Happy New Year 2010

Teapots

Hello my Cha Ren*
*Chinese for Tea People / Tea Friends

This week we'll talk about teapots..  And we can continue the Kungfucha topic next time... 

A fine teapot is very important for tea making.  As well as being a beautiful object to look at, a teapot is first and foremost a tool so it has to be functional as well as comfortable to use.

When making different kinds of tea, we use different kinds of teapots. This will bring out the best taste of the tea.

A similar logic can be found when tasting fine red wine. Question: did you ever try normal glass versus fine crystal glass for red wine? Any difference? Why? Drop me an email to george@kungfucha.net.

There are many kinds of tea out put from China. After many experiment, certain kind of teapots are suitable for 1 or 2 kinds of tea. You could try by yourselves as home work, or send me mail to discuss by person.

Generally speaking however, high density teapots (ie. porcelain or glass teapot) are used to brew Green tea, White tea and Jasmine tea. Low density teapots (ie. Yixing teapot) are used to brew Black tea, Oolong tea and Pu-erh.

One more important thing: the more you use a teapot, the more beautiful it becomes, and the better the tea will taste.

#2 Kungfucha

Hello My Dear Tea Friends.  

After talking about Pu-erh tea last week, let’s get back to the Kungfucha topic : )

Some of you may ask: "Which kind of tea should be used for Kungfucha-style preparation?"

Well, I can tell you that the main kinds of tea suitable for Kungfucha are Oolong families (ie. Rock Oolong tea) and taged (15+years post fermented) Pu-erh. However Green tea, Black tea and White teas are not suitable. Why? Anybody know? 

Today we will use Rock Oolong tea ... 


We need:

• a 150-200cc Kungfucha style teapot
• 3 small ceramic cups
• 2/3 pot volume tea leaves
• and 100 degrees C water

The first round is for "washing" (cleaning the tea of any impurities) and to warm up the cups;

The second round: pour the boiling water into the pot, 5 seconds later, directly pour the tea into the ceramic cups in turns;

The third round needs to wait 10 seconds, fourth round needs to wait 30 seconds, fifth round needs to wait 1 minute... Normally, the Rock Oolong tea can be made up to 10 infusions.

The below photos give you a visual idea.... These show me preparing Dahongpao Wu Yi Rock Oolong Kungfucha-style.

Between each round, you can take a break for 3 minutes.

Thinking, talking, reading ... And feeling the kick back : )

Of course, you can adjust the time for the tea making, to control the taste (lighter or stronger) to satisfy yourself , your friends, your family.

To enhance the environment of drinking Kungfucha, you can listen to music, the sounds of nature or burn incense. Burning incense is most suitable for meditation and quiet contemplation when drinking tea alone.

Why don’t we stop and make Kungfucha now?

 

And then take time to leave us a comment below :)

To be continued….