How to Brew Wu-long Tea
You want to get the best out of your tea investment! That may sound a little over the top thinking of tea as an "investment". Think about it though, you probably did take the time to special order tea online because of the quality so why not insure you get the full potency, taste and fragrence out of it? Follow these basic guidlines for great tasting tea, it's pretty simple!
Also, if you are really interested in getting the most unique
flavor and taste experience from your teas you MUST learn about a special teapot
called - YIXING tea pots - they are amazing!
Details: YIXING
Use Good Water
It's best if you can use fresh spring (botteled)water. Tap water has lots of minerals that may alter the taste of your tea. Usually not for the best! Any generic bottled water should be OK.
Pay attention to the water temperature
Wu long tea tastes best steeped in water lightly boiled to about 165-190 F. Steep for about 1-3 minutes.
Traditional "Gong Fu Cha" Brewing
This translates "brewing with dicipline and grace". Fill the sharing pitcher ( This is not the teapot but a pitcher from which each cup is poured) with boiling water as well as the individual tea cups. Then pour the water out, as this is done to simply "purify" the tea utensils.
Next, fill the empty teapot 1/4 full of dry tea leaves. Now,pour the boiling water over the tea leaves - then imediately discard the infusion.
Why are we doing this!?
This step is done to "awaken" the the tightly rolled Wu long leaves which will then release there unique flavors for up to 5-7 infusions thereafter. Remember, this is the traditional way that the Chinese have prepared wu long for centuries.
We're almost done! Repour the boiling water into the teapot and let steep for 1-3 minutes. Pour into the sharing pitcher and from there pour individual cups and enjoy!
What you'll find with each infusion is a slightly different taste and fragrace - which is what makes the wu-long tea drinking experince so unique.