gongfu black tea
Hi there,
Is there anybody know about gongfu black tea？ I’ve bought some from China, since gongfu black tea I got is in bulk and cannned, I don’t know how to control the strength of tea. Your advice is appreciated.
Sarah
I drink gongfu black tea every morning. I shoot for 1 gram of leaf for every 20ml of water in my gaiwan, e.g. 6g in a 120ml gaiwan. I use water that is 190f-200f depending on the tea with a rolling boil pour on the last steep to get every last bit. Every tea will be a little different, so you will have to adjust to your tastes.
I find that the most important part of controlling the strength is the brewing time. My first steeps are 10-15 seconds and get longer throughout the session; though I don’t use a timer and sort of just “feel it out”.
You seems to be a gongfu black tea for a long tea. I’ll have a go with you instruction.Thank you very much.
You are very welcome! I wish I had experience with the specific black tea you are referring to, but this is how I would brew any Chinese longer leaf black tea the first time, and adjust from there. Like I said in my original post I think the most important way to control strength is the brew time followed by the amount of leaf.
I assume gongfu here refers to the type of black tea and not the method of preparation.
That’s how I brew black every tea so it still applies, but in either case the wording could be clarified.
I suspect you will have to experiment. Gongfu here refers to the art and skill put into making the tea itself and is part of the appellation of some famous teas in China. Some of these teas have had some effort to create a controlled brand where the tea is defined by growing region, varietal and type of production but I have had gongfu teas from several provinces of China, each has been unique in strength and flavour and I suspect you will have to experiment. One of the farmers I bought Tanyang gongfu and panyong gongfu from in the past recommended a 45s-1 minute steep for the first steep and increases in 5-10 s intervals after that. I generally use less leaf than the above recommendation ( usually around 3.5-5 g). Some of these teas have been very strong. Tanyang for example can be intensely fruity. Some of the really tippy ones resembling jinjunmeimei can benefit from flash steeping ( use boiling water and pour off immediately) if the flavour is very intense. Some of these teas can last many steeps for a black tea. I have had one give me flavour up to 11 steeps but usually it’s 4-5 steeps. As to what it will taste like, it depends again on where the tea is from, it’s grade and it’s processing. One of the ones I have had was so intense in flavour that I inked it better after it had rested for some time.
Tanyang is usually a balance between fruit, floral, caramel, honey notes in my experience especially if tippy . Grain and cocoa notes may also appear.
The panyong tea I had was from the same farm but had a different preparation and it was more caramel and chocolate.
Zhenghe can have a lot chocolate and can be a bit nutty
Bailin is usually cherries, stonefruit, spice and chocolate for me.
Ninhong just means a Fujian produced gongfu tea.
Other fairly famous ones are yingde gongfu and Hunan gongfu but again I have had gongfu teas from other regions.
If you post a picture of th can someone may be able to tell you more specifically what you have. Some of them are very generic though and may give you little information. Teavivre also has a list of some of the pinyin for several Chinese teas that may help.
Although this is also true I think the original poster was referring to the type of tea called Gongfu Black. It is relatively commonly sold on websites. I think Teavivre sells it.
Allan I know this. They are all linked to an appellation. There is a yunnan gongfu black as well on the Teavivre site. Tanyang gongfu, zhenghe gongfu and bai Lin gongfu are just some of the more famous ones. What I was trying to say is there is no unique Tea known as gongfu tea. A tea labelled gongfu may be made from several varietals and processed differently depending on where it is made and where it is from.
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