Best style Cup for Oolong

[Ursinos]

ok, I was about to brew up a new serving of leaves, so I went ahead and measured the pot. As I suspected, the 198mL is to the very top of the pot, which is not the USABLE volume of it. with no leaves in the pot, the approximate usable volume is about 150mL. Maybe not THAT much less, but yes, with a rolled TGY, the leaves really expand to fill it up.

[Ursinos]

198ml seems a little bit huge for gongfu for 1 person... usually people use pots/gaiwans in the 60ml-100ml range, because gongfu requires a very high leaf to water ratio. [...]

Hi, greetings from another Oolong lover. I assume you're brewing rolled Oolongs like Tie Guan Yin? For those, I think you might be able to use a pot about 150ml without it being to big, because these teas really expand a lot.

My preferred teas now are "strip style" Oolongs, mostly Dan Congs and to a lesser degree Yancha like Da Hong Pao (other names are Wuyi Tea, Rock Tea and so forth...). These give a stronger cup and expand less, you might want a small pot for them indeed.

But as it has been sad before, these are just trends! There's no right and wrong, every brewing style has its merits, and sometimes I just brew a spoonful of TGY in a 250ml glass pot. So its nice to look what others are doing and to get inspiration, but maybe you don't want to stick to it too tightly, because what you like best indeed is best.

Still: Once you got time, you really should try a good Dan Cong *g*

Greetings

I plan on trying a LOT of different kinds of tea (especially better quality oolongs), but that has to wait until I'm working again and can afford them (not to mention afford to order them online, the shops in town don't carry much in the high quality stuff). I'll put Dan Cong on the list though, I did a quick look online about them, and they sound like a tea I'll enjoy

[miig]

Yes, absolutely do take your time... tea won't run away
There are some shops which also offer sample packs, I learned so much there.. for example JK tea shop has a lot of them.

[Ursinos]

Yes, absolutely do take your time... tea won't run away
There are some shops which also offer sample packs, I learned so much there.. for example JK tea shop has a lot of them.

that's what I've been doing with the local shops, going through their stock with sample packs. at 10g pack is a nice starter for finding out if the tea is worth spending the money on

[steanze]

Yes, filling the pot only partly is a good strategy I do it sometimes when I want to use a yixing pot I really like but it's too big for me alone. And I agree with miig that 150ml is not as huge if you are brewing rolled oolong.

+1 on trying a good dancong. If you like it, you can consider getting a small porcelain gaiwan (around 100ml), it's a very convenient tool for brewing all kinds of teas, and it will be particularly useful with dancong. It can be a tricky tea to brew IMHO, and having a very fast pour is very useful to get it the way you want it.

Any thoughts on matching say an 80ml pot to a similar sized cup...vs using a much smaller cup and a cha hai? Is there an advantage to the cha hai with pouring the brewed tea into the smaller cup 2-3 times?

Noonie, I am not sure, but it is possible that if you skip the chahai/gongdao bei, the tea will remain warmer. It also depends on whether you prefer the feeling of drinking from a 80ml+ cup or from a small gongfu cup.

[thirst]

Any thoughts on matching say an 80ml pot to a similar sized cup...vs using a much smaller cup and a cha hai? Is there an advantage to the cha hai with pouring the brewed tea into the smaller cup 2-3 times?

Noonie, I am not sure, but it is possible that if you skip the chahai/gongdao bei, the tea will remain warmer. It also depends on whether you prefer the feeling of drinking from a 80ml+ cup or from a small gongfu cup.

+1
A while ago I mostly drank from a medium sized cup that matches my table ware, but recently I’ve begun enjoying drinking from those 20-30ml cups a lot, even when alone. They cool the tea in the cup down, while the rest of the infusion stays relatively hot in the gongdaobei, giving you nicely warm tea for every cup. This is particularly useful for teas you steep at high temperatures. (It’s happened that tea in a large cup that was too hot at the beginning became cooler than wanted when I checked it again later.)

Also, for me, at least, drinking small amounts from small cups makes the tea feel more precious, which is a cheap way to increase the satisfaction you get from any given tea

[Ursinos]

hmm, seems I MIGHT end up with a bit of cash to spare next month. Might need to look into getting myself some tea and maybe some teaware lol. *crosses fingers*

Thanks for all the advise guys.

[debunix]

Any thoughts on matching say an 80ml pot to a similar sized cup...vs using a much smaller cup and a cha hai?

I often use cups that are much larger than the brewing vessel, just because I feel like it, but virtually never brew more per infusion than my cup will hold.

Since several of my really small cups are from artists whose larger works I couldn't afford, the tiny vessels and tiny cups together do add a certain specialness to the tea sessions.

[theredbaron]

Using the right cups is a science by itself. Most of my cups are Qing dynasty cups as i prefer older cups. All depends on the cup geometry, and how this enables the liquid to flow into your mouth, and how then the taste develops from there.
Not so good cups lead the tea to just flow to the front of your tongue and mouth. A really good cup should let the liquid go deep, and a the taste should be transported straight upwards and into the sinus cavities.

To find the right cups is a lot of trial and error.

[chrl42]

Using the right cups is a science by itself. Most of my cups are Qing dynasty cups as i prefer older cups. All depends on the cup geometry, and how this enables the liquid to flow into your mouth, and how then the taste develops from there.
Not so good cups lead the tea to just flow to the front of your tongue and mouth. A really good cup should let the liquid go deep, and a the taste should be transported straight upwards and into the sinus cavities.

To find the right cups is a lot of trial and error.

It's difficult, but it's always fun

For Oolong, I prefer relatively flatten, stout shape, the size must be small and thin. They are just more comfortable on lips, Yixing shape is no different. When they get super-small, flatten it will be more useful to deliver the aroma, but entrance of pot shouldn't be too wide, or it will leak the aroma.

I also like similar preferation for Puerh, but the size must be larger.

Green and Black they are more variables, I prefer large cups or bowls for green teas, as if a casual drinking (as opposed to concentrated gongfu drinking), rarely want taller cups but sometimes I do with black teas

[Ursinos]

Using the right cups is a science by itself. Most of my cups are Qing dynasty cups as i prefer older cups. All depends on the cup geometry, and how this enables the liquid to flow into your mouth, and how then the taste develops from there.
Not so good cups lead the tea to just flow to the front of your tongue and mouth. A really good cup should let the liquid go deep, and a the taste should be transported straight upwards and into the sinus cavities.

To find the right cups is a lot of trial and error.

It's difficult, but it's always fun

For Oolong, I prefer relatively flatten, stout shape, the size must be small and thin. They are just more comfortable on lips, Yixing shape is no different. When they get super-small, flatten it will be more useful to deliver the aroma, but entrance of pot shouldn't be too wide, or it will leak the aroma.

I also like similar preferation for Puerh, but the size must be larger.

Green and Black they are more variables, I prefer large cups or bowls for green teas, as if a casual drinking (as opposed to concentrated gongfu drinking), rarely want taller cups but sometimes I do with black teas

Thanks for the information. Like I said earlier, I'm currently using a "western" style teacup for drinking my tea. I haven't gong full gongfu ceremony...yet. Once I can pick up a either a yixing pot that's more around the 80-100mL mark, or manage to get a pitcher to pour the tea into after steeping, then I'll go that way.

I don't generally have company in my enjoyment of tea (wife prefers her tea the western way ), so it's awkward to brew up 150ml of tea if it won't fit in one cup lol.

[Noonie]

Thanks for the information. Like I said earlier, I'm currently using a "western" style teacup for drinking my tea. I haven't gong full gongfu ceremony...yet. Once I can pick up a either a yixing pot that's more around the 80-100mL mark, or manage to get a pitcher to pour the tea into after steeping, then I'll go that way.

I don't generally have company in my enjoyment of tea (wife prefers her tea the western way ), so it's awkward to brew up 150ml of tea if it won't fit in one cup lol.

I've been drinking oolong (a lot) in the last year and I'm still in the same boat as you. I have a small white cup that holds around 150ml and I brew a little less than that in my yixing or gaiwan. I like the idea of the gong fu ceremony, but I'm usually not able to get the environment right for it at home (lots of distractions)...so I brew about 150ml and bring it with me in this cup. What I have been enjoying, more so in the last few months is sencha. When I first tried "green tea" it wasn't very good. Then I bought some good sencha and learned how to brew it...and it seems more "the norm" to brew up to 200ml and pour into a similar cup (though not everyone does it this way).