Grampa's Gong Fu

[needaTEAcher]

Howdy all!

With a nod to MarshalN, I link to his blog:

http://www.marshaln.com/whats-grandpa-style/

I like this article a lot. Grampa brewing isn't my favorite method, but I use it time to time, when the situation is just so. It's very useful, and I always enjoy it more than I expect to. I especially love the good view of the leaves, particularly while drinking! Lately, I thought of a new and pretty fun way to do it. It's not exactly grampa style, but pretty close.

I was gifted a few very, very rare teas in March. Super special stuff. For these I brew Gong Fu with my heavy artillery Yixing setup, but when the leaves are pretty much tapped, I have trouble letting go!

So I started emptying the "spent" leaves into a mug, filling it up with hot water, and letting it sit for a LOOOONG time, sometimes even overnight. Then I start drinking it grampa style, pretty slowly since it brews slowly, and I get a few more cups out of the same tea! Helps me to get to know a new side of the tea as well, bringing out flavors and aromas that were never there for the gong fu sessions. Just wanted to share, and thought maybe y'all could jump in with some interesting brewing techniques of your own!

[MarshalN]

Just boil those old leaves after one long steep, more efficient and you get more out of them than trying to re-steep them again and again.

[sherubtse]

Here are 2 other posts from MarshalN's blog which I found quite helpful:

http://www.marshaln.com/2007/04/monday-april-23-2007/

http://www.marshaln.com/2010/07/monday-july-19-2010/

I have posted elsewhere that I have started using this technique recently. It is a bit of a challenge getting it down pat, for my taste buds anyway. So those articles are especially welcome.

Many thanks, MarshalN.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[blairswhitaker]

I actually prefer most chinese greens brewed "grandpa" style such as haung shan mao feng, An ji bai cha, gu zhu zi sun, zhu yi qing and bi lou chun. I also get a lot of milage out of bai hou yin zhen.