Steeping Time Gaiwan GONG-FU

[teagenesis]

So, when I went back to less tea, (a firm fourth of dry leaf) I realized that I had been sometimes over-steeping the tea.
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Reducing the leaf a little proves to be a good fallback to correct your steeping time.
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I find Yunnan "tipsy" red teas to be sort of temperamental--really easy to make sour.

I hope you don't mind if I add my "2 cents": I have a feeling that you are generally brewing this red tea too strongly and I would suggest you try brewing it "western style".

I have brewed it to strongly sometimes. I've thought about brewing it in a larger vessel. It does have a good taste. I think it has more to do with the wide shape of the gaiwan I started using for red tea. I was putting in more tea than I thought, and I was sometimes over-steeping. That was enough to completely throw me off.

True, red tea seems more sensitive to gong-fu than other teas, but it is richer and darker. I will experiment some I guess.

[PEARL]

@ teagenesis, Teachat member Kyarazen has a good article on his weblog about Chaozhou gong fu brewing and the rationale/science behind it. The parameters given already IMO, are a good starting point with an unfamiliar tea, with your own personal taste being the ultimate guide on what to adjust as far as amounts, temp, steep time.
I rarely use gong fu method, except with company, as my current teaware doesn't allow it, my smallest vessel is a 120ml gaiwan and with the teas I enjoy I can easily go 10 or more infusions. That would be at least five 8oz cups(>1L) of tea liquid, more than I care to consume at a siting, plus burn quickly through my stash. I read somewhere, can't remember source, a guy that stated as his tea knowledge got bigger his teaware got smaller and I couldn't agree more.
From what I get from your question, I am somewhat like you in wanting to know amounts, times, etc. I do what I see as being more western style brewing, just using eastern style teaware. With a tea I don't know I usually start with 1g( I weigh a new of tea and see how much fits into the scoop I use and eyeball after that) per 30ml/1oz of water and infuse anywhere from 30seconds to 2 minutes depending on tea, for multiple infusions. And just like I do when I do gong fu style, I let my taste and what I'm trying to get out of a tea dictate where I adjust

[wyardley]

I usually eyeball things, but if you want to measure the leaf, I'd definitely recommend using weight rather than volume.

For red tea, I tend to use a bigger vessel and less leaf, along with somewhat longer brewing times. You can brew red tea with more leaf as long as you adjust the other parameters accordingly, and I sometimes do depending on the available teaware; I just haven't found that most reds tend to change that much from infusion to infusion.

[teagenesis]

I just haven't found that most reds tend to change that much from infusion to infusion.

It's more difficult to achieve that effect with red tea, I think, because you have to use more leaf for that progressive change in flavor. Nonetheless, I think it worth it because the sweet golden tipped, yellow and other red teas from Yunnan--for example--can display a subtle, yet intriguing, change of flavor over a few infusions. That is, if you are generous with your leaf. This is why I stumbled into those issues. I really enjoy the bright flavor but with less leaf and more steeping, I won't be fully satisfied. It's also a nice dose of caffeine, that way.

[wyardley]

I have brewed them with a pretty generous amount of leaf. I don't doubt that there are subtleties that some would pick up on. For me, I tend to drink red tea when I'm in a rut and want something that's not too fussy and will taste good.

That said, whether in a bigger or smaller pot, I still tend to brew with a fair amount of leaf, and still tend to do several infusions.

[teagenesis]

I have brewed them with a pretty generous amount of leaf. I don't doubt that there are subtleties that some would pick up on. For me, I tend to drink red tea when I'm in a rut and want something that's not too fussy and will taste good.

That said, whether in a bigger or smaller pot, I still tend to brew with a fair amount of leaf, and still tend to do several infusions.

If done carefully, I get a series of steeps ranging from "woody," to "sugary coffee," to "milky," and even a "cocoa" taste. Despite the subtlety, these tastes strike me as changes in flavor. I notice that often time the particular tastes will drag on for two or more steeps, rather than letting the other aspects have their turn on stage. This shows that if diligent enough, and if you can guess what the leaves want in a brew, one can bring out these changes. Otherwise, it will mostly taste the same.

This probably isn't true for all red teas. I wouldn't know, yet...

[the_economist]

Have you ever filled your gaiwan halfway with red tea and steeped it for 10 full seconds...? Try it. It is not pleasant.

That depends on the tea, as well as all the other brewing parameters including temperature of water, pour, etc.

I just did roughly that with a Qimen I got 1 or 2 years ago. It was great.

[bonescwa]

The leaf structure is the most important factor in this, I think.