this is how most people make tea
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and sure you can do it like that it's
perfectly fine
but if you want to try something a
little different and brew tea the
traditional chinese way come sit down
and have a cup of tea with us
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this is a brewing style called gongfu ta
kungfu means skill and effort and ta
means chi
it's a tea brewing ritual from fujian
that has been around as early as the
14th century
and there are many styles and ways to do
it
but let's keep it simple
this is a basic set up
tea
a gai one a gondol cup an empty bowl
teacups and a kettle you want to warm
everything up first by rinsing them with
hot water
but before we get started the most
important part of this whole process is
the tea
ideally you want loose leaf single
origin tea no tea bags and no flour
infused blends please
the leaves and tea bags are inferior in
quality and because the leaves are
crushed the flavor is released all at
once
the benefit of using whole tea leaves is
that the flavor will come out slowly and
you can make more brews
generally speaking there are six types
of tea
today i'm going to go with oolong tea
from taiwan
i'm putting in around five grams
this is a guy one it'll be used for
brewing not for drinking
put some tea in your gaia one
now grew some water and pour it in
okay let's continue
tilt the cap lift up a pinky and pour
the tea into this
this is called a gondol cup
this is used to portion out the tea
then fill the teacups and pour
everything into the empty bowl you do
not drink this first round you're just
warming up the tea set and washing the
leaves of dust and other impurities
next take this opportunity to smell the
tea and enjoy its aroma
okay now we repeat the steps
pour hot water in and wait
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you can cheat by opening up the lid and
looking at the color of the tea when
it's done tilt the lid and pour the
liquid into the golden doll cup notice
that i'm always pouring towards me and
that the equipment is a comfortable
distance
don't do it like this
or this
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then pour into the teacups making sure
the spout is angled towards your body
this is done out of politeness
drink then repeat up to four times
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so how hot should the water be
teas that are lighter like green tea
should be brewed at 80 to 85 degrees
celsius tea that are darker and more
fermented require a water temperature
that reaches boiling at a hundred
degrees celsius
today with oolong tea i'm working with
85 degrees celsius
for lighter teas you can use a gaiwan
the gaiwan's advantage is that you can
see the color of the tea easily
but if the water temperature is too hot
it can be difficult to hold
for darker teas that need a higher
temperature use a teapot a teapot is
good at trapping in heat and the handle
makes for easy holding
if you're using a teapot the process is
more or less the same pour in water
cover weight
pour the tea into the gondol cup this
should be one fluid movement
portion out into the teacups
and enjoy
now that you know the basics here are
some tips
the number of times you can brew really
depends on how much tea you are brewing
and what type of tea you are using but
generally you can get up to four brews
with that said adjust your brewing time
every time you brew
tea leaves wear out so the more bruise
you make the longer you have to wait
again there is a lot of material out
there about the ideal temperature and t
to water ratio
but don't get caught up in all of that
experiment or keep a notebook with your
ideal ratios
for many people this tea pouring ritual
is a type of meditation
and for others it's just a fun way to
enjoy tea
so give it a try
and hey if this isn't your cup of tea
this will always do
so here's a fun fact all trees whether
green black or white come from this
plant amelia
it's how the leaves are processed that
makes all the difference
we made an entire video about this check
out the link below for more thanks for
watching
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you