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I’ve gotten a few different oolongs, but I hadn’t had much luck with them (brewing conventional style). So I decided to revisit the basics on TG and check out a few different entries on TeaHong. TG wasn’t so conclusive (I was using the right water temp) but TH gave me a few new data points. Specifically words along the line of this:
Adjust tealeaves to water ratio for infusing at 90°C for 2 minutes for the first infusion. Increase time by 15% for each subsequent infusion.and:Adjust the tealeaves to water ratio so you can infuse the tea for at least 3 minutes at 90~95°C.I’ve assumed that these reference gongfu infusion tactics, which I have actually not taken part in yet – however, I’m not aware of gongfu taking more than a minute per infusion.What exactly is the larger context surrounding these tips? Also, more to the point, how exactly do I modulate leaf to water ratio so that one can alter infusion time (and or temperature, which the above implies)?I typically use a 50ml porcelain gaiwan, if that helps.Thanks,M. -
I think that means using not so much leaves for you. However, I think 50 ml is very very small gaiwan. That is not good for making any tea. I think that is a tourist gift kind of gaiwan, not really for use. You should use at least 100 ml gaiwan, and bigger if you are not using gongfu style. Like 150 ml will be better for longer steeping time.
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The original Tea Hong direction has been written aiming at general users who normally use a tea mug or tea pot for making tea. Basically the original idea of adjusting tea to water ratio means using more or less leaves, or a larger or smaller infusion vessel.
Tea infusion is a management of not only the water temperature, tea to water ratio, but also the heat behaviour within the infusion vessel; therefore the size, material, shape, and timing and manner of how water come into contact with tealeaves. The physical and chemical nature of the tealeaves also play key roles.Having said all these, basically, it seems to me that a 100 ml gaiwan is setting you up for the way to do it only in the gongfu way. Chawang is right. Smaller and thinner vessels facilitate short infusion approaches and not so good for longer ones. To do it the conventional way, you have to use a larger vessel. A larger vessel means relatively slower heat loss to enable you to control the other variables. A smaller one holds the total heat relatively shorter. It is a matter of physics: total surface area to volume.Generally, a 250 ml vessel with thick material, holding 2.5g tealeaves for 2~3 minutes should give you good result. If you use a 100 ml gaiwan, try DOUBLE the tealeaves but a quarter or one-fifth of the duration
Amazing fun, isn’t it? I’ll talk a lot more about the variables of infusion in later TG articles. -
I’ll admit I’ve got some holes in my how-to.
Currently I only own two gaiwans (third one’s lid took a nose dive off a table, lives on as a cup) – one is 100ml filled to rim and the other is about 120ml filled the same way. The former is bell shaped and fairly thin, the latter bowl shaped and relatively thicker. I’ve done a little gongfu style stuff recently for a deep brown oolong (more experimentation required), but pretty generally I just pre-heat it, put the right about of leaves in (1g to 100ml of water or proportions there of) and the leaves sit until I’m done with them. The bowl one usually gets used for darker teas because it holds heat a bit longer, but the tiny button on it leaves a bit to be desired. On the whole, green teas do best in my experience – probably because the heat drop doesn’t effect them so much.So if I’m following along, I should invest in a larger gaiwan / cha chung, like this one for example: https://www.jkteashop.com/lucky-vine-flower-fine-porcelain-big-gaiwan-250cc-p-798.htmlAnd then I’d leave my smaller ones for gongfu sessions?
That is to say, my standard approach would probably be better served with something the size of the above vs the ones I have now, which I should make better use of in gongfu sessions.Thanks,M.
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Amazing fun, isn’t it? - You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
