How Much Tea for Gong Fu Brewing? 

:) thanks

Thanks Eric

Hi, Yes you can use a tea basket to do Gong Fu style brewing. Find a cup or container (glass or porcelain) which is about 100-150ml which your basket can fit in. If you can find a container like this then put the right amount of leaves in and infuse in water and maybe use a small plate to put on top as a lid to maintain the temperature. Remove the basket after flash brewing and drink or pour into smaller cups if you are drinking with friends. It will be similar to the flavour of brewing in Gong Fu teaware like a Gaiwan (but obviously not exactly the same because these are designed for Gong Fu tea). Thanks! Don

These teas are usually pretty dense so you can definitely afford to go heavier. Wow 8g is heavyweight tea drinking! That is a powerhouse brew you are making.

With Japanese Green Teas i think it depends on the grade of steaming. Fukamushis will generally need lesser amount of leafes than for instance Asamushi Teas.

American here, so I use the gram to us fl oz ratio to keep track I agree, with high quality gyokuro, I will occasionally go up to 3:1 (9g per 90ml). For Chinese green, 1:1 (3g per 90ml) is fine.

Feel free to adapt but these are the general amounts that we use - make sure that you brew for short infusions though!

Definitely, I happily switched to Gong Fu style brewing a while ago.

Hi, Dark tea is a catch all name for any tea which is post-fermented like PuErh and Liu Bao.

If you are referring to Gunpowder green tea then this is usually a relatively inexpensive, simple country tea usually using larger leaves and designed for everyday drinking. We do not stock this tea but what would you like to know about gunpowder tea?

Thank you for the response. I did mean gunpowder green, but there isn't something specific I would like to know. I have learned so much from your videos that anything you would have to say about any kind of tea I would be interested in learning. The fact that you do not stock this tea explains why it was not featured in a video yet, but perhaps a detailed masterclass video on the different types of green tea someday will hit upon gunpowder? The question that begs asking, however, is why do you not stock it? is it a lower quality tea? does a good quality gunpowder green tea not exist?

+Ben Moore Hi, we are sure that we will be doing more videos on different types of Green tea. We don't stock gunpowder because it is generally low quality tea. There are some higher quality gunpowder but we have quite a few other high grade greens that we have decided to leaves gunpowder. We are not criticising gunpowder, it can be a good, everyday drinking green but it is not as interesting and aromatic as others.

i agree, gun powder can be a good everyday cheap tea. Usually get from the local chinese store, and even here I've noticed a difference in quality between the brands

Yes you can brew blends and tisanes Gong Fu style. The amount depends on the shape of the tisane - if it is fluffy with flowers then maybe fill up 1/3 to 1/2 of the Connoisseur brewer and if it is leaf then maybe less but follow your instincts. Of course you can put less leaf in and not fill the brewing container when brewing.

Japanese tea does work well with Gong Fu but I do think that Japanese brewing parameters are great for these teas.

I mean... rooibos is not from the tea plant so...

^^

Multiply any amounts which we give per 100ml by 1.8 for a 180ml gaiwan.

Mei Leaf thank you!! Just for clarification... let’s say I want to brew green tea, so 3.5x1.8=6.3g? I hope I got this right!

@@humanlizard9221 yes that is right !!!

do you also double the infusion time then?

Are they big leaf or small leaf black tea? What temperature are you brewing?

I'm brewing about 80-90 degrees. How do I know if they are big leaf? One has twisted leaves 2/3 centimetres long, the other I think is machine cut, and in little centimetre long sort of rolls.

The temperature is a little low in our opinion. We usually use 90 for black teas and if they are large leaves 2cm or more then we use 95.

Thank you, I'll try hotter water

Don, since I'm a US tea-head, for Fahrenheit temperature usually I do the same but it's at about 200 (+ or - a bit) for your 90 (I usually take it off the boil and then decant into my stainless steel double walled thermos made for using for COFFEE but works great keeping the temperature for quite some time but unless it's already hot it drops the temperature enough) and for your 95 usually somewhere near the 205 and maybe even 208 or so. In short, I believe that you can still make a great pot of tea with slight variations in temperature. I prefer to filter out our city water to rid it of the chlorine taste and fluoride but the electric driven table top method I use keeps the regular nice mineral content while softening the undesirable elements out. My rule of thumb even with any product I'm going to consume that has water as a major element of it that if I don't want to drink it right out of the tap (although that is very safe to do where I live as they have, at least what they consider, one of the best whole city charcoal filtration units in the world) the addition of the chlorine (to keep away bacteria etc.) and the fluoride (good for teeth?) after they do the charcoal filtration. That seems somewhat standard for US water filtration plants unless they're using an underground aquifer where it may only contain the local mineral content. In short, water for myself is more of a key factor (as important as not "stewing" my green teas which in my early days of even trying green in bags (YUCK) by using too hot of a temperature) sometimes I find that you can play a bit with the temperature and the amount of time brewed to get the desired results. In short, each areas water may be a factor in the finished result of your brewing. That's why I'm sure when I discovered Gong Fu style brewing several years ago and started experimenting with that it's become my preferred method for brewing (and of course to date my favorite is your GURU)!! Keep up the fantastic work sourcing those quality teas and brewing equipment (even the occasional western style) and we'll all keep buying. As an office desk top type of brewing, the Connoisseur glass brewer and container style as well as the leaf and bean style you offer (and even some smaller containers that have space for enough tea but only about 200 ml total with built in strainer and lid made to pour off) work well as next best choices. JUST KEEP DRINKING THE GOOD STUFF!!!!!!!!

Just experiment and see what works best for you! .5-1g one way or another will make a difference but it's not like it would be ruined either way. I reckon your 5*0.8=4g calculation is what was intended though.

Don't think it too much, just try some ammount of grams and feel it. Actually different tea is different.

Yes we like it a bit heavier on the leaves but this will work too.

Ask a Chinese Empero- oh wait...

+Some dude Mei Leaf has a yellow tea in their stocks. Highly recommend.

+lennutrajektoor haha I was just goofing a little. You've had the one they stock? Been dying to try it but already have loads of tea to work through! I saw that brewing yellow is essentially the same as white, so maybe that's why it wasn't included?

+Some dude I got one in Great Taste gift box. Never had any expectations. Turned out to taste noticeably different but definitely in top dogs list.

Just tried the Amber Mountain and love it!

Lol, yeah I got a teapot for specific gong fu brewing but can’t find a tutorial.