Hey Teaheads.
This is Don from Mei Leaf.
In this video: how much tea do you need for Gong Fu brewing?
In this video I’m going to be giving you my tips on how to choose the amount of tea
to use just by looking at the leaf.
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For those of you who don't know, Gong Fu brewing is the style of brewing that is used throughout
the Far East, and it is simply the best way to get a proper extraction from your tea leaves.
It involves using smaller teaware - somewhere in the region of between 70 to maybe 180 or
200 ml.
It involves using a lot more leaf to water ratio, and brewing for a matter of seconds
over multiple infusions.
For those of you who don't do Gong Fu brewing i really, really recommend that you start
trying to do some Gong Fu brewing.
Honestly, for some teas it is the only way that you can really appreciate the complex
nature, and extract all the aromatics of the leaf.
It is [also] the only way that you can explore how the leaf develops as the water enters
the leaf over many infusions.
So let's begin.
How do you know how much leaf to use?
The more leaf that you use, the richer the tea is in terms of taste, in terms of texture,
and the more infusions you can do.
Is it possible to have too much leaf?
Absolutely.
It would be difficult to do, but it's possible.
We're going to be flash-brewing here, [and] when you're flash-brewing it's going to be
a matter of seconds, [so] if you put so much leaf in that by the time the water hits the
leaf and you've put a lid on the gaiwan or the teapot and you've decanted it, in those
few seconds if the tea has been extracted too strong then you've used too much leaf.
It would be quite a difficult thing to do.
In general, the more leaf you use, the better - and I’m not just saying that because I’m
a tea seller.
If you know that you are [only] going to be available to drink tea for a few infusions
then you may want to reduce the amount, because as i said, the more leaf you use the more
infusions you can do.
So you [obviously] want to be economical with your brewing styles.
Okay.
I'm going to bring the camera around, and we're going to go through each type of tea,
and I’m going to give you my tips on how much leaf to use.
All of the figures that I’m going to be giving you today are grams per 100 ml pot.
What you need to do is get yourself a nice, accurate measuring scale that can measure
down to 0.1 grams.
Then you need to find out the volume of your pot, or gaiwan.
The easiest way to do that is to just fill an empty pot with water, decant that water
into a measuring jug, and then you can see exactly what the volume is.
Now don't forget that you're not actually going to be brewing with that amount of water,
because the leaf itself is going to be taking up some of that volume.
If you take the volume of your pot - let's say it's 180 ml - then you would just take
the figures that i'm giving you and multiply by 1.8.
If it's a 200 ml pot then you'd multiply by 2.0.
If it's a 150 ml pot you'd multiply by 1.5, etcetera.
Let's begin.
We're going to start with green tea, because green tea is made from the young leaves.
The young leaves are the richest in terms of the amount of catechins and other aromatics
in the leaf.
Therefore, you don't need as much.
So green tea is your lowest amount.
I would recommend [that] a good starting point for green tea is between 3.0 and 3.5 grams
per 100 ml pot or gaiwan.
If you have more dense tea like this Long Jing here, which is flat and dense, then i
would be using something in the region of 3.5 grams.
If you have more light tea [leaves], like this then i would be using about 3.0 grams.
Now that may sound counter-intuitive, but if you imagine that you want to take, let's
say, 100 leaves, a hundred leaves of the lighter tea would weigh less than 100 leaves of the
more dense tea.
So the lighter the tea, generally, the less leaf you use.
This is 3.0 grams, and this is 3.5 grams.
You can see, visually, the difference in terms of the density.
Now if you have a super-light tea, for example a Hou Kui, like this.
This is Hou Kui, [which] is a beautiful Anhui [province] green tea.
This is very, very light - super light.
I would be looking at even less, [like] something in the region of maybe about 2.0 to 2.5 grams.
But this is a very unusual tea.
For the most part, [for] all green teas you'd be looking at between 3.0 and 3.5 grams of
tea per 100 ml pot.
Okay.
Next up is white tea.
White tea is made with young leaves, but it's also usually made with buds.
So, for white tea we go from 3.5 to 4.0 grams of tea per 100 ml pot, or gaiwan.
Again, I’d be looking at the density.
This white peony here is a little more fluffy, [and] a little bit lighter, than the silver
needle here, and therefore i would be using a little bit less tea compared to the silver
needle.
A good starting point [is] 3.5 to 4.0 grams.
Okay, next is black tea.
Black tea, again, is made with the young leaves and buds, and so therefore requires a little
bit less tea [leaves] than you other teas.
I would be sticking to between 4.0 and 4.5 grams.
So we're moving up in 0.5 [gram] increments here, [and here that would be] 4.0 and 4.5
grams per 100 ml pot.
Next up we have oolong teas.
Because oolong teas use larger leaves - they use third and fourth leaves - those leaves
have less concentration, and therefore you need a little bit more leaf.
For oolong teas i'd be going between 4.5 and 5.0 grams per 100 ml pot, or gaiwan.
Again, we're increasing it by 0.5 grams, so 4.5 to 5.0 grams, depending again on density.
This eastern beauty here is a lot lighter and fluffier, so I’d probably be looking
at around 4.5 grams, but for the Dan Congs, and the Wuyi Ya Cha’s I would be looking
at around 5.0 grams.
Next up is PuErh tea.
For PuErh tea you have the cooked PuErh tea here.
This is a shou cha.
Then you have some raw PuErh tea here.
For PuErh tea i think it is a very standard five grams.
From what i have experimented with 5.0 grams is the right amount for PuErh tea per 100
ml pot or gaiwan.
So 5.0 grams of PuErh tea.
Last, but not least is your ball-rolled oolongs.
Ball-rolled oolongs are obviously more dense, and therefore heavier, and i would recommend
somewhere in the region of 7.0, and maybe up to 7.5, grams of ball-rolled oolong per
100 ml pot, or gaiwan.
If you are brewing western style then i would recommend, [again as] a good guide [or] starting
point, would be to divide all of the numbers that I’ve just given you by about 5 or 6.
That will give you the amount to use per 100 ml if you are brewing western style.
That is all you need to know.
I hope that these guidelines make sense, and I’ll put them in the description [section]
below.
Please remember that every tea is different, so this is just a starting point.
With these tips i hope that you will be able to make an educated guess - just by looking
at the leaf - on how much tea to use to Gong Fu brew successfully for a rich, flavourful,
and delicious brew.
That's it Teaheads.
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