How to pour water when brewing yancha?

[Ritva]

What is the correct water pouring technique when brewing yancha in gaiwan or yixing? I know that for rolled oolongs you're supposed to pour water from low to high causing a circular motion so that you make the leaves dance (swirl) and hit the leaves with lot of force to open them up. This is for the first brew. Then, for the following brews you're supposed to pour more gently from low in circular motion near the rims of the vessel.

For Dan Congs, Imen gives following advice:
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -cong.html
For new teas (under 5 yrs): For first infusion pour boiling water from low to high and make sure leaves tumble around.
For old teas (5 yrs and older): Pour water from low for every infusion.

When she says "old tea", does she mean aged tea or tea from old bush (a new harvest from an old bush)?

So what's the correct technique for yancha? Any differences for new harvest yancha or aged yancha?

[chrl42]

Are you talking about 'Gong Fu Cha'?

[Ritva]

Are you talking about 'Gong Fu Cha'?

Yes I am. Sorry I didn't make it clear in my question.

[chrl42]

Excuse my joke..just needed little smile

My Yancha book says to pour from high, (it didn't tell old or new),

Because Yixing is small, keeps heat, and lots of rays that functions as a tea spoon, so I'd think it might not need a technique like 'pheonix bows with head three times (three times high-low repeatdly)

but that's just my thought.

[Ritva]

Excuse my joke..just needed little smile

My Yancha book says to pour from high, (it didn't tell old or new),

Because Yixing is small, keeps heat, and lots of rays that functions as a tea spoon, so I'd think it might not need a technique like 'pheonix bows with head three times (three times high-low repeatdly)

but that's just my thought.

I'm always glad to make people smile

Is 'pheonix bows with head three times' (what a lovely name!) meant only for gaiwan? Because gaiwan doesn't keep heat as well as yixing and more force is needed to open the leaves than in yixing, where high temperature opens the leaves?
Do you pour from high also for 2nd, 3rd etc. brews?

[AdamMY]

Depending on the size of the gaiwan you might need to get a little creative. My 100 ml while it does not hold heat for a very extended amount of time, the <30 second infusions for Yancha, it is mostly okay. But I have a tiny gaiwan 60ml... which even for a 10-15 second infusion it looses so much heat that a bowl or teaboat with hot water in it is necessary to hold onto the heat long enough to infuse.

[wyardley]

Experiment to see what works for a particular tea. All of the advice you're hearing is the opinion of one person, or that person's teacher... there are no absolutes, and if you watch almost any experienced tea brewer, they don't follow one rule like this, but rather vary what they're doing depending on the tea, which infusion they're brewing, the temperature of the water, etc. Over time, you will start to develop a slightly better sense for this stuff.

If the tea is more delicate (or not as good), pouring from up high (but with a very thin stream), against the side of the gaiwan or rim of the pot may cool the water a litte and avoid shocking the leaves, which might make the tea taste better. I have had good luck with this approach with high-fire yancha that otherwise get a little sharpness. However, the downside is that if you pour that slowly, even if you do an instant pour, the tea might steep a little too long on the first infusions. Other teas will probably taste fine if you just unceremoniously dump water on the tea every which way, which is pretty much how the folks at every factory / shop I visited in the Wuyishan area did it -- dump (more or less) boiling water on a whole pile of leaves, pour very quickly.

I know this advice is kind of cliche, but there is not one right way. Experiment and see what works for you, and if you have an opportunity to watch other people brew, take the opportunity to see what works for them. Maybe you won't be able to taste the difference, in which case, just do whatever's convenient. I have seen brewers who are very particular about the exact height and speed of their pour, and others who are (seemingly) much more relaxed. Both have brewed me excellent cups of tea.

Also, remember that yancha run a wide range in terms of oxidation, roasting, and quality. So you may not want to brew them all exactly the same.

[Proinsias]

Other teas will probably taste fine if you just unceremoniously dump water on the tea every which way, which is pretty much how the folks at every factory / shop I visited in the Wuyishan area did it -- dump (more or less) boiling water on a whole pile of leaves, pour very quickly.

Glad to hear I'm not alone

[Tead Off]

What is the correct water pouring technique when brewing yancha in gaiwan or yixing? I know that for rolled oolongs you're supposed to pour water from low to high causing a circular motion so that you make the leaves dance (swirl) and hit the leaves with lot of force to open them up. This is for the first brew. Then, for the following brews you're supposed to pour more gently from low in circular motion near the rims of the vessel.

For Dan Congs, Imen gives following advice:
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -cong.html
For new teas (under 5 yrs): For first infusion pour boiling water from low to high and make sure leaves tumble around.
For old teas (5 yrs and older): Pour water from low for every infusion.

When she says "old tea", does she mean aged tea or tea from old bush (a new harvest from an old bush)?

So what's the correct technique for yancha? Any differences for new harvest yancha or aged yancha?

When you are watching a basketball game, you see the different ways the players dribble the ball. Many dribble very articulately, cleverly. Some pound the ball. Different styles but the point of the game is to get the ball in the basket. I often wonder if show time has anything to do with the tea steeping once the water is inside the pot.

[Maitre_Tea]

When you are watching a basketball game, you see the different ways the players dribble the ball. Many dribble very articulately, cleverly. Some pound the ball. Different styles but the point of the game is to get the ball in the basket. I often wonder if show time has anything to do with the tea steeping once the water is inside the pot.

As someone who watches basketball pretty often (NBA season at least), I think this a pretty good analogy.

[Chip]

Yeah, and life is like a box of chocolates ...

Dribbling? Well, then I guess I am the Yao of brewing Yancha ...

[tenuki]

I always use a heck of a lot of leaves and more or less flash infuse when brewing yentcha. Doing anything ceremoniously is not possible for me due to mild mental retardation, so I just dump the water in, decant a few seconds later and drink. If it doesn't taste good I blame the tea and move on.

Evidence of what I just claimed... > .

[Tead Off]

I always use a heck of a lot of leaves and more or less flash infuse when brewing yentcha. Doing anything ceremoniously is not possible for me due to mild mental retardation, so I just dump the water in, decant a few seconds later and drink. If it doesn't taste good I blame the tea and move on.

Evidence of what I just claimed... > .

Have you noticed a difference in flavor and aroma using your left hand to pour?

[Ritva]

Thanks for all the great answers and advice!

I have a new cool electric kettle
(http://www.obhnordica.se/Default.aspx?I ... tID=PROD87 - it's completely stainless steel inside! - that allows me to pour more precisely so I thought I might try to improve my technique. My old kettle was so big and clumsy that dumping the water was practically the only alternative. I also watched some Youtube videos where they had these artistic hand moves and were very precise about pouring. Glad to hear that it's not obligatory for the successful brewing of great tea

Nobody has commented this yet:

For Dan Congs, Imen gives following advice:
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -cong.html
For new teas (under 5 yrs): For first infusion pour boiling water from low to high and make sure leaves tumble around.
For old teas (5 yrs and older): Pour water from low for every infusion.

When she says "old tea", does she mean aged tea or tea from old bush (a new harvest from an old bush)?

Any ideas?

[tea fish]

Interesting thread--it has made me want to experiment more with pouring. "Phoenix bows head three times" here I come!

As for this question...

When she says "old tea", does she mean aged tea or tea from old bush (a new harvest from an old bush)?

...I'm still pretty new to tea but I take Imen to be referring to aged tea rather than the age of the bush. (Doesn't a bush need to be at least 5 years old before it can produce more than just a few leaves?)