Gong fu newbie!
So I’m pretty new to this whole thing. Today was my first real attempt at this and I know this is might be a silly question, but can a person use this style of steeping for flavoured teas also or is it best to only do straight teas? I have a watermelon oolong that I thought would be interesting to try but I don’t know if the flavour would work or not?
Have others done flavoured teas this style? I’m using a gaiwan for steeping. Thanks!
The groovy thing about the world of tea is that there are really no rules. You can do whatever makes you happy. If the experience makes you happy, then I’d say do it up. If it doesn’t, well then, it’s not your cup of tea. Enjoy!
Totally up to you! Sometimes flavored teas give up their flavoring within the beginning of a steep, but the base tea may need more time. This is why, to get all the flavors of the tea and the flavoring piled on top of each other in one cup, most tea companies suggest one longer steep. What you may experience is a strong presence of the tea flavoring in the first steep or two, then the base tea alone for the rest of the the steeps. But I have brewed many flavored teas gong fu style, especially oolongs because they often change through the steeps! I find that floral scented oolongs do very well this way, as do some more ethereal flavored teas, like Rivendell from Whispering Pines Tea Company, Earl of Anxi from Verdant Teas, and Lychee Oolong from Naivetea.
But, like Garret said, the best part is exploring! Try it out and see, maybe it will be delicious!
awesome thanks! That’s a really good point. I think I’m going to try it! I’ve been so concerned about doing this whole process right, that I forgot it’s more important to experiment and have fun :)
having some simple times in your head can help:
5/5/7/10/15/20/25/30/45/1min or something, then you learn to adjust depending on the tea. (thanks AllanK)
or sometimes 30/30/50/120/ I have been doing today (but only because it was suggested for that tea)
Am I missing something with the times? I never go 5 seconds at all and always start at 20. Me things I may start doing the 5/5…etc. Hmmm.
I think you can steep your tea any way you want. Experiment, see if it works. If it doesn’t try something else. There is absolutely not reason not to resteep flavored teas although in some cases all the flavoring will be extracted in the first couple of steeps.
Regarding resteeping, there are no set rules, only guidelines.
Sometimes you’ll see for example that a specific tea can be reinfused x number of times. If you are on your x + 1 infusion, and you still find it enjoyable, by all means keep reinfusing until you feel it no longer gives you any pleasure.
Thanks so much everyone! I went ahead and tried the Watermelon oolong that I was considering in my gaiwan and it was amazing. I steeped it like 10 times and it still had flavour! I actually needed to stop before the tea was ready to. haha
Gong fu steeping really is about enjoying the tea eh? I haven’t been timing my steeps, just eyeballing it and so far so good. I get so excited about the tea that I don’t always remember to time the steeps.
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