Brewing methods 泡法

The method sets how much leaf goes into how much water, and for how long. That is the whole difference between one long infusion in a big cup and a dozen short ones in a small gaiwan.

A glass teapot with an infuser, a glass of green tea and a gaiwan — Illustration

In gongfu cha you pack a lot of leaf into a small vessel and pour off the liquor within seconds, infusion after infusion. Western brewing works the other way round: a little leaf, plenty of water and one long steep in a teapot or mug. Between the two sits the glass: the leaf stays in the water, and you top it up until the flavor is gone.

Two more methods skip the usual hot brew. Cold brew sits in the fridge for hours and comes out soft and sweet. For boiling, the leaf stays in boiling water over a flame, which is how people open up aged white tea, liu bao and shou pu-erh.

Japanese green teas have their own routine. You steep sencha and gyokuro in a small kyusu with cooled water and whisk matcha right in the bowl with a bamboo whisk.

In this section

Gongfu cha 工夫茶 Gongfu cha, brewing in short infusions: how much leaf, how hot the water and how many seconds each type of tea needs, and how Chaozhou and Taiwan differ.
Western brewing 西式冲泡 Western brewing: 2–3 g of tea per cup, one long steep in a teapot, mug or tea bag. Ratios, times and temperatures by type, plus milk and common mistakes.
Glass and grandpa 杯泡法 Brewing in a glass, bowl or big mug with the leaf left in: three loading orders, the 1:50 ratio, topping up at one third and the teas that suit it.
Cold brew 冷泡茶 How to brew tea with cold water: leaf and water by type, hours in the fridge, ice instead of boiling water, hot concentrate over ice. How long it keeps.
Boiling tea (zhu cha) 煮茶 Aged white, liu bao, ripe pu-erh and pressed dark tea simmered in a pot. Boiling-water and cold-water start, ratios, time, fluoride.
Matcha 抹茶 How to make matcha at home: usucha and koicha, grams of powder and water temperature, chasen and sifter, foam, common mistakes, and keeping the powder.
Sencha and gyokuro 日本茶 Brewing Japanese leaf tea in a kyusu: leaf, water and seconds for sencha, gyokuro and hojicha, cooling water in cups and pouring to the last drop.