?BREWING PUERH TEA?

You might like to have a look at

I'm not sure this matters for puerh. The only difference the covering makes is it keeps the water warmer for longer, but puerh is such a strong tea that it probably doesn't need a more sustained steeping.

Do you mean drink it through a strainer instead of first pouring it through a strainer? That might lead to oversteeping while the leaves stay in the cup. See my next answer.

You mean with water still in the pot? How strong is your stomach? :) I wouldn't, although you might be able to with some more subtle varieties of puerh, and not putting in too much.

Without water is fine, of course. That's the method described in the web page I refer to above, since it easily enables multiple infusions.

Cheers,

- Joel

Depending on the type and grade of tea and the brewing method, I'd say anywhere from three to more than twenty times.

I use the gongfu method, which gives a lot of steeps but tends to be somewhat involved and tiresome. Lew has mentioned before that he likes lower-temperature steeps for young green pu-erhs, so a guywan might work better for that. The fellow that runs Funalliance.com, Kam Leung, claims that boiling the tea overnight like the Tibetans is necessary to bring out the full flavor of some pu-erhs, but I can't bring myself to try that.

I usually go with an Yixing tea pot, but a guywan works, even though porcelain loses heat quickly. I wouldn't brew one in an uncovered cup, since pu-erh, in general, likes high heat (tailor advice to fit specific tea).

Whatever you want. I never use a strainer with my Yixings, and using a covered cup (guywan), the lid serves as a strainer.

What's "a long time"? I could understand minutes, or even a couple of hours, but not overnight. After all, you don't want your teapot turning into a mini compost heap.

Half the fun of tea is exploring new ways to do it. There's no "right way"--just have fun. There're methods galore--check out

and explore around the links.

Welcomes. :-)

ZBL

Raicu:

I think that depends on what kind of Puer you have; to get every best out of the tea, you probably need to know more about the tea you have. You will find more information here:

Besides, to serve black Puerh (both in bulk packs and in cakes), a traditional method will be using 70-80C degree of water and steeping around 1 minute for the first steep, as to the container (pots), I will say, Yixing Zisha. The rest steeps, water temperture goes up gradually, and steeping longer till your satisfactory.

As to green cakes, higher water temperature will help diffusing both aroma and taste, but not too high; for most every-day-drinkers, they will prefer 80-90C.

Also, to keep the tea leaves from oversteeping, most tea-lovers in China will use a 2nd tea pot as a kinf of buffer and they call it "gong1 da4o bei1". By doing so, one could leave the leaves in the tea pot and enjoy a more constant quality from the buffer.

DLG

DLG,

I assume you are talking about the "reserve pot". I am having trouble translating the middle word, can you help?

Thanks

On 25 Apr 2004 08:49:55 -0700, dalu snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (DLG) cast caution to the wind and posted:

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

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Mike,

Well, that is the pot for reserving, but as it is just "gong dao bei" to me, I haven't found a proper English name for it:)

The third word is easy to be translated, althought literally it menas cups, glasses, mug, etc., I think it looks more like a jar to westerners, so just "jar";

I am not quite sure about the first two, there are several possible way for understanding it.

1, if the two word are to be considered as one phrase, it literally means "impartial". So maybe "jar of impartiality"? 2, Still literally, the first one means "public", and the sencond one could refer to "art, way, Tao, speak...", and sometimes the second character have a unconspicuous meaning of "being constant"... 3, Or alternatively, the second one sounds like "pouring"; so the first two words could sounds like "public pouring" and with the 3rd, "public pouring jar".

It is always very difficult to translate Chinese into english, because some characters will carry more than two meaning at the same time!

Hope these will help.

DLG

"Public Pouring Jar of Impartiality" - what a great concept! Sounds like something from which judges should drink before trials, arbitrators before negotiations, and standard equipment for serving tea at the UN.

P.S. Besides,

refer that thing as a "pitcher" :)

Also, Mike, I like your site about tea, and will build up my own very soon! I will foucs more on Chinese tea and Yixing Zisha pot!

Yes, but "pitcher" is a very generic term for an urn with a handle. When speaking about gungfu we can also use the more specific "reserve pot", but either will do.

Thanks for the compliment about my site.... I look forward to seeing your contribution as well. Actually if you don't mind I would like to start an email thread with you offline.

On 26 Apr 2004 12:03:53 -0700, dalu snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (DLG) cast caution to the wind and posted:

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

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Very glad to know someon very knowledgable in Puer, I am waiting to see your emails :)

In English, it's often translated as "justice pot," or "fairness pot," which indicates its actual function in gongfucha service. It's neither a "pitcher," nor a "reserve pot," but a vessel into which the tea is poured directly from the gongfu teapot so that it may then be distributed "fairly" into all the waiting sipping cups. (This of course assumes that the designated preparer is serving tea to several drinkers.)

Having poured all the brewed liquor into the "justice pot," the preparer has assured the drinkers that everyone's tea will taste the same: no one will have to drink over- or underbrewed tea. (As you are no doubt aware, 10-15 seconds either way in gongfucha preparation can have a huge, and not necessarily desirable, impact on the quality of the drink.)

Naturally, a gongfucha master does not need to rely on a justice pot to guarantee perfect results.

Ma-Ma

Is that a sign of a master? The ability to evenly dispense the tea so that all cups taste the same? I have tried dispensing in a circle through all of the cups a little at a time so that it take maybe 3 circles to fill the cups. It is much more difficult to get "justice" this way.

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:50:11 GMT, "Ma-Ma LaGrande Chung" cast caution to the wind and posted:

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

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That's one of many signs. A master is so familiar with the properties of both the tea and the teapot that the brewing and dispensing of each infusion appear intuitive and effortless. One particular tea (or even just one infusion) may be poured in three passes as you describe; another may be dispensed entirely in one rapid flourish. The evidence of mastery is in the liquor, of course.

Ma-Ma

Ma-Ma LaGrande Chung%erjc.14455$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net4/27/04

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Ma-Ma,

Are you familiar with any tea masters in the New York City area who might be willing to take on "students"? Contact me off-line, if you like.

Thanks. Michael

PS: I'm drinking a Viet Nam black tea I acquired from "Nothing But Tea," Nigel's company. It's a malty rich tea with a bit of "lemon" overtone, interesting enough to be sure, not without complexity, and quite pleasant of a rainy misty morning. I'll bet they don't drink this style in Viet Nam though; I'll bet they drink green tea. Just a hunch.

M

Sorry, Michael; no. As far as I'm aware, there are no gongfucha masters in North America. I heard that one master had relocated to Vancouver, BC just before the HK handover, but that after several stressful tea-challenged months he gratefully returned to China.

There may well be other types of tea experts in the vicinity of NYC, of course.

Ma-Ma

Ma-Ma LaGrande Chungw9Ijc.15870$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net4/28/04

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Ma-Ma,

I was afraid of that. Thanks for the information, though. Where in the world is the very best place to settle down to a life of gungfu tea, do you think? We do have knowledgable people, and of course the Japanese tea societies abound and thrive in their manner.

Michael

Actually I do not claim to be all that knowledgeable. I find that the more I learn about puerh the more that I realize that I don't know. However the journey is fascinating...

On 26 Apr 2004 20:57:15 -0700, dalu snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (DLG) cast caution to the wind and posted:

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

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Wherever you are right now, Michael.

Ma-Ma

Yes. And, I suspect, even gongfucha masters have a day job.

Joe

Shooting pool.

--Blair "Problems we wish we had."