I wanted to try out my new tiny little gaiwan (my first gaiwan, a little 50ml one, it looks like it’s for a doll!) so decided to try out the oolong from yesterday gong fu (got an earlier start on the evening and hopefully with the little 40ml infusions I won’t have to worry about having too much caffeinated tea before bed). I will admit that being brand new to using a gaiwan, I’m pretty fail-fish at it right now when it comes to pouring; it’s going to take several more sessions to stop making a mess, methinks. Definitely easier to deal with the shiboridashi in that regard.
Gong fu / 2.5g / 190F / 40ml / 25s|30s|40s|50s|60s|65s|75s|90s|120s
Overall, the Se Chung wasn’t very impressive gong fu style; the flavor was deeply roasty, nutty, and woody, but there was a very sharp, tangy, astringent finish right at the back of the tongue which wasn’t present in the western brew at all. The astringency did mellow a bit by the fifth steep, but never went away entirely. While some of the sweeter notes did start to come through mid-session, it was never the sort of floral honeysuckle note that came out in the western brew, with the woody/roasted nuts flavors remaining dominant. The tea remained to have a lot of staying power and may have had some more infusions in it past the ten I drank, but my final impression is this is a tea more ideal for western brewing, and I appreciated the chance to get some gaiwan practice in, since my pour was showing much improvement already by the ending infusions compared to the earlier ones.
People who liked this
Comments
I’m really digging my small gaiwan. I hope you find as much pleasure in using yours. You’ll be a pro at pouring in no time.
I’m a little confused with the results though? I guess I always assumed that a gong fu session should always be “better” or “more flavorful” and thus I’ve done something wrong, so I fear my tiny (yet adorable!) gaiwan is no good for oolongs because I’m scared the leaves don’t have enough room to fully open up inside it, and that’s why I didn’t get as many flavors as I got doing a western style brew (where the leaves had plenty of room to open up in my gravity-well style infuser). What do you think?
Brewing in a gaiwan isn’t necessarily better or more flavorful. For instance, the Rishi Li Shan you swapped me I found more flavorful brewed western. Comparing to my own experience with leaf to water ratio, I typically don’t go above 6g of any oolong in my 150mL gaiwan, both to have optimal flavor and allow enough room for the leaves to expand. You’re using 2.5g in a gaiwan that is 40-50mL in capacity. Doubling that gives you 5g for max 100mL liquid. Tripling gives you 7.5g to 150mL. That’s a lot of leaf! Afaik, a 50mL gaiwan should hold 50mL of liquid with dry leaf included. It wouldn’t hurt to measure the amount of liquid from each steep to see just how much your gaiwan can accommodate with dry leaf and expanded. From there, consider leafing down.
I mean any balled oolong. Wuyi oolongs are a different story for me. I can and often get away with 8g to 100mL. But the strip style of that leaf doesn’t expand nearly as much as a balled oolong.
DELETE2 minutes ago
I did brew your Rishi Li Shan at 3g in my 60mL gaiwan, which was a bit much, but I was trying to move through your sample with enough leaf left to try different preparations. The leaf fully expanded but over the course of the session, the amount of tea it produced lessened. Sorry, that’s probably a lot of info to digest.
I was carefully measuring the amount of water I put into the gaiwan (I’m not good at the pour so if I get too close to 50ml which is pretty much RIGHT at the lid-line I make more of a mess and the water would sometimes seep up above the lid, so I did much better at 40ml in that regard, and use a small glass measuring glass that measures from 10-120ml for this purpose) so I know I had a consistent liquid amount going in. Coming out, I definitely had less tea being produced and going into my teacup in later infusions than earlier infusions.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I sometimes pour too much in and get the floating lid going on. Keep trying with a few different oolongs and less leaf in your gaiwan and compare that to how you would typically brew western. You may eventually find that in brewing gong fu you become comfortable with imprecise measurements and ‘less flavor’ and more nuance. Or you may find that you just prefer western.
I’m really digging my small gaiwan. I hope you find as much pleasure in using yours. You’ll be a pro at pouring in no time.
I’m a little confused with the results though? I guess I always assumed that a gong fu session should always be “better” or “more flavorful” and thus I’ve done something wrong, so I fear my tiny (yet adorable!) gaiwan is no good for oolongs because I’m scared the leaves don’t have enough room to fully open up inside it, and that’s why I didn’t get as many flavors as I got doing a western style brew (where the leaves had plenty of room to open up in my gravity-well style infuser). What do you think?
Brewing in a gaiwan isn’t necessarily better or more flavorful. For instance, the Rishi Li Shan you swapped me I found more flavorful brewed western. Comparing to my own experience with leaf to water ratio, I typically don’t go above 6g of any oolong in my 150mL gaiwan, both to have optimal flavor and allow enough room for the leaves to expand. You’re using 2.5g in a gaiwan that is 40-50mL in capacity. Doubling that gives you 5g for max 100mL liquid. Tripling gives you 7.5g to 150mL. That’s a lot of leaf! Afaik, a 50mL gaiwan should hold 50mL of liquid with dry leaf included. It wouldn’t hurt to measure the amount of liquid from each steep to see just how much your gaiwan can accommodate with dry leaf and expanded. From there, consider leafing down.
I mean any balled oolong. Wuyi oolongs are a different story for me. I can and often get away with 8g to 100mL. But the strip style of that leaf doesn’t expand nearly as much as a balled oolong.
DELETE2 minutes ago
I did brew your Rishi Li Shan at 3g in my 60mL gaiwan, which was a bit much, but I was trying to move through your sample with enough leaf left to try different preparations. The leaf fully expanded but over the course of the session, the amount of tea it produced lessened. Sorry, that’s probably a lot of info to digest.
I was carefully measuring the amount of water I put into the gaiwan (I’m not good at the pour so if I get too close to 50ml which is pretty much RIGHT at the lid-line I make more of a mess and the water would sometimes seep up above the lid, so I did much better at 40ml in that regard, and use a small glass measuring glass that measures from 10-120ml for this purpose) so I know I had a consistent liquid amount going in. Coming out, I definitely had less tea being produced and going into my teacup in later infusions than earlier infusions.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I sometimes pour too much in and get the floating lid going on. Keep trying with a few different oolongs and less leaf in your gaiwan and compare that to how you would typically brew western. You may eventually find that in brewing gong fu you become comfortable with imprecise measurements and ‘less flavor’ and more nuance. Or you may find that you just prefer western.