Attention!
Attention!
We have Gong Fu. I repeat, we have Gong Fu!
Yes, you read that right. I’m trying it again. I came into acquisition of some small cups designed, not necessarily for Gong Fu, but for a more relaxed and gentle tea session. They are I’d say about 4-6 oz cups, and now that I have them (well, one) I am trying Gong Fu again.
I’m not exactly being scientific about this, just sort of mimicking what I see on all those youtube videos.
Anyway, after a quick rinse, I steeped for about 5 seconds. BTW: The leaves in the gaiwan smell like sweet potatoes and hay. I don’t like sweet potatoes. We’ll see how this goes.
It was very strong at first. A bit too robust for me. I tasted malt and leather, but a good deal of harsh tannin as well. As the session progressed, the tea mellowed out, turning smooth with cocoa and yes, sweet potato notes. However, I didn’t hate it. Those sweet potato tones shifted to apricot on the final two steeps, leaving a lingering sweetness in my mouth once the session was over. Overall, once the tea softened a bit, I found myself enjoying it! It’s not bad fixed this way. In fact, it’s pretty darn good! According to steepster, my original rating was 82, but I somewhat remember not liking this tea, so that 82 might have been before I stopped rating everything high, regardless of if I liked it or not. There’s no tasting note that I can find, so I have no idea.
As for the experience, I was almost sad when the session was concluded. I got a good seven or eight steeps from this ranging from the initial 5 seconds to about 2 minutes. I will say that one problem with gong-fu for me is that my Breville doesn’t possess a keep warm feature, so I can’t keep the temperature consistent, and I certainly don’t want to re-heat the water. Once I get that new kettle (hopefully next month) and I redo my kitchen, I may invest in a proper full gong-fu tea set. Nothing fancy, just something a bit more extensive than a single gaiwan and a teacup. I do think I would like a small teapot at least to go with it, and actual gong-fu cups. The small teacup, while nice, was still way too big for what I was putting in it!
So, my final thoughts. Well, guess what. I think I’m going to break my habit. I now see that gong-fu can greatly improve the texture/flavor of good quality tea. So hopefully, in the near future, I can try this again. Maybe I can acquire a nice Wuyi to try it with.
Showtune of the Moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n7X-st2QPc
Flavors: Apricot, Leather, Malt, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin
Preparation
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Yay! I am happy you have tried gong-fu again and liked it! Trust me, you need actually just gaiwan, tea cup and thermos. At least I keep it this way and the thermos keeps the water hot all the steeping.
And the tea? Sounds pretty nice as well.
Hooray! Have you seen the video by teahouse ghost? It is a great series for preparing tea. So glad you had a fun gong fu, the first of many, I hope!
Yay! I am happy you have tried gong-fu again and liked it! Trust me, you need actually just gaiwan, tea cup and thermos. At least I keep it this way and the thermos keeps the water hot all the steeping.
And the tea? Sounds pretty nice as well.
Hooray! Have you seen the video by teahouse ghost? It is a great series for preparing tea. So glad you had a fun gong fu, the first of many, I hope!