When you all brew your tiny batches of tea gong-fu style (100ml and under) how much tea do you drink? I mean, do you brew a batch, drink, and then brew again? Or do you brew two times at once? I just got my 125ml gaiwan and I really appreciate the larger size than my 100ml one. Just wondering.
Gong-fu Amount
- Thread starter Kyle Hyde
- Start date
since im the only one who drinks these types of tea my 100ml gaiwan is just fine for me. one infusion yeilds enough to fill one of my teacups (their actualy quite large for what they are)
and as for how much i drink.. i usualy end up drinking say 3-4 of my cups in a short amount of time before i get tea'd out for a couple of hours.
the few times i did have to brew for others i did wish the gaiwan was bigger but those are far and few between.
and as for how much i drink.. i usualy end up drinking say 3-4 of my cups in a short amount of time before i get tea'd out for a couple of hours.
the few times i did have to brew for others i did wish the gaiwan was bigger but those are far and few between.
In the beginning it seems ridiculous to brew this way. However, as you progress into the world of tea you will see it as superior. Having said this...if you are at work, true gong fu may not be practical. You should do whatever feels right. I use a 130ml yixing or a 150ml gaiwan. Sometimes I do two brews and pour them into a fair pitcher and pour individual cups from that. Other times I do one brew to one cup. I do keep meaning to get a smaller yixing but I keep spending it on tea! The whole thing can seem a bit laborious, but that it part of the charm of the gong fu experience.
If you are drinking alone it makes sense to have a cup size that matches the size of the brewing vessel as opposed to using 30 or 40ml cups.
If you are drinking alone it makes sense to have a cup size that matches the size of the brewing vessel as opposed to using 30 or 40ml cups.
Good question!
I seem to have settled on using a 120ml pot, pour the liquid into a gongdaobei (a.k.a. small glass jar), and the resultant brew fills around five little cupfulls.
The second cup, I give to my Qingchan (three-legged zisha toad) and the last cup I give back to the teapot ("Zidu" - purple belly), Half-Dipper style (as in the way that half the dipper of water is returned to the basin).
So, I only drink three out of every five cups. This allows me to (i) increase the skin-shine on Zidu and Qingchan, and (ii) push a tea out to a further number of infusions than if I were drinking every drop that came out of the teapot.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
I seem to have settled on using a 120ml pot, pour the liquid into a gongdaobei (a.k.a. small glass jar), and the resultant brew fills around five little cupfulls.
The second cup, I give to my Qingchan (three-legged zisha toad) and the last cup I give back to the teapot ("Zidu" - purple belly), Half-Dipper style (as in the way that half the dipper of water is returned to the basin).
So, I only drink three out of every five cups. This allows me to (i) increase the skin-shine on Zidu and Qingchan, and (ii) push a tea out to a further number of infusions than if I were drinking every drop that came out of the teapot.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
If I'm brewing a tea that I know well with gear that I know well, I'll sometimes queue up the second infusion so that it can cool a bit while I drink the first infusion. It keeps my cup full pretty constantly. I really only do this when I'm brewing for myself alone.
The waiting is part of the beauty of gong fu for a group.
The waiting is part of the beauty of gong fu for a group.
same here
I brew till the tea gives up. I use (lately) a 100ml gaiwan, and 20ml cups with a 200ml fair pitcher. I brew the tea in the gaiwan, strain to the pitcher, then pour into a cup, drink, repeat, brew, strain, drink, repeat until the tea gives up. I only have tea sessions when I have a lot of time to sit around and relax, so the past year my good tea sessions have been few and far between.
