Today I decided to try to brew this gongfu style. I’ve actually never tried to steep a black tea gongfu, though I have of course tasted a black tea steeped gongfu when I was in China. I watched David’s video on the Verdant website, and guestimated the amount of leaf to add into my pot (since I lack a scale, and also lack the confidence to know by sight).
My first steep was a rinse, but honestly it smelled too good not to drink. And man I’m glad I didn’t throw it out. The wet leaf smells deeply chocolatey and a bit roasted, and the liquor smells caramelly, honeyed, and like toasted grains. The flavor isn’t very strong (what do you expect from a rinse), but it is deliciously full of notes of chocolate, mollasses grains, and honey, including a rather prominent sweetness as it cools.
The second & third steeps were about 10 seconds, as per the video, and wow, this is a flavor I have never tasted when steeping it western style. It is more minerally, and more grainy. Chocolate notes are still there, but less prominent. The sweetness is darker, less honeyed and more like bittersweet chocolate (though not really “bitter” per se). It’s roastier, also, toasted and warm.
Fourth, fifth and sixth steeps return to the chocolatey, caramelly flavors that I know from this tea. Definitely delicious.
Seventh steep (at 1 min) started getting weak to my tastes, so I stopped. Still, this has to go down as one of my most successful gongfu brewing sessions with my ru kiln set. Can’t wait to try some more black teas in it!
