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Black teas are best infused with water that
has been brought to full boiling. Use a little of the water
to warm the pot and the cup, then discard. Pour the just-boiled
water directly over the tea leaves. Allow the leaves to steep for about five minutes,
more or less. Refill the tea for another infusion if you like. |
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Because of its delicate flavors, green tea requires
cooler water than black tea. After boiling, pour a little
of the water into the pot and cup to warm them. Then let the
kettle sit for about ten seconds before pouring water on the
leaves. In Japan, it's customary with very fine green teas
to allow boiled water to cool to 160 degree. A larger proportion
of leaves to water is used, and steeping time is reduced to
only a minute or two. |
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It's a tea brewing process. In Chinese, Cha is "tea".
For "Kung Fu", you might be familiar with one of it's
meanings - martial arts. But it has more meanings in Chinese - hard
work, labor, level of achievement, skill, free time, etc. Kung Fu
Cha is the Chinese tea brewing process that has a little bit of
ALL these meanings - you will find out why when you go through the
whole process yourself.
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Oolong class . Kung Fu Cha uses YiXing teapots (more info on YiXing
teapots) that retain a high temperature during brewing. High temperature
is what it takes to extract flavor from Oolong.
However, tender tea classes like green tea should NOT be brewed with
Kung Fu Cha. |
We look for the right combination of amount of tea leave, water
temperature, brewing time, etc. to make a good cup of tea. And keep
in mind that Kung Fu Cha offers an advantage over other brewing
- higher water temperature.
The procedure illustrated in the next paragraph demonstrates just the basic
steps. Feel free to modify the steps (e.g. putting the YiXing teapot
in a hot water bath to slow down heat loss, etc., etc.) if such
steps give you a better cup of tea . |
YiXing Teapot (must) - YiXing teapot is slow in losing heat. Small
(personal preference is below 6 oz) and deep teapots are preferable
for best result.
Drinking Cups (must) - that is, if you don't want to drink direct from the
teapot. 3-4 cups of about 1 oz each is fine, depending on the size
of the teapot.
Aroma cups (optional) - brewed tea is poured into the aroma cups first and then transferred to drinking cups. Smell the aroma hot and cold while drinking tea from drinking cups.
Tea Tray (optional but preferred) - quite a bit of spill and waste water is produced
during the process. The tea tray holds such water so you don't have
to wipe it off the table. It might seem to be just for convenience
but it's a BIG convenience.
Tea Utensils (optional) - in a utensil set, there is a tea spoon, a funnel,
a clip, a scoop, a tea needle.
Tea (must) - need no expert to tell tea is a must.
Pitcher (optional) - a container when teacups are full
but tea in teapot has to be emptied to avoid overbrewing.
Strainer (optional) - screens out small pieces of tea leaves.
Water (must) - You can use a variety of
source, say, a pot heated on stove, an electronic heating pot, etc.
Just make sure whatever you use can give you boiling water. Microwave is not recommended for heating water. It hardens water. |
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Address: 1011 Davis Street, Evanston, IL 60201
Phone: (847) 864-7464
Email: info@dreamabouttea.com
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