Does pu have to be brewed gong fu style

[wng]

Does pu have to be brewed gong fu style? I like to drink a large cup of tea at one time, brewing a lot of small shots and drinking them one after the next seems like something I won't enjoy. Are there other acceptable ways to brew pu?

thank you

[Proinsias]

It doesn't have to be brewed gong fu, brew it anyway you enjoy.

Personally I'm not too fussy about brewing cheap shu, cooked, pu. It would seem a bit of shame to brew a 20yr+ sheng in a large mug for one brew though.

If brewing shu as one or two large mugs I'd be giving it a rinse or two first.

[wng]

So far everything I have had has been fairly inexpensive. What would be the way to brew a cup of shu to drink this way, English style? Would that not work out? I have tried to do sort of gong fu up until now its just been frustrating and time consuming. I have tried a couple shengs also, I didn't like them much but thats a whole separate question.

[TomVerlain]

gong fu is lots of leaf in a small volume of water for a very short time. The three variables are the quantity of tea, the volume of water and the steeping time.

To make a mug - use a large pot, proportionally less tea, and a longer brew time.

Some of the little touchas are designed to place the whole thing in a pot. Personally, I would avoid the little touchas and just use 5-10 grams of tea in 330 ml of water for a minute or so. Trial and error to get the taste you like from the tea you have.

[debunix]

What's nice about the gong fu brewing is that you can discover different flavors coming out in the infusions at different times. But I've done a lot of 'bulk brewing' where I use a larger teapot and several longer infusions to fill my 1 quart thermos, and my puerhs generally tolerate this just fine. Sometimes it seems to bring out the sweetness when these teas are held this way a while.

[entropyembrace]

You can brew dark puerhs...aged (aged in this case meaning long enough it looks like black tea) sheng and pretty much any shu like you would black tea to get a big mug at once. For green puerh it seems to work better brewing it like a green tea with water that´s more like simmering than boiling hot.

It´s probably a bit of a waste brewing expensive puerh that way but for the cheaper stuff I figure why not and I do enjoy brewing up a cupfull at a time in a pot that´s too big for gongfu.

[wng]

Thanks for your help. I think I will also get a gaiwan and give gong fu another try, its the straining that's been a pain maybe a gaiwan will help.

[Oni]

For shu puerh or aged puerh, it is possible to put a certain amount of tea in a large cup, and leave it there 5 minutes plus and drink it, but if you do this with sheng puerh you couldn`t drink it because of the bitterness, it needs short washing and infusions, at least at the begining you should use short 10 second infusion time, I use 5 to 7 grams for a 120 ml gaiwan, and after two washings (this is very important, always pour from high so that there is pressure on the leaves, if the leaves are not open, you get a really bad start, it ruins the whole session, so I use 15 seconds wash), after this use 10 second infusion time for the first 3 infusions, after that you can increase this time with 5 or 10 seconds, later on with 20 - 30 seconds, until the laste infusio, I usually go for 2 minutes.

[hop_goblin]

For shu puerh or aged puerh, it is possible to put a certain amount of tea in a large cup, and leave it there 5 minutes plus and drink it, but if you do this with sheng puerh you couldn`t drink it because of the bitterness, it needs short washing and infusions, at least at the begining you should use short 10 second infusion time, I use 5 to 7 grams for a 120 ml gaiwan, and after two washings (this is very important, always pour from high so that there is pressure on the leaves, if the leaves are not open, you get a really bad start, it ruins the whole session, so I use 15 seconds wash), after this use 10 second infusion time for the first 3 infusions, after that you can increase this time with 5 or 10 seconds, later on with 20 - 30 seconds, until the laste infusio, I usually go for 2 minutes.

Totally

[shah82]

I do fine with a mug for bulang or menghai new sheng. I'm pretty bitter tolerant and I'm mostly after the aftertaste--young, cheap sheng is just not all that tasty. Aftertaste and chi! So mugs work fine, unless you like seperating all those flavors into 13 small cups.

Of course, with my attitude, it would be expected that I find puerh mostly a waste of money. The stuff I wanna drink is too expensive, and if I want to know enough to find good deals, I have to drink my share of bad puerhs (and sample sizes are expensive, if you get alot of them). Then you sorta have to get these huge cakes, and I don't drink enough tea such that I'd ever consume that much sheng in a year, unless it was one of the minis. Not without not drinking teas I like more.

[jktea]

You can get the best tea liquid and aroma if brewed in a Gongfu style. But if you are pressed for time, but still want to drink a cuppa tea, then casual brewing is also ok, but you can not get the best of the tea liquid you want.

Or you can use a easy-tea maker to brew Pu Er, a good tool to brew tea when you are pressed for time. The tea liquid and aroma from this tea-makers are still quite good.

Anyway, for good Pu Er tea, you should brew them in Gongfu style, otherwise, this treasure tea will be a waste.

[skilfautdire]

Thanks for your help. I think I will also get a gaiwan and give gong fu another try, its the straining that's been a pain maybe a gaiwan will help.

If it's only the straining part that is a concern, then a proper strainer would be useful. Most shops selling yixing teapots also are selling these cheap funnel-like metal strainers that works very well and fits right over a cup. A gaiwan will not help since the large holes are made for large leafs (not even for many Japanese teas) and the small stuff that comes along puerh will just go through them.

My two cents.

[Poohblah]

Loose-leaf puerhs seem to do just fine in the gaiwan. Cakes are a slightly different story. But you won't get the same taste from the loose-leaf stuff.

[chrl42]

Gong Fu Cha is originated from Guangdong/Fujian, by rich tea drinkers during Qing dynasty, using expensive Yixing teapot (at that time) for the best way to serve Oolong.

Puerh at that time, occupied very little of total tea consumption, then it became big after 50's by rich Cantonese and Taiwanese people.

But it grew as big as nowadays Yixing potters also use Yixing teapot for the best result for Puerh, moved long-time loved Yixing Hongcha to 2nd place..

But there's no rule, right? If using Yixing, porous clay would serve just fine, no doubt about Gaiwan either..

[jktea]

I would say the Gaiwan best demonstrates the new green or ripe Pu Er. For Yixing pots, it will best demonstrates the old Pu Er, no matter green or ripe.

Again, for very skillful Pu Er brewers, they wont use any strainers or filters when brewing the green Pu Er, because if use the strainers, then the tea liquid will taste different, not as concentraction as before.