Brewing

一Brewing for drinking and for comparison#

A useful recipe names the tea, leaf mass, water amount, vessel, water temperature and timing. Gongfu brewing uses repeated infusions in a small vessel, separating the liquor from the leaves each time. Its purpose here is to find a cup you enjoy and can repeat.

Formal sensory assessment serves a different purpose: it compares samples under a defined method. GB/T 23776-2018 is the Chinese national sensory-evaluation standard; it should not be presented as a household recipe. The Tea and Beverage Research Station's own assessment instructions likewise fix the cup, dose and steeping time. See Tasting vocabulary and how to evaluate.

The examples below come from Chinese drinking guides, with each tea and timing convention identified. They illustrate workable choices within their stated scope, rather than one recipe for all six categories.

二Measure dose, water and time#

Weigh the dry leaf and measure the water you actually add at your usual filling level. A vessel sold as 150 ml may not take 150 ml of water once leaves are inside. Do not calculate the ratio from the smaller amount of liquor poured out: some water remains with the leaves. At 1:30, 150 ml of water calls for 5 g of leaf; 100 ml calls for about 3.3 g.

Record what your timer measures. DB52/T 1495-2020, the Guizhou drinking guide, starts timing when water is poured in. DB35/T 1545-2015, the Wuyi rock-tea guide, excludes filling and pouring from its steeping times. Even a short stated steep can have a long total contact time if filling or draining is slow.

Keep your own convention consistent, note the pouring time, and drain before the next infusion. Useful terms are leaf dose, steeping time and pouring off.

三Yancha and other oolongs#

The published Wuyi rock-tea guide provides two lighter examples for a 110 ml vessel: 5 g with successive steeps of 20, 30 and 45 s, or 8 g with 10, 15 and 20 s. Both use freshly boiled water; the times exclude filling and pouring. The same 8 g becomes its medium-strength example at 20, 30 and 45 s. Dose and time work together: an 8 g packet does not determine the strength by itself.

Do not extend this recipe to every oolong. A Taiwanese research-station summary reports different temperature preferences for its Oriental Beauty, high-mountain and Dongding samples. Rolled leaves and long strips also occupy a vessel differently. Weigh them rather than matching the apparent height of the dry leaf.

Watch the opened leaf and taste successive infusions. If the second infusion becomes much stronger, try a shorter contact time; do not automatically lengthen every infusion from the start.

四Pu'er and other dark tea#

For compressed tea, record both the mass and the form of the portion: loose leaf, a thin flake, a dense chunk or a whole small tuo. Separate a cake along its layers with a tea knife, keeping your hands out of the tool's path. A mass of fine fragments is not the same preparation as an intact piece of equal weight.

Begin with a complete recipe for the actual tea, then watch how the piece opens. If an early cup is thin while the centre remains dry or tightly closed, assess the opening before adding more leaf. Once it loosens, reassess the time instead of continuing a long initial steep unchanged.

If you use a rinse, record it separately from the infusions you drink. Rinsing is a preparation choice, not proof of safety. It is not a way to rescue suspect tea. Do not promise a fixed number of infusions from age, price or the label “pu'er”; finish when further cups no longer appeal. Boiling and decanted infusions are different preparations and need separate recipes.

五Gaiwan, pot and cups#

Choose a vessel you can fill and empty comfortably, with room for the leaves to open. A gaiwan makes leaf inspection straightforward; a pot or removable infuser can also work. Practise the grip and pour with cold water first. For several drinkers, a pitcher lets you mix one infusion before dividing it among cups.

Use a consistent filling level, preheating routine and draining technique when comparing teas. A kettle's temperature setting is not a measurement of the water among the leaves. Vessel size, shape and the way you use it all enter the comparison.

If the leaf stays in a mug while you drink, extraction continues. That method cannot simply inherit the dose and timing of a small vessel that is emptied after each infusion.

六Yixing clays and seasoning a pot#

Choose a zisha pot first for useful capacity, comfortable handling and a reliable pour. A clay name, colour or seal does not tell you how that particular pot will change a particular tea. Compare it with a familiar glazed vessel using the same tea and water, and change only the vessel. See Teaware and water.

Dedicating an unglazed pot to one style is a way some drinkers manage carry-over and seasoning. Treat it as a personal practice, not a promise of better flavour. Remove spent leaf, clean the vessel and let it dry thoroughly. Keeping wet residue is not a useful shortcut to a patina.

七Water#

Start with water suitable for drinking and taste it on its own. Then compare two waters with the same tea, dose, vessel, temperature and time. This is more informative than changing water and leaf quantity together.

The Taiwanese research station found that water composition changed the appearance and taste of its Wenshan Baozhong and high-mountain tea samples; lower-hardness waters with pH below 7 performed better in that comparison. This is a result for those samples and tested waters, not a universal mineral target.

If your tea seems dull or has an intrusive water taste, try another drinking water before blaming the leaf. Record the brand or treatment used. A single TDS reading does not describe the full mineral composition, and this guide does not prescribe an ideal TDS or a health benefit. See Teaware and water.

八Green and white tea: read the leaf as well as the label#

“Green tea must never meet boiling water” is too absolute. Gong and colleagues' 1999 study of eleven Chinese green teas found that preferred temperature–time combinations differed with tenderness and rolling. The Guizhou drinking guide also combines boiling water with short, fully decanted infusions. Neither establishes the best recipe for every green tea.

For your own comparison, use two equal portions from the same tea, the same water and vessel, and change temperature while keeping the timing fixed. Taste at a similar comfortable drinking temperature. Then test a timing change separately.

The order of adding leaf and water is another part of a cup-brewing recipe. Li Hong’s illustrated manual shows water first for Biluochun, a small initial amount of water followed by the rest in its Longjing discussion, and a method that starts with the leaves (pp. 39, 44, 47). These are examples to compare, not rules that every tea of those names must follow. Record the addition order as well as temperature and time.

With white tea, distinguish loose buds, leafy material and compressed pieces. Record how much a piece was broken up; equal-looking spoonfuls need not have equal mass. For yellow tea too, start from the actual product and preparation, rather than treating its category name as a complete recipe.

九Adjust one variable and keep a short note#

Too strong, bitter or drying: first try a shorter contact time. If filling and pouring already take most of the time, use less leaf next session. Lowering temperature is another comparison, not a compulsory first remedy.

Too thin: check the water amount and whether compressed or rolled leaves have opened; then try a longer contact time. If the result is still unsatisfying, test a little more leaf in a fresh session.

Uneven infusions: check whether you drained completely, changed the filling level, or left a long pause between pours. Lengthen later infusions when the flavour weakens, and stop according to taste rather than chasing a count.

A useful note is brief: tea and leaf form; grams; water added; vessel; water and temperature; leaf/water addition order; rinse if any; timing convention; each infusion's time and taste. For a fair comparison of two settings, use fresh equal portions. The second infusion of one portion is not a repeat of its first.