Do you karatefy your tea?

[Chip]

Everybody was gong fu brewing,
those pours were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they brewed with expert timing

That's it, I'm never coming back!

This actually comes to mind soooo often if I am gonfu brewing or even reading about it, like a really bad jingle. Perhaps you will be so lucky now.


.

[hop_goblin]

Everybody was gong fu brewing,
those pours were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they brewed with expert timing

That's it, I'm never coming back!

This actually comes to mind soooo often if I am gonfu brewing or even reading about it, like a really bad jingle. Perhaps you will be so lucky now.


.

Do you mean the use of a Yixing or Gaiwan or the total medative state when practicing gongfucha?

[wyardley]

I think you are just trying to insult the intelligence of the contributors in this forum. People understand exactly what is meant by the word gongfu when a YiXing or Gaiwan and tea tray or tea boat are involved.

I'm not trying to insult the intelligence of the contributers at all. All I was trying to say (and the comments in this thread seem to bear this out) is that the term means different things to different people, even without getting all philisophical. So I don't think it's true that people "understand exactly what is meant".

I'm not trying to play "semantic games"... (or, for that matter, to insult anyone, hear myself talk, make this into something way too serious, or get into a ridiculous flamewar). I don't think I've said anything so far that is a personal attack on anyone here.

I honestly think that (like most things in tea), there are a wide range of opinions about what the term means, and how broad its definition is, and I don't think there's anything wrong with talking about that. I wasn't trying to say that anyone's personal idea of what the term means is "wrong".

However, and for the most part, the meaning of gongfu in Tea Chat parlance is using a YiXing or Gaiwan, rinse with multiple infusions.

Plenty of people don't like to rinse. And what about using other types of stoneware pots (pots made of Chaozhou clay, Taiwanese clay) - do they count? What about a small ceramic pot? Does the type of tea matter? The size of the brewing vessel? Do 2 or 3 infusions count as "multiple" (of course technically they do)? Ok, maybe I'm being argumentative here, but I'm just trying to make a point. Even if people do share some general ideas about what it means, it's not so simple to define it in a few words.

Yixing pots and gaiwans have a long history in China, and have been used widely across a very large country in different times and places for different purposes. I think there are a lot of ways to brew and drink tea that would fall under your definition, but that most people would not consider gong fu cha. I think the actual procedure, whether or not it's an exact sequence of steps, matters, as does the type of tea, size of the brewing vessel / cups, though the specifics of these may have regional variations. And yes, to some extent, maybe the attention to detail on the part of the person brewing matters too.

Most of the time when I'm brewing, whether at work or at home, I brew in a pretty eclectic style that I guess most people would roughly describe as gong fu, but I honestly don't spend a lot of time thinking about what it's called. and w/r/t the poll, to say something like "I exclusively brew tea this way" seems even more limiting. Surely all tea drinkers make tea in a casual way, or under less than perfect circumstances some of the time?

I'm not trying to say that it has to be some sort of mystical thing that can't be defined. But I am personally hard-pressed to come up with a definition that fits too.

[hop_goblin]

Wyardley, point well taken. However, it was just a simple poll question. In fact, you didn't even have to participate. Next time, just send and PM if you didn't understand the question.

Peace

[Robertwolf1]

I am picking up my first order from HouDe tommorrow morning for some tea and a gaiwan so we'll see how the afternoon goes. I was gonna practice with some black tea I already had before dipping into the samples I'm getting.

[Riene]

I don't do
Gong fu

I don't have the equipment, don't drink green tea very often, and wouldn't quite know how to do it anyway.

[wyardley]

I don't have the equipment, don't drink green tea very often, and wouldn't quite know how to do it anyway.

Green tea typically is not prepared this way.

[geeber1]

I voted that I don't gongfu, not because I don't want to, but because I don't really know how.

I do have a gaiwan, pitcher and cups coming from Yunnan Sourcing, then I will be looking for advice and suggestions (using the search function in the upper left, of course!)

[stanthegoomba]

I recently had an argument with someone from China who insisted that tieguanyin is the only tea that can be for gongfu. The same person also said that tieguanyin shouldn't be called "oolong," because oolong refers to lower quality (read: non-Anxi) teas. Guess we aren't the only ones who are confused.

[chingwa]

I'm going to have to agree with Wyardley on this one. I too see two distinct definitions of Gong-Fu when it pertains to tea. The first, as mentioned is the traditional chinese tea ceremony with tray utensils small teapots etc. the other is analagous to the Japanese Cha-dou... the way of tea.

While distinct cultures have distinct ceremonies, that isn't really the point of Cha-dou or Gong-fu. Get too wrapped up in the technicalities and you forget the reason for the experience... and I think it's an intensely personal thing to define.

Contemplation, developing skill and timing, repetition, meditation, the heightening of the senses through a more acute concentration on what you are doing, and of course, enjoyment.. sharing... a slowing down of pace, deriving pleasures from the unsophisticated... all these things are Cha-dou and Gong-fu, and can be done with any type of tea or utensils.

...

and ultimately, it's a way of life, no? tea and tea practice and enjoyment is just a manifestation of it.

[Janine]

gong fu = literally Work or Effort (工夫 or 功夫), signifying 2 different things in a tea context: (1) a brewing style, usually for oolong, using lots of leaf and many short steeps; (2) a stricter sense of 1 in which there are exactly five steeps and all the moves are prescribed in such a way that the timings of the steeps are a consequence of the choreography; (3) hong cha

from http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.c ... se=gong+fu


I personally think gong fu should be understood in terms of experience. So - in a sense the equipment is secondary. It's about practice.

Anyway... yes I use a gaiwan
But sometimes I feel I am doing a better gong fu lately with a particular bodum teapot. I understand the tea leaves better.

[Janine]

PS I like the word "karatefy" though.