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Gongfu cha

Howwe pour

The Chaozhou way

Gongfu tea means making tea with skill. It probably began in Fujian and the Chaoshan area, and Chaozhou is called its capital by some. It is a way of brewing more than a ceremony: a small pot, a lot of leaf, many short pours.

Teochew kung fu tea on a slatted tray. Photo: Kandukuru Nagarjun, CC BY 2.0

Six steps

  1. A clay teapot and a cup of dark tea on a dark table
    01

    Water at 85 °C

    Oolong wants 80 to 90 °C; we brew at 85. Before thermometers, people listened: at about 75–85 °C the kettle throws "crab eyes", bubbles of 3 mm with a fast sizzle; at 90–95 °C come "fish eyes" of about 8 mm and a lower sound.

  2. A red clay pot and three white cups full of hot water on a slatted tea boat
    02

    Warm the pot and cups

    Hot water goes into the empty pot and the three cups first, then out onto the tea boat, whose slats catch the spill. Warm porcelain keeps the first pour from cooling.

  3. An empty white gaiwan beside a dish of dry, dark Dancong leaves
    03

    Leaves in, rinse, pour away

    Far more leaf than you would use in a mug: the pot holds about 100 mL. A splash of water wakes the leaves and is poured straight out again.

  4. Tea brewing in a gaiwan, leaves opening under the amber liquor
    04

    Twelve seconds

    The first real pour stays on the leaves for 10 to 15 seconds. Each pour after it is a little longer, and the same leaves give eight cups.

  5. A fairness cup full of tea beside three empty cups
    05

    The fairness cup

    All the tea goes into one pitcher before it reaches anyone. Poured straight from the pot, the last cup would be stronger than the first; this way every guest gets the same strength.

  6. Three thin white cups of tea seen from above
    06

    Three cups, both hands

    Traditionally three cups, 25 to 100 mL, thin and white so the colour of the tea shows true. The host offers with both hands and says ziah. You take it with both hands and say it back.

Water,
by the tea

Gongfu brewers set the water to the tea. Hotter water draws out more, and can scald a delicate leaf. Clean spring water, not distilled: water with no minerals makes a flat cup.

Water temperature for each kind of tea in gongfu brewing
TeaRangeTypical
Green70–85 °C80 °C
White75–90 °C85 °C
Oolong our Dancong80–90 °C85 °C
Black (red tea)90–95 °C90 °C
Dark tea, pu'er95–100 °C99 °C

We pour,
you say ziah

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