What's Up with the Tiny Cups? | An Intro to Gongfu Brewing
- Dart
- Dec 29, 2022
- 3 min read
Brewing tea in the West is very different from how tea is brewed in China. In China, there are two main ways of brewing tea: Gongfu Tea and Bowl Tea. Gongfu tea uses the small teapots common in Chinese tea shops, while Bowl Tea (also called Grandpa Style or Da Wan Cha) can be brewed in large thermoses, mugs, or of course tea bowls.
Let's look at how brewing tea in China differs from brewing tea in the West!
As this chart shows, Gongfu tea utilizes significantly smaller tea cups and tea pots than are oft employed in the West. A standard coffee mug, which is between 12 and 16 ounces would be about as large as the whole teapot or Brew Cup being used in the Gongfu tea brewing method.
Thus, a common Brew Cup or teapot being used to make Chinese Gongfu tea has the capacity of a cappuccino cup, while the tea cups being used are most similar to espresso cups.
Despite the smaller size of the pot and the cup, the Gongfu tea method usually calls for more tea by the gram than Western tea brewing would allow. This is due to the higher quality of whole, loose leaf tea from China, while full of flavor, it is slower to bitter than the broken up bits one finds in English teabags.
Finally, when brewing and serving the tea, the main difference between Western Style and Chinese Gongfu is the time in which the tea is brewed. While tea is often brewed for a few minutes at a time in the West, the infusion time is reduced to a matter of seconds in Chinese Gongfu!
As you can see in this chart, not only is the steep time very different between Western and Gongfu brewing, but so re the number of infusions, the tea drinking temperate and the occasional addition of sugar.
In summation, Gongfu tea can be understood simply as brewing a relatively large amount of tea leaves in a small vessel for a short amount of time. To facilitate the 15 second infusion times, it is essential to have a few pieces of Teaware: a brewing vessel, a decanter, and a cup. While the process is in essence very simple, the skill it takes to extract the ideal brew from whichever tea being brewed is immense, (after all, gongfu in Chinese means Great Skill)!
To brew gongfu can actually be very simple, you don't need an elaborate teahouse setup, but rather, three simple pieces of Teaware. Pictured from right to left is the brew cup (gai wan), the pour cup (gong dao bei) and the teacup (cha bei). Note that sometimes the pour cup and the teacup can be combined into a single tea bowl, into which all the tea being brewed can be decanted. For our purposes here, we will be using these three pieces of Teaware.
Thus, to brew Gongfu, here is everything we need:
A Brew Cup or Tea Pot (Gaiwan, Chahu)
A Pour Cup (gongdao bei)
Teacups (chabei)
Tea (cha)
Very hot water (185 - 212 degrees Fahrenheit)
The crux of gongfu tea brewing is the quick and controlled brew times. As mentioned above, the tea leaves should only be allowed to steep in the hot water for a matter of seconds before being decanted into the pour cup. In this way, the leaves are brewed and decanted usually over 10 times, but sometimes even up to 20 times!
That's our quick overview comparing Western tea brewing styles and Chinese Gongfu tea brewing, for a more detailed look on how to brew Gongfu tea, check out our instructive blog!
What is the perfect size brew cup or teapot if I only have 1?
150-200ml
If the brew cup was invented in Fujian why don't we hear about a lot of Fujian teaware?
Dehua is the porcelain capital in Fujian, and while the brew cup was invented in Fujian, the Emperor's porcelain was from Jiangxi, Jingdezhen not
Fujian, Dehua. Because of this, Dehua has always remained in the shadow of Jingdezhen.
What teaware is superfluous and I don't actually need?
Tea strainer (this can be useful if your tea leaves are clipped, broken, or crushed) Tea pet (this is simply an adornment that serves no function)
Brew Cup saucer (while it can reduce the amount of spilled tea, it offers more aesthetic value rather than utility
Just because they are superfluous doesn't mean you can't use them of course just they they aren't necessary.
What Teas are best brewed Gongfu?
Pu'er teas
Oolong Teas
White Teas
These are all teas that change considerably with each infusion, while many pu'er teas and oolong teas can be bitter if overstepped, many white teas have a dynamic life that if brewed Western Style becomes rather muddled.
When I brew Gongfu, my tea often turns out bitter.
As there are three main factors in brewing gongfu tea, a bitter brew often comes down to one of these three things being off: Brew Time, Tea to Water Ratio, Water Temperature. Try shortening the brew time, adding less dry leaf to the Brew Cup, or lowering the water temperature.
The Brew Cup gets too hot to hold comfortably.
As the design of the Brew Cup has evolved over the past 600 years, they should not be burning your fingers if you're holding them well. Remember to grip only the outermost rim of the Brew Cup, and be sure not to fill it all the way, it should only be about 80% full of water at any given time.
How should I hold the Brew Cup?
We've already made. great video on how to hold your teapot and Brew Cup to avoid burning your fingers! Check it out!
Check out our video introduction of this topic one week after the blog is released You can check back here or on our Youtube
Don't have a set yet? This set is perfect for new Gongfu tea drinkers.
Travel Set with an Easy Brew Cup
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