Why is Gong Fu brewing superior?

snipped-for-privacy@14g2000cws.googlegroups.com11/28/06

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Hey Dustin,

Aha! Gungfu *isn't* better. However, it does afford an opportunity to experience ever changing tastes from steep to steep, which is in itself an adventure It also forces the Gungfuer to pay close attention to what he is doing, lest the steep be ruined by overbrewing, and so on. This attention is worthwhile because it focuses concentration on the tea experience and contributes to a meditative environment. The things of Gungfu are beautiful, chosen for their beauty and function. That adds to the delight of the experience. The rituals around tea service are perhaps tighter and more constrained than English service -- witness dem little bitty cups -- and this furthers the bond among the drinkers. These things to me make Gungfu cool. I practice a loose form of Gungfu, hardly Gungfu at all in the eyes of some. I am familiar with highly codified and orchestrated versions of Gungfu which some say are the real Gungfu deal.

Anyway, perhaps these are some things you can share with your Dad.

Michael

Just my 2 leaves, but I tend to find that the complete freedom of the leaves allows them to fully unfurl and show themselves. This not only produces a better brew than in cramped confines, but it allows you to get a very up-close and personal view of the leaves and the aromas, instead of almost second-hand if it is further away in a dark cavelike teapot with just the liquid in your cup up close.

There is a much more intimate feeling, it is more 1-on-1, and it affords you the chance to really experiment and compare notes and brewing since it is basically the same experience from one person to another... where teapots and other vessels have many variables and differences.

and my favorite response to such questions... "'cuz it is!" (I was a bit of a holdout on the gaiwan for some time, until I really began to understand and appreciate it myself)

- Dominic

Dominic snipped-for-privacy@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com11/29/06

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I like what you say, but "Gung Fu" is not a thing of Gaiwans, it is a thing of teapots, albeit little ones. (I know some web sites show Gung Fu as a Gaiwan enterprise, but they are wrong, at least in the classical sense.) Michael

Dustin, the big difference for me is:

English style - small amount of leaves, large amount of water.

Tea used to be rare - exceedingly rare. Only people of middle-class and above would own tea, and the small quantity of leaves one was lucky enough to own would be locked in a chest like every other expensive, rare commodity. This was further exacerbated by the war, in which tea was rationed like everything else (ref: George Orwell, "The Perfect Cup of Tea", c.WW2).

In order to make a meaningful brew in the presence of a small amount of leaf, English style brews it long, with a large quantity of water.

Gongfu style - large amount of leaves, small amount of water.

More leaves means more flavour. It also means shorter infusions, using less water, which means less tendency to leech bitterness out of the leaves. Such is the luxury enjoyed by most Chinese for the last two thousand years.

One of my friends calls gongfucha the "espresso of tea", and while not totally accurate, I can appreciate his point. :)

I have seen and always taken Gung (Gong/Kung) Fu to be about the skillful brewing of tea. And quite often see brewing via gaiwan to be considered so... both online and in RL. I do fully understand the small yixing overflowing with leaves side, but that has never held the sole ownership of the style in my eyes. It's all about the skill and care to me.

- Dominic

Why not just sit your father down and give him a gongfu session? If he's open-minded, that should convince him that there's something interesting going on.

/Lew

One note -- Gongfu is NOT the way Chinese experienced tea for the past two thousand years. In fact, I'd say it hasn't been that way at all until the past 30 years, when this way of drinking tea became popular.

the most part, and then grated to very fine powder or what not, and then drank, sometimes with incense thrown into the tea. It was in the Ming Dynasty when loose leaf became popular (we're talking... 14th century onwards). Even then, leaves weren't used in large amounts like they are now, but rather in small amounts in pots and aren't steeped repeatedly for many times like we do now.

So..... Gongfu tea as we appreciate it today is a fairly recent phenomenon as a widespread thing. Chaozhou people have been drinking it this way, AFAIK, for a lot longer, but it's mostly a regional thing that only became popular at a much later date.

MarshalN

As for Gongfu there is nothing more pleasing than a hole in the middle of the table with a tube down to a spittoon to drain the boat. I saw this on YouTube. For the rest of you using Yixing tie a string between the lid and handle. Then you can pour at a steep angle like the pros. And I thought this depended on the workmanship of the pot. I also saw this on YouTube.

Jim

Dom> > I like what you say, but "Gung Fu" is not a thing

snipped-for-privacy@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com11/29/06

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One could say the same for those fisted Oolongs we now take as a standard, right? A relatively recent development. Michael

Space snipped-for-privacy@l12g2000cwl.googlegroups.com11/29/06

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The clear plastic drainage tube reminds me of some horrid surgical procedure performed at table. I don't like it. I don't care how cool it is. Nor do I care much for those wooden slatted contraptions now all the rage. Nor the now ubiquitous electric glass kettles. These things make every tea table too similar to all the others. That's my opinion.

Based on what Dominic said earlier, if you use a little gaiwan or pot, and brew with attentive care, you're Gungfuing along well enough. And, as MarshalN suggested, these ancient practices go back in some cases no more than 30 years, so feel free to improvise the next ancient feature of the Gung Fu table.

Michael

If GongFu is multiple infusions then my modified 1L tea press needed a passport this morning. I don't like tossing leaves in near zero temperature and snow. I easily got 2L of tea from leaves I use for

1/2L. The leaves-on-a-stem are so spent I'll eat them with a sprig dip and a turkey sandwich for lunch.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

...for the dialup challenged...

I would actually not be OK with the tube action, personally. The excess water and tea that find their way into the basin is a positive thing to me. It fills the area with the added aroma of the tea in between cups, if it's down a drain and under the table then you are losing that aspect. Also, while I enjoy improvising at times or repurposing other things for tea usage... I don't think that is exactly in the spirit of Gong Fu either. Not that it can't be, ingenuity is always welcome and could be seen as a skill of its own, but I'm not sure about it in this sense.

I used to be pretty into the formal ceremony surrounding tea, but the more I delved the more it exposed the huge flaws and gaping hipocrasies in much of these "traditions." Many are forced or newer than they make themselves seem, or are almost polar opposites to the actual originations of the ceremonies. Some are just pompous and showy, while others are just silly. Not to start trouble, but very analogous to religions.

This brought me to find more enjoyment and comfort in the small villages' customs, and family/tribe ritual. I find it to be more "real" and down to earth and passionate. Just like any ethnic tradition, the ones rooted in thousands of years of tradition and custom are much richer than the aristocratic haughty imposed/forced "customs."

I know it may seem like I'm straying but it really does have a point, and it really is the reason things like Gong Fu are more sacred to me than any Japanese tea ceremony. It can be individualized, and adapted, and appreciated from a number of perspectives and angles without so many rules and black and white distinctions.

- Dominic

Correct, that's even more recent, and heavily influenced by Taiwanese tea making.

Anything over 10 years old form Fujian is probably a bit less rolled, and anything 20 years old is much less rolled. It's called Oolong because it was like a small "black dragon". A ball doesn't look much like a dragon, and neither is the super light fermentation that is so popular these days.

MarshalN

All traditions are invented at one point or another. The Scottish kilts that we know today are mostly a creation of the 19th century, just to cite one of many, many examples.

MarshalN

[Michael Plant] [MarshalN]

Not correct actually.

Traditional southern Fujian style oolong is tightly rolled, and curled. Recent Taiwanese style oolong from early 80s is tightly rolled, and fisted. The northern Fujian style oolong is tightly rolled, and twisted, similarly is the Guangzhou oolong.

Mythology set right... The "Black Dragon" in Oolong (Wu Long) does not indicate the shape of the leaves, though Teaparker lightly mentioned the romantic notion in his book; at that size, it would be more like centipedes...In one of the tales set in the 17th century, it was said that a tea picker came across a large black snake while picking tea for green tea. Frightened, the tea picker dropped his basket of tea and ran away; he returned to the scene much later and found that the leaves were slightly bruised and oxidized, with a strong floral fragrance.

The other tale involved another tea farmer called Su Long who was well tanned and earned the nickname Wu Long (Black Dragon). He and his family picked tea one day but forgot to process a bushel. The leaves were left overnight and when they discovered it the next morning, the leaves had a floral fragrance.

Another tale involved it as a tribute tea. During the Ming dynasty comrpessed tea were thought of as a decadent luxury of the bourgeois, it was banned and the production of loose leaf tea was encouraged. Tribute tea was called "Long Cha" (Dragon=Emperor, Emperor's tea), and as the leaves were darker in colour, the adjective "Wu" (Dark) was added to the name, and hence Wu Long Cha.

But tales are tales.

Danny

I would actually not be OK with the tube action, personally. The excess water and tea that find their way into the basin is a positive thing to me. It fills the area with the added aroma of the tea in between cups, if it's down a drain and under the table then you are losing that aspect. Also, while I enjoy improvising at times or repurposing other things for tea usage... I don't think that is exactly in the spirit of Gong Fu either. Not that it can't be, ingenuity is always welcome and could be seen as a skill of its own, but I'm not sure about it in this sense.

I used to be pretty into the formal ceremony surrounding tea, but the more I delved the more it exposed the huge flaws and gaping hipocrasies in much of these "traditions." Many are forced or newer than they make themselves seem, or are almost polar opposites to the actual originations of the ceremonies. Some are just pompous and showy, while others are just silly. Not to start trouble, but very analogous to religions.

This brought me to find more enjoyment and comfort in the small villages' customs, and family/tribe ritual. I find it to be more "real" and down to earth and passionate. Just like any ethnic tradition, the ones rooted in thousands of years of tradition and custom are much richer than the aristocratic haughty imposed/forced "customs."

I know it may seem like I'm straying but it really does have a point, and it really is the reason things like Gong Fu are more sacred to me than any Japanese tea ceremony. It can be individualized, and adapted, and appreciated from a number of perspectives and angles without so many rules and black and white distinctions.

- Dominic

No offense meant, but ???. After readin all that I wrote that is the response eh? Of course they are all invented... what I said was based on HOW they come about. And I would find it undeniable that the more traditional/regional/tribal customs have more heart and soul than the ones created in times of prosperity and wealth and power. They are more "real" to me and aren't so rediculous and riddled with logic flaws and contradiction... because they are original ideas that have been in effect from the start with an actual reason (mostly born out of necessity) and not just imposed because someone could.

I have to claim ignorance, but rest assured I will read up on it now, but I am sure the kilt has a real deep-seeded reason for its adoption initially. I would bet that it had a utilitarian purpose and a real need, and it then became a custom, and then a tradition, and there are no flaws in the use of the kilt because it came about in that manner. But no tradition that comes about in the manner I described above has that same legitimacy IMO, they have no solid foundation... it was just dreamt up and forced into use. These customs tend to be very rigid and cold and serious, because if one scratches too far past the outer layer there is nothing underneath to fall back on.

It's cool if you don't agree, I was trying to state why #1 It didn't matter what the vessel was to me. When you see a truly skilled old man use a gaiwan and brew tea that is extraordinary, that is Gung Fu to me. and #2 A bit of extrapolation for the OP to help give some human/opinion side to *why* Gung Fu and special means of brewing is important and special. Maybe something I said will trigger thoughts or emotions of his own that will better help him explain the draw/fascination/appreciation to his dad.

- Dominic

[MarshalN]

On the contrary, it might have been the way the scholars, literati and upper class of the Chinese society experienced tea for the past 2000 years.

Gongfu cha, whether it is modern or traditional, has traces of antiquity that traced back to Luyu. The sensible and logical approach to slecting and brewing tea as laid down by Luyu are similarly echoed in traditional Gongfu style methods. Chaozhou style can be traced back to the end of Ming and start of Qing dynasties, notably from a poem written by historian Zhang Dai, and later from poets such as Zhou Liang Gong. Gongfu style was never a homogenous style, every region in southern China has its variation to the style. In the early years of emigration and sea-faring, peoples from the coastal regions of southern China brought with them the gongfu style overseas, and where they landed and took root, the gongfu styles were adapted to the locality. In Asia, gongfu style brewing was preserved as a heritage in countries such as Malaysia and Taiwan, while in Hongkong it became something very differently. As an elaborate ritual style of drinking, tea was the main attraction, food or snacks was the fringe attraction. In Hongkong, the emphasis was more on food than tea itself. In Singapore, the culture went underground and overtaken by coffee. The turbulent years in the history of modern China would have contributed to near loss of this artform, hence in the 70s, we had to rely on the Taiwanese to revive not only the gongfu style (with its Taiwanese variations), but the art of enjoying tea.

Danny

And indeed it does:

" "The garb is certainly very loose, and fits men inured to it to go through great fatigues, to make very quick marches, to bear out against the inclemency of the weather, to wade through rivers, and shelter in huts, woods, and rocks upon occasion; which men dressed in the low country garb could not possibly endure."

The solid colour kilts of the Irish were also usually soaked in goose grease to make them waterproof."

The ties to that exact people are more recent, because it was widely used and only in the 19th century was it adopted as being something expressly tied to the Scottish Highland. I love to research these kinds of things so most likely a book or two will be added to my library now on Scotland and Scottish history/dress.

All traditions change and adapt to the times, but I really personally enjoy the real true ones that have some serious history and purpose behind them.

- Dominic