Google video clip on Gong-Fu solo

Thanks. I had almost convinced myself to try out this Gong-Fu thing. Nothing like a video to convince me about the silliness of the whole procedure.

"Pouring boiling water over tea leaves, steeping for 3 minutes" will do for me.

Two things, did anyone notice the strange little white dog with the lightning bolts coming from its head in the background on the left about a halfway into the video? Also, something about the guy's child molestor smile that seems to crop up at odd times throughout kinda creeped me out... other than that it was a good video of the process :)

- Dominic

Just imagine those flashes would have come out of the POT. Now that would make for some REAL gonga-fua, pfft ...

Apart from a big pot of Assam about the only two things that carried me through those 3 minutes at 6 in the morning, but then ...

Karsten

Why does he use two (different shaped) cups?

Gavin

'cause it'll have an effect on the taste/flavor/aroma?

Yeah, right !!!

The first (tall cup) is for the aroma, the second (small cup) is for tasting. You pour into the tall cup first then place the small cup on top and invert the tall one to empty into the small one and smell the aroma whle moving the tall one, then drink from the small one.

- Dominic

Interesting! I have to say that this is above and beyond what I would want to go through to have my morning cuppa, but if it would cause that fantastic show of light above my cat's head, I'll have to reconsider : )

Linda

Don't easily dismiss and call silly a ritual that has evolved for centuries. Every step has its purpose to bring the best out of the tea leaves. It would be a pity if you brew fine tea leaves in your Ingenuitea *just because it's less time consuming*.

As soon as I sent the email, I realised that the answer was "he smells one and drinks from the other", which is fine by me. And I suppose the tall cup is more appropriate for smelling because it engulfs your nose.

(I had been thinking: "Why not just sniff the cup you're drinking? ;)

Gavin

A tall aroma cup is optional. Some prefer to smell first then savor the liquor (as in wine drinking too). Some couldn't be bothered with the tall cups so they smell the aroma from the empty cups after drinking the tea. Or the lid of the gaiwan (if you are brewing using a gaiwan) is also a source of tea's aroma.

As they say, oolong's aroma resides on the bottom of your cup; Pu'er is in the liquor.

Gav>

Yep, you got it. When alone, I tend to enjoy the aroma straight from the lid of my Yixing - or gaiwan recently. The tall aroma cups are more formality but can be surprisingly relaxing. Being able to sit and breathe slowly while smelling the aroma as the tea cools a bit can be highly meditative and help bolster the enjoyment of the tea to come.

Some folks roll the aroma cup between their hands while inhaling, and others kind of swirl/shake it.. I prefer the rolling.

Try it sometime, a set of tasting/aroma cups are very cheap, you may enjoy it.

- Dominic

Not necessarily. One of my favorite aromas is what you get from the empty cup in the early steeps of a nice young Pu'er: sweet, musty, almost shockingly intense.

/Lew

amen! though i usually sniff from the faircup cuz it's bigger surface area = more evaporation of liquor into aroma.

I think young pu leaves an intoxicating fertile scent, like ripening fruit. kinda sexy ;)

~j

Phyll wrote:

At work, I usually drink from a bit Bodum Pavina double-walled cup for the full brandy snifter aroma amplification.

Much sexier than the perfumes that tend to drift past me these days. I get fruit from it, but animal, too.

/Lew