tea gratitude

Gong Fu in motion

Had a fantastic weekend, and it had everything (and nothing) to do with tea. Treated myself to a tea session at Laifufu Teesalon on Saturday, and it put me in just the right frame of mind to savour the rest of that day and the next.

 Si Ji Chun Oolong leaves

Drank a delicious Si Ji Chun Oolong from Nanton, Taiwan.  The tea was relatively highly oxidised and since I normally go for Oolongs that're lightly oxidised, this was also a nice break from the ordinary (Here, to the left, were the leaves beforehand).

I was thrilled, as always, with Laifufu, which I found out means 'Das Glück soll kommen' (luck/happiness is coming).

Like I say, this was the way I eased into a few both relaxing and productive days. Which if I'm forthright, is exactly why I love drinking tea. One of the many reasons.

I can get so much done while drinking tea, and it somehow calms me without interfering with my making progress.

Also I'm really enjoying the tea community and my little corner of it. I suppose I could assume it was understood how grateful I am to have found all of you tea bloggers and tea obsessives, as a result of this blog and The Association of Tea Bloggers and Tea Trade and Steepster and and and...

But Springtime is busting out all over, and I've decided now is as good a time as any to go all wobbly. I adore you folk, and my life has definitely benefitted from our acquaintance(s). Thanks for everything and here's to much more of the same.

the very exhausted leaves after the fact

tea out of egg cups

Don't know many tea drinkers where I live. I'm sure they're out there, but for the most part my tea community is online. There are some really nice tea places in Munich, and one of my goals in the new year is to spend some time visiting the different options and reviewing them here.

Yet I have made some friendships online that've transitioned into the real world. Wrote about meeting a few of you at the 1st annual Tea Trade gathering, which was quite a joy. I mentioned to Xavier then that we're often in Southern France for New Year's, and there was talk about maybe meeting each other there. Or here I should say, because Nice is where we are.

I'm sure there'll be plenty more about tea in the days to come, but in the meantime, we had a very nice Gong Fu session with some simple Dung-ti Oolong. I packed a Gaiwan for this very purpose, but knew I'd have to improvise when it came to tea cups.

The flat we're staying in had the perfect-sized egg cups, so that's what we drank out of. Unconventional as they might've been, it worked perfectly. 

little Gaiwan's workload

* (the red dragon attempting to take my tea) *

How do you welcome a new teapot into your life? It's a ridiculous question, but I was thinking about the interview I might have with a piece of tea paraphernalia before taking it back to a very good home. Mine.

Many tea fanatics have excessive gear. Pots as well as cups and saucers and the list is rather endless...In order to call myself a tea obsessive, I'm not even sure what stuff I'm missing . I know my cupboard is light when it comes to this subject.

But I do have a growing collection, and typically I go for function rather than form. When I was first experimenting with Gong Fu brewing, I didn't even have a glass teapot, so I was using a large measuring beaker. Thought I'd written more extensively about that here, but maybe in a moment of wisdom, I destroyed the evidence.

Wrote about one of my favourite pieces of tea gear in shrinking my teapots. Still like the photo of that teapot from the dead of winter.

But without further ado, here's my relatively new little Gaiwan:



What would I ask the little guy if I wanted to let him know that a teapot's existence might be a bit overwhelming? Don't want to freak him out before he even gets accustomed to his new digs. But in the interest of full disclosure, it's probably best that I'm up front about the workload around here. At least for such a little Gaiwan.

Why wouldn't he be thrilled at the opportunity? What else is his purpose as a piece of tea paraphernalia? You know, that's the path to just taking your tea gear for granted.

accesible Gong Fu

When I think about who I write this blog for, other than for myself, I imagine people who're curious about tea and want to know more. There are certainly some rather knowledgeable people who come here, but there are so many beautiful and knowledgeable blogs about tea. I want to try and help demystify tea drinking a bit, and so I purposely write with the tea newcomer in mind.

Because I'm passionate about it in my daily life, I get a lot of earnest questions. I'm sure some of the more direct inquiries never get made. Along the lines of, 'Wow, this guy's a bit obsessive, isn't he?' But instead, people ask me a variety of questions both general and specific. And I figure such curiosity is the perfect sort of thing to write about here.

So my friend Gaby was over the other evening, and I offered her a glass of wine or some sort of sparkly fruit beverage. She knew I'd be drinking tea, so she insisted that sharing tea with me would be just perfect. I have a new Gaiwan that she hadn't seen, so I decided to go the way of Oolong. It wasn't immediately clear if I'd made the right choice.

Recently, I read something Alex Zorach said about not doing Gong Fu in a traditional way. Essentially his idea was, and I hope I'm paraphrasing it correctly, that he did a sort of a modified Gong Fu that might look a bit strange to a purist. Those are really my words, but the point was that he brewed in a way that worked best for him.

I think it's applicable if my above-mentioned goal was to make tea drinking a bit more approachable. As I poured the first infusion of the Milky Oolong for Gaby, she looked at the curious little snifter cup. 'Where did you learn about all of this?' It's a funny question. I've watched plenty of videos, been to tea ceremonies, peppered tea shop owners with a myriad of questions.

She didn't particularly like the smell of the first infusions of the Milky Oolong, so I didn't make such a big deal of sniffing every infusion. She did like the taste. She said it smelled like a flower you can get at the Viktualienmarkt, which is an open-air market in downtown Munich. Maybe it was called the Joshua flower, but she wasn't sure.

The nice thing was that she was so curious and so eager to try each new infusion. Although she preferred the taste of the tea to the smell, she continued to use the snifter cup. She liked the tea as it got weaker and lighter. As we continued through cup after cup, I tasted less 'milky' and more Oolong, but it wasn't the most complex tea.

What's my point here? Do I really think I can proselytise and convince everyone I know to not only drink tea, but go the way of Gong Fu brewing? No way. But it was a pleasure to see how accessible it was for a tea newcomer. It was nearly a foregone conclusion that I'd have a good time with all of this, but I was very pleased that Gaby did.

sniffing tea leaves...over and over again

If you were accustomed to brewing simple black tea in a pot, what would you think if you started reading about Gong Fu brewing of Oolong tea?

You plug Oolong into a search engine, and find videos of people pouring tea out of little Gaiwan pots and inviting the others at the table to sniff the leaves. It's almost as if you've wandered in off the street into a freaky tea leaf smelling cult.

I've met tea drinkers who want nothing to do with all of this. On more than one occasion, I've explained my fascination with Oolong to someone who already likes drinking tea, but they stare back at me with incredulity. Multiple steepings of the same lea leaves? Really? Can you not afford fresh tea?

No, I assure you-the tea changes as you brew it repeated times. The taste develops. It really does.

But let's say you're still on the fence about this one. You don't know about buying a lot of tea gear for something you're not even sure you're going to like. Some of those sites about Oolong you found talked about the Gaiwan, while others mentioned a Yixing teapot. What is all of this stuff? Is it really necessary?

The complicated answer is that yes, the tea tastes different brewed in a specialist's clay pot. But actually the simple answer is no. I often write this blog with the tea newcomer in mind, and I'd like to describe how I started brewing Oolong before I bought any new paraphernalia.

The first thing to remember is more tea/less water for short steeping times.

For this discussion, I'm going to use Hampstead Tea's Oolong from the Makaibari Tea Garden. I've intended to review this tea for a while, so here's my chance. How much tea exactly? I'm making a small container of tea, so I'd suggest one or two handfuls of tea leaves. Like here.



The initial infusion rarely offer much in terms of flavour. It's custom in some tea ceremonies to even throw the first steeping out. But even if it's just to see if there is much taste, I always sample the first go round at least. For our purposes, I'm using a measuring jug. Remember, we're approaching this with common household materials. Here's what the leaves look like in the glass:





Now this will probably be completely counterintuitive considering you normally brew tea for much longer, but only 20 or 30 seconds for each steeping. Really. Oolong is rarely bitter (it's one thing people really like about it), but if you let so much tea in so little water brew for much longer, it can get strong. That's what happened in the first infusion above because I was taking the photo, but by the second it came out perfectly. A very dark brown cup colour, and a deliciously light, even smoky, taste.




You won't simply dump the leaves into your cup/mug along with your delicious tea. This slotted ladel was almost certainly not intended for this purpose, but all that really matters is that you find something to strain the liquid and separate the leaves. Say what you like, this works for me in a pinch. The third time round is a bit less smoky and there's even a bit of a lemon taste.






So what do you think? If you've heard/read about multiple tea infusions, have you given it a try? Might this description help you jump in and do a bit of your own experimenting?

If you've been doing this forever, how did you come to it? Did you acquire the proper utensils before you ever attempted this? What was your experience early on? Did I leave anything important out that you think is really necessary? Please let me/us know. I'll be over here sniffing my tea leaves.

shrinking my teapots

Recently I was asked several questions by Jordan Williams at Tyros of Tea (http://tyrosoftea.wordpress.com/), and one of them was about the teapots I use. I have a few Art Deco teapots that I happily use, but have not branched into other tea gear. When I read about Gong Fu , I resolved to get a teapot specifically for such brewing. But in the meantime, I was making do with a large measuring cup and a strainer. Needless to say, I never made photos of my ridiculous contraption.

But now I've been given a more suitable teapot. Although the ideal size seems to be much smaller than I'm used to, I'm slowly moving my way down. I like to brew a proper pot of tea. So here's my considerably smaller teapot that I've decided is only for Oolong.



So I did a bit of searching, but don't know what this type of teapot is called. Until I know, I'm going to call it Compromise. It's not nearly as small as it probably should be, but it's as close as I can get until now.

non-Gong Fu multiple infusions

Last week I wrote about Gary Vaynerchuck, Kevin Rose, and Jesse Jacobs talking tea and wine at http://leafboxtea.com, and I wrote about social media but not about tea. When asked about how much tea and how long for steeping times, he repeated several times that he often advised more tea and shorter steeping times.

I've been doing this more and more with varying results. When I put green tea in a paper filter, the third or fourth infusion is sometimes the last one that really has reasonable taste. Oolong lasts for a few more infusions, but I still think this form of brewing is not the optimal one for multiple infusions.

The Gong Fu style of brewing seems to be much better for this. As much as I've tried to modify more tea/shorter brewing times in a larger pot with a paper filter, it's not yet working so well.

I know this isn't normally a place where you find practical tea-making advice, but it is a teablog. I have to talk about tea sometimes, don't I?

Easing lightly toward an Oolong dreamland

This Gong Fu-style of brewing is really helping me see what all of the excitement was about. To be clear, I don't yet have an actual Gong-fu pot, so I'm only using more tea and less water for a much shorter time. I've been reading about the varying character of multiple infusions for so long. Only in the last few weeks have I been able to appreciate it.

The tea I'm doing this with is a very middle-of-the-road Oolong called simply Formosa. It's not bad, but not the nicest I've had either. I'm enjoying experimenting with this simple tea and planning to employ my new tricks with better tea once I get better at it.

One thing that surprises me is that even with far shorter steeping times, the tea is still so strong. Some places I read about twenty second infusions, and I'm not there yet. Nevertheless, I can get a good strong cup of Oolong by only leaving the leaves in the water a minute. I used to use the same temperature water as I did with green tea, but I seem to be getting better results by using boiling water.

I've considered taking photos of the leaves like I see on so many other people's blogs. But my photos make the leaves just look like any other leaves. I continue to believe I should play to my strengths. You didn't come here for photos. Obviously. It's the stories you get when you come here, right?

So I'm going to tell you a story about an afternoon without tea. Most days, when I'm going to be gone for more than a few hours, I'll brew a few thermoses and tote them along. Today was an exception. Had my hands full with both a guitar and an amp, while my bag was filled with gear. There just wasn't room for tea. I thought I could find a shop on the way, and get a decent cuppa. If worse came to worse, I could always duck into an Italian place and have an espresso. That's exactly what I did.

When the morning tea started to wear off, I went into a cafe to fill up. I always check to see if they have loose-leaf tea, but often it's simply teabags of dubious quality. In this case, it was just easier to have some java. But even with the little cup of water that typically accompanies coffee in both Austria and Italy, I was soon totally dehydrated.

By the time I got to my rehearsal, I was parched. My mood soured a bit. I had plenty of energy, but something just wasn't quite right. After the rehearsal I hurried to my class, but not before downing another espresso. Now my heart was racing, but I was going to at least make it through.

My students were eager to see the results of their end-of-course exam. As I returned their work, I noticed I was blathering. More so than normal. I could take responsibility for my river of words, but instead I plan to blame the coffee. It was the coffee. There. I said it. My pal Shirley, who visits here despite the fact that she doesn't enjoy tea, often talks about the positive effects of coffee drinking. One thing she says is that it sometimes loosens people's tongues similarly to alcohol. I can see that happening.

After they pleaded their cases on some questionable marking, I sent them on their way with my normal 'What you can do to further improve your English' spiel. They seemed attentive, but I doubt they do any of what I suggest. They'll wait until next semester, study madly right before the exam, and then promptly forget most of what they learned.

I could take the view that their relaxed attitude keeps people perpetually employed teaching them English, but instead I'm continuously searching for methods to keep them engaged with the language even without me breathing down their necks. Especially without me breathing down their necks. It's how I've had the most success when learning languages-when I do it leisurely and at my own speed.

Noticing I was short-tempered, I tried to compensate by being especially gracious with my students. When I finally got home, I was able to go through my above-mentioned Gong-fu ritual. Somehow, that was all I needed. My the third infusion, I was human again. Or as human as I can get.

I'm slowly easing towards dreamland now. As I slip out of consciousness, the Oolong lets me down lightly. Very lightly.

Kudos to Oz

Gong Fu-style brewing in a teapot. Twice as much tea as I'd normally use for a single pot. Boiling hot water. Only two minutes steeping, at least for the first infusion.

Have been watching hours and hours of international football (World Cup) lately. And holding down my job. And writing something here daily. And at least an hour everyday walking/running with the dogs. And getting up at dawn to write/play songs (the only time I'm sure I can get the solitude I need).

This tea drinking is one of the only things that explains all the energy I seem to have. That and the pact I've made with the devil. #robertjohnson

Two regular contributors here have recently gone AWOL. Asiatic Fox was a fresh new voice in tea drinking, but it seems he needs a bit of a break from tea drinking. Hope he makes it back. And Sir William of the Leaf is still out there, active at LeafBoxTea, visited the World Tea Expo in Vegas, but I haven't yet seen his report on it. Am curious if he met Kevin 'tea tattoo' Rose.

Oh, I almost forgot...recently got a shipment of tea from Claus Kröger in Hamburg. I really need to try a new supplier. Might order a shipment from the other wholesaler in Hamburg. The folks who introduced me to Flugtee. They're Darjeeling experts, and I'm completely obsessed with Darjeeling.

In case you're wondering about my amigo the teahobo, he's leaving for Calcutta and then Darjeeling this weekend. He's only left the US twice in his life (Vietnam and Cancun, Mesico) and is a bit daunted by the prospect of this journey to one of the most important tea growing areas of India.

The teahobo will send his reports to me by email, and I'll post them to his blog. He's not very technically advanced (he's an old guy people), so I'm happy to help him where I can. You can read his exploits at http://teahobo.blogspot.com.

Otherwise, I'll be doing all the things I listed above. I hope you're all enjoying your summer. For you lot in New Zealand/Australia, I know it's winter there. Hope you're freezing your asses off. It'll be summer soon enough. If you're cold, put on another pair of long underwear. Congrats on the new PM. I watched Paul Rudd's goodbye speech. Sad really. Did you really sack him because he didn't do enough for the environment? Wow.

I like the new chick. She's far easier on the eyes than Rudd was. Good job Aussies. Good job.

What the heck do I do with this Oolong?

Oolong has a taste more akin to green tea than to black tea: it lacks the rosy sweet aroma of black tea but it likewise does not have the stridently grassy vegetal notes that typify green tea. It's commonly brewed to be strong, with the bitterness leaving a sweet aftertaste (steep time 20 seconds-1 minute).
from Tea Timer iPhone app

If you'd told me how to brew Oolong when I first started drinking tea, I might not have bothered. Don't get me wrong. I love Oolong. If you made me choose five teas to take on a long, long trip, Oolong would definitely occupy one of the spots (maybe two).

But the more I've learned about how it's commonly steeped, the happier I am that I got into Oolong drinking/preparing slowly.

At first, I simply brewed it like black tea. Boiling hot water for far too long. How long is too long? Am a bit embarrassed to say that I use to brew tea for upwards of eight to ten minutes. I'd never do that (knowingly) today, but at the time I thought it made the tea stronger. Turns out that steeping it longer just makes most tea more bitter. The only way to make tea stronger is to use more tea. If you use two spoons of Ceylon and it tastes weak, try three.

Later, I was instructed that Oolong is like green tea and needs to be brewed with water at a lower temperature. So, always trying to follow directions, I prepared Oolong from then on as if it were a green tea. All was well in Denmark. Or so I thought.

Then I read a blogpost from a teablogger far more astute than I, who said that it was possible to get 20+ infusions of this tea. If it's good quality Oolong, I guess it's possible. But there are a few things that make these multiple infusions possible. Much shorter steep times and double the tea you'd usually use.

Most of what I've read about this sort of brewing applies to the Gong Fu-style brewing method. It's a small (often ceramic) pot that only makes one or two servings of tea. You use a lot of tea for such a small container, and only steep it for much shorter times. Maybe half a minute to a minute to start out. Because the ratio of tea to water is so much greater, you needn't steep it any longer to get a nice cup. If you do decide to try this out, be creative. Decide what your steep times are based on trial and error.

Because I don't yet have a Gong Fu pot, I essentially do the same thing described above but in a common teapot. I use the same amount of tea that I'd use for a whole pot, but only liff it with half the water. Be sure to use boiling hot water by the way.

I'm presently drinking Dung-ti Oolong, which I've written about on this site before. Let me know if you can't locate it and I'll figure out how to link to it. Am still learning how to drive this blog. May look like I'm a seasoned pro, but I'm mainly concerned with content. The technical side comes to me slowly if at all.

Somewhere I read that the first infusion is poured out in honour of your ancestors. Was not entirely sure if I had a good enough feeling about my ancestors to be throwing any tea out in their name. My grandfather came from Scottish stock. I doubt he'd approve of me throwing out perfectly good tea for him under any circumstances. I mean really.

But when I'm feeling generous, I brew my Oolong or a minute, dump what's there and start the process again. Seems stupid to me still, but I did like a handful of the ancestors I had a chance to meet. Not all of them mind you, but it seems every family has a few members who really need a good talking to. Mine is no exception.