there are different types of brewing, but if "gongfu" was to be used in the description it could be something very "chao zhou". shao an style, anxi style are sometimes thought to be classified under "gongfu brewing" but they have different outcomes and desires, and had different origins as well. in modern day, excerpts of the various styles are now fused together, together with new interpretations of lu yu's cha jing, the "gongfu" tea ceremony is a mish-mash of ritualized steps in brewing tea.
but just for discussion sake, these are the knowledges that i had seeked out from various tea drinkers whom had been doing so for decades (its my agenda one day that I'll be able to pass on these information in the english format) :
from chaozhou food, one can consider the chao-zhou palate to be the most finicky and most picky. no compromise on good aromatics, good taste, good experience. the origins of the chao zhou brewing style is as early as that of the existence of publicly available zhu-sha/zhuni pots, either yixing or their traditional wheel spun types for the common folk to use. that would take it to somewhere around early qing, and not as early as lu yu as many would reference it against. nevertheless still open for discussion.
chao zhou brewing style became a "gongfu" when the peasantry developed steps to brew magically delicious brews from very lousy/low grade tea. low grade tea centuries ago probably had poor aroma, bad astringencies, so the brewing was limited to 3 steeps, beyond that, no aroma or little was left, and too much unhealthy compounds would leach out in the later steeps.
this was achieved by setting up a tea-gall or a 茶胆 in the middle of the pot, and getting the tea leaves to behave as a "system" in unison, than each leaf for themselves. with water at its "open" point, or 开水, which is different from hot water (热 or 烧), doused into the pot carefully, quick steeps, rocking the pot a few times to push the aroma into the brew, and dispensing before the bitter/astringencies came out. the shuiping hu was the perfect shape for this purpose, and a perfect shape for the cha-dan. i believe ye han zhong meant middle "open" water, which is still boiling, but not crazy bubbling.
as tea quality became better and better, and as some groups of consumers became more and more discerning, then it became a move towards fast eluting, flatter shaped pots, with intensely hot 开水as usual, aiming to squeeze into each brew superb aromatics, superb body, and lingering rich after taste. it can be fun to explore this. the cha-dan is "flatter" due to the flatter pot, and since yancha, dancong expands sideways more than upwards a wider pot benefits.
i had done experiments (unpublished though!), that one can always continue to load the tea pot. but once the threshold is exceeded, too much leaf, and inability for the leaf to unroll or expand sufficiently, the brew suffers, it becomes a little too "frontal/front heavy" off balanced, thin in body and "韵" although one can go for many many more steeps. if too little leaf, one steeps longer and the profile changes as well.
a hokkien/fujian variation of the chaozhou gongfu tea brewing is the shao-an style, it was created by the folks in fujian, anxi, used for brewing mostly heavier oxidation, heavier roasted teas. what they do is a half tea-gall as per chaozhou style but instead of a round ball in the pot, they have a round hump. the aim here is also to have a balanced tasting steep from the brewing method.
and with the creation and popularity of tie kuan yin since mid 1800s or slightly earlier, an "anxi" brewing style was developed, using taller pots since tie kuan yin opens and pushes upwards and outwards, after the leaves are rinsed, the emptied pot (still hot) is wrapped with a towel and shaken up and down a few times before hot water is added in to steep. after the first steep, the pot can be shaken again. the mechanical actions help to unfurl the rolled tea even more and allow one to be able to get enough aromatics, enough body and enough "观音韵" into each steep.
there after came the taiwanese brewing methods i.e. dongding style etc and many more, all aimed at bringing out the "best" in each respective teas.
not too sure if i would use a qing or early ROC pot for brewing though.. i'm pretty comfortable with 60-70s at the moment. antique pots have receded 火气, i have a couple of pieces that are finding themselves on the shelf all the time, since its pretty well known that anything subjected to repeated expanding and contraction will one day break down and fragment. pottery, ceramic cracking just requires one little fissure/weakness, just like glass, a tiny crack to initiate a large one.
chrl42 wrote:
I think it depends on types of Oolong. While I agree with you on Gaoshan, 'full place' lessens the number of brewing for Fujian Oolongs.
Because Gongfu brewing is pretty much focused on maintaining aroma, people often used very small pot, cup, much leaf, fast pouring etc
Typical size for Gongfu Shui Ping was 50~150cc..how will that be enough for leaves to open fully?
BTW, Ye Han-zhong also said, 'middle hot' boiling water is suitable for DC, his brewing technique is quite interesting,
Once you normally follow the Gongfu procedure, then you dip the pot in cool water before pouring..quite scary if one uses an antique Zhuni
