The Gongfu tea ceremony is widely practiced in a small region called Fukien. This region was one of the largest tea producers in China. The strength of the tea in the ceremony can be adjusted based on the preference of the tea makers.
Photo courtesy of geekgirlunveiled
What do you need for the ceremony?
There are several equipments needed for this ceremony such as:
* A Yixing tea pot and tea cups
* 3 tools that are made from bamboo: tea needle, tea tongs, and tea scoop
* A caddy used to store tea
* A tray for the tea pot and cups. The stray used in tea ceremony is specially designed so when water drips on the tray, it will flow directly down another tray below it. When the ceremony is done, you can remove the tray from under and discard the water.
* A pot to boil the water
What do you do in the tea ceremony?
1) Heat up a pot of water. Pour the water into the tea pots. Pour the water into the cups. But don’t fill each up the first time. Moving the tea pots back and forth until all the tea cups are filled with water. There shouldn’t be any water left in the tea pots.
2) Use the tongs to pick up the first tea cup and pour the water into the second. Submerge the first tea cup into the water in the second up. Continue do this until all the cups are cleaned inside and out. Discard the water from the last cups.
3) Take the bamboo scoop. Scoop up some tea from the tea caddy. Show the tea to the guests. People who enjoy this ceremony are often tea experts. Thus, they often would like to know what kinds of tea they are about to enjoy. The rarer the tea is, the merrier.
4) Add the tea into the Yixing tea pot. Pour the hot water into a cup in slow circling motion. Only fill 3/4 of the pot. Lift up the lid of the tea pot three times. Then fill up the tea pot with water.
5) Pour the tea into the cups. Repeat step 2 but this time does it quicker.
6) Pour hot water into the tea pot again. Lift up the lid 3 times. Replace the lit.
7) Pour hot water from the top of lid to the bottom. This step helps make the inside and the outside of the tea pot at the same temperature.
Use a towel and dried the tea pot. Wipe the top and the bottom of the pot.
9) This the 1st brew. Pour the tea into each cup in a continuous motion. Only 2/3 of the cup is filled. Use the bamboo needle to unblock the drain spout of the tea pot.
10) If you want the second brew. You have to drain all the tea from the first brew to the stray. Repeat step 6 and 7 for the second brew. The tea shouldn’t be brewed more than 3 times because after 3 times, the tea begins to taste like flavored water. All of the essence of tea is gone. All is left is regular leaves.
What other tea set you can use?
Another kind of tea set can be used in the tea ceremony is the round tray tea set. The Yixing tea pots and tea cups, bamboo tools, and tea caddy are still used. But however, instead of the rectangle tray, round stray is used. The water is retained in the tray after washing the cups and draining the first water. The steps are quite similar as above. For a nice presentation of the tea ceremony, black tray or tray with the same color as the tea pot and cups are used.