Baozhong Gong Fu

[devites]

I just got some brand new Baozhong from Floating Leaves and was just wondering if anyone has any advice on gong fu times/temp/amount as I have never gong fued green oolongs.

[tenuki]

Which one did you get?

I brew them sorta like the farmers who make them do. Your mileage may vary.

• Boiling water
• pack the gaiwan at least 1/3 to 1/2 full ( I go over 1/2)
• Use a small porcelain gaiwan or very dense thin walled yixing
• gently squeeze the leaves in your clean hand before you put them in so you can pack in more
• preheat the gaiwan, and after you put the leaves in take a good long wiff. YUM!
• flash rinse only covering the leaves then immediately pour out
• pour from high enough and on the side of the gaiwan to get the leaves to swirl gently and foam to appear
• first infusion don't fully fill the gaiwan, just cover the leaves
• infuse for - 30, 20, 25, 30 (or your choice, variable, I go less)
• smell the lid, smell the leaves after each infusion. you want the lid to smell divine, leaves less so. if the leaves smell better than the lid you may be doing something wrong.
• don't use a timer or a scale, they disturb the Qi of the tea.
• Fiji bottled water is my preference, you should be able to get that. Good water is really really important for these delicate teas.

That should get you started, there are lots of ways to brew these, none of them wrong. Good luck!

[tenuki]

I just noticed you are in Seattle. Go down to FLT and have Shiuwen show you. Trust me, you wanna do that and get your info from someone who drinks tea with the baozhong farmers not ask a bunch of hacks on teachat. Tell her you heard on teachat that Baozhongs are not supposed to be brewed with boiling water.

[devites]

I was their for like 4 hours there yesterday and tried like 10 different oolongs. I decided that the Baozhong Farmers Choice was the one i liked best so I got that and my other dailies (Dong Ding and TGY). She showed me how to distinguish good from bad when it comes to high mountain oolongs. Haha you must be the other teachatter that goes there (she mentioned their were others).

Her baby is so cute now that he can walk

[tenuki]

Good, glad to hear it. She is so generous with her knowledge and humble about her tea, it's always a pleasure. Konghia is crazy in the teashop isn't he, she refuses to child proof, so it's like letting, well, a 1 yr old who just learned to walk loose in the china shop. What fun.