Wednesday, September 30, 2009

How hard is it to brew a good cup of tea?


Just a thought on what Gong Fu can do to your Cha:

It's really easy to mess up a cup of green tea. In the case of Dan Cong, commercial grade products. Some can actually taste bad.

It's really hard to max the potential of great oolong tea. In the case of Dan Cong, the high end old bush Dan Cong. Without gong fu, it won't taste bad, with some serious Gong Fu, you can maximize its potentials and be rewarded by its beauty.

7 comments:

Maitre_Tea said...

As soon as I read the title, even before reading the actual post I thought, "well, in the case of Dan Cong, it's almost impossible to brew a good cup of tea!"

Even if these old bush teas are easier to brew, I can't get them to taste even remotely close to what I tasted in your store...it's quite frustrating, knowing what a tea can taste like at its best and being unable to coax it out

Imen said...

Matre Tea,

You are silly....

I am sure you can brew them well enough to enjoy.. :)

Think about the tools I have which most of others don't. The clay stove with the Shao Diao kettle alone could make the tea taste much better. On top of that, I brew these things day after day for years. If I can't brew them well by now, I better sell bad tea bag teas. :P

Come to my class in Nov, I will show everything it takes to brew dan cong better. Then it's up to you to practice afterward. :)

drumhum said...

I don't wish to sound like I am contradicting you Imen, but clay stoves and Shao Diao kettles can only add so much to the taste of a good tea. They are the "icing on the cake", so to speak. I do not underestimate the wonders of "icing on cakes", but that is all they are. Surely. (I hope I'm making sense here!

All you need to make a super cup of tea is hot water and a gaiwan. if you don't have a gaiwan, use a cup or a small jug.

Then, experiment with water temp, leaf quantity and brew time.

Its those last three factors that make the biggest difference.

Thinking one can't make a good brew without some specialist kettle or teapot can lead to some very expensive disappointments.

The reason your tea tastes good, Imen, is down to

1 Your skill and your tea leaf
2 your tea making accessories

and in that order.

Indeed I'm sure that there are tea masters out there that could brew tea in an old shoe and make it taste good (well, ok, perhaps thats not so true. It'll depend on who's shoe it is)

The Daily Reviewer said...

Hi!

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Anonymous said...

Fortunately, my tea is Puerh. So I can choose to not do Gong Fu. And I have chosen to give up on doing it. I got more variety of flavor from it but it's too demanding for me to do it anymore. I'm not looking for the most taste, I'm looking for the spiritual experience of the tea. --Teaternity

Imen said...

Drumhum,

Haha, shoes tea...

I will pass no mater how good it is.. :P



Jason,

You have been busy! :)

Imen said...

Thank you daily reviewer!