.
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3
Boil hot water in the water kettle and flash-rinse your tea. That means pouring boiling water over your tea and then pouring the water out, while retaining the leaves. This removes any impurities on the leaves, plus it begins the unfurling process.
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4
Heat water to the proper temperature in a water kettle. Use a thermometer to confirm the temperature: 180F for white, green and green oolong teas, 190F for oolong teas, 212F for black and pu-erh teas.
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5
Pour water into either the gaiwan or the Yixing pot. Let steep for 30 seconds.
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6
Decant the tea into the pouring vessel.
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Add more water to the gaiwan or the Yixing pot and add 5 seconds for each subsequent steep. Decant and steep as needed until you have enough tea to serve.
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Pour tea from the serving vessel into your guests' cups first and hand them to your guests.
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9
Pour tea for yourself and enjoy.
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Tips & Warnings
Use only one type of tea in your Yixing pot. Otherwise, the Yixing pot will impart flavors to your tea that you may not want. For example, if you choose to make an oolong in your Yixing pot, always make oolongs in your Yixing pot and never brew a black tea in it.
Water at these high temperatures may burn if it comes in contact with the skin. Do not use distilled water as it can become superheated and splash if it comes in contact with the leaves.
