Lughnasa                                                           Harvest Moon

Beginning, slowly, to get the hang of the chinese way of tea.  Yes, it requires a bunch of beginning moves like warming the pot, the pitcher, the cup and rinsing the leaves after that.  It also involves a quick count to pour the water on the tea, then over the pot, then pour the tea out of the pot.

But.  The tea tastes great and you can keep using the same tea leaves for at least six infusions.  That means after the first pot, the next five are straight forward and one pot of tea can last almost a day.

Still a long way from having the nuances, especially when it comes to buying the tea itself, but that will come with time.

Lughnasa                                                             Harvest Moon

OK.  I have my yixing teapots made from the special clay of that region.  I have seasoned them both in the removing of the wax and boiling them in a pot full of the type of tea they will make.

Finally this afternoon I felt I had the uninterrupted time to begin learning this ancient art.  It was the Chinese monks of Chan Buddhism who introduced cha or tea to visiting Japanese monks in the 12th century.  The tradition in China was old, very old, at that time.  The character for tea, thought to have originated in Burma, was simplified in the 8th century BC.

The Chan monks practiced a Taoist influenced Buddhism that would translate itself in Japan into Zen Buddhism.  They used tea to help them stay awake in all night meditation settings.

Here are the steps according to the guide I’m using right now.   First, fill the teapot with boiling water of the right temperature.  This heats the pot.  Pour this water off.  Then, add the amount of tea appropriate for your teapot.  In my case three large Chinese tea scoops or approximately three Western tablespoons.

Add boiling water to the pot, letting it run over the top until clear.  Then pour off the water immediately.  This is rinsing the leaves.  Tilt the lid on the pot so the heat does not cook the leaves.  Now add water again, again letting it run over the top.  Put the lid back on and count 6 seconds, pouring boiling water over the pot to equalibrate temperatures.

At the end pour the tea into a small pitcher.  Serve.

One of the aspects of gong fu cha that differs from all other tea making methods I know is that you reuse the tea leaves as many as six times.  The process repeats but the steeping times vary from pour to pour, going down for the second and then up slowly through the 5th or sixth.

When I finished this process this afternoon, I couldn’t honestly tell whether all of that was helpful.  I have several different kinds of tea and many tea pots so I’ll try different teas in different pots with different methods.  I’ll eventually hit on a method that makes my palate happy.