How Much Tea for Gong Fu Brewing?

[@PA30000]

Idea for simple brew ratios taken from coffee culture: Brew ratio is used by coffee Batistas. 1 gram coffee to 15 grams water is represented by "1:15" . Brew ratios make it easy to share recipes as converting to different mug size / tea pot volumes . For example, for every 1gram olong tea and 20g water. Then you just say "a good ratio for olong tea is 1:20 " tea/water. And everyone can quickly convert to there own needs.

[@shaundascott104]

I love your channel I learn so much from it your a really good teacher

[@MeiLeaf]

:) thanks

[@StephanieGhanem]

Thank you, Don! This video couldn't have come at a better time. Gongfu-style is definitely the way to brew if you want the most flavour and experience out of your tea.

[@2ndchanceinlife]

Thank you Don 🙏

[@kingrichardiii6280]

Any one reading this who is on the fence on Gongfu brewing i recommend trying it as well. it makes a thicker, richer and flavorful tea. Today had some pendulum meddler and used about 4 or 5 grams in a 100 mil gaiwan. first brew, pure honey and menthol, almost like drinking a Ricola cough drop. would not get that richness by brewing half a gram or the like.

[@EricBryan]

A few years ago I printed up your tea brewing guide and stuck it to my refrigerator for quick reference. So handy! I must admit that I tend to enjoy western style brewing more than gong fu, but when I have a special tea that I really want to spend time with, I do gong fu.

[@MeiLeaf]

Thanks Eric

[@r.salisbury133]

I brew 8-10g per 100mL for shou puer and unless it's a young tea that's particularly strong, you can taste it a lot better than if you try to skimp. I stick to 5g/100mL for sheng because it gets astringent much faster, but shou doesn't have that problem. You can also go much heavier on the greener oolongs so the open leaves take up the entire gaiwan

[@Adures]

That is actually a really good guide. I was using similar figures for green tea, after experimenting with it. Thanks to you i have a good staring point for other kinds of tea. Thanks!

[@alexbougiemusic]

Hey Don, thank you as always for a wonderful video. I'd definitely be interested in seeing a video that compares oolong and ball oolong (just a thought). You channel is truly a gem, thank you for all of of your hard work, dedication, and passion! Love from Canada.

[@ruthannamarteifio9069]

Great info---thank you, Don!!

[@20thcenturyboy85]

Superb vid! Thank You!

[@Makemydayoutdoors]

Awesome video. Very informative thank you.

[@joshuahirsen7956]

Thanks for this video and all of your excellent content. I was hoping you would be willing to provide a similar primer about gongfu tea steeping times. I know that precise recipes are somewhat contrary to the spirit of gongfu tea, which is more about natural, intuitive approaches to brewing, but it would be helpful to have some basic guidelines to work with. That way I could have a consistent starting point as a control for comparing different teas as well as different sessions with the same tea. Thanks again. Keep up the good work.

[@myteaflow1119]

Thanks for sharing! 👍✨

[@shadowpapito]

Thank you!

[@loadsterbr7298]

Wow this made me realize I’ve been using way too much tea in every session, now I’ll be able to save some money

[@Malthan]

I think the figures you gave for green tea are fine for Chinese ones, but you might want to go higher with good Japanese greens. For high quality sencha and gyokuro teas I was told to use 5-6g per 100 ml, sometimes even 7 or 8g for that rich umami punch.

[@MeiLeaf]

These teas are usually pretty dense so you can definitely afford to go heavier. Wow 8g is heavyweight tea drinking! That is a powerhouse brew you are making.

[@000GunterGabriel000]

With Japanese Green Teas i think it depends on the grade of steaming. Fukamushis will generally need lesser amount of leafes than for instance Asamushi Teas.

[@pedantic79]

American here, so I use the gram to us fl oz ratio to keep track I agree, with high quality gyokuro, I will occasionally go up to 3:1 (9g per 90ml). For Chinese green, 1:1 (3g per 90ml) is fine.

[@josesimoes7461]

Could you please provide the infusion times?

[@crazylikeafox1000]

I am new to this and have been studying from multiple sources. To me, it seems, your portions are almost double what two other good sources are saying. For example, in my 200ml, your Ooolong suggests 9-10 gr, going by 4.5 per 100ml. Others suggest 3.5 per 6 oz(roughly 200ml.) a lot of experimentation will be needed. Thanks!

[@ooSLEEPWALKERoo]

5g/100ml on Pu Erh seems really strong. I'm brewing with a 200ml pot and tried different amounts of Shou Cha. I found 10g/200ml barely drinkable on the first infusion.

[@MeiLeaf]

Feel free to adapt but these are the general amounts that we use - make sure that you brew for short infusions though!

[@ooSLEEPWALKERoo]

Definitely, I happily switched to Gong Fu style brewing a while ago.

[@ranitadechocolate27]

Hi Don! I've been following up with your videos and they are awesome! I have a question though, I do not own a Gaiwan but I am interested in trying Gongfu brewing, can I still do the gongfu brewing with a tea basket? Hope you are having a good day today and thank you for the awesome videos.

[@MeiLeaf]

Hi, Yes you can use a tea basket to do Gong Fu style brewing. Find a cup or container (glass or porcelain) which is about 100-150ml which your basket can fit in. If you can find a container like this then put the right amount of leaves in and infuse in water and maybe use a small plate to put on top as a lid to maintain the temperature. Remove the basket after flash brewing and drink or pour into smaller cups if you are drinking with friends. It will be similar to the flavour of brewing in Gong Fu teaware like a Gaiwan (but obviously not exactly the same because these are designed for Gong Fu tea). Thanks! Don

[@michaelamaestas4950]

THANK YOU

[@DarkrarLetsPlay]

What's with Yellow Teas???

[@darekk7459]

I wonder why there is not used a method being somewhere between gong fu and western style, since difference in tea quantity and brewing time is so huge. I need to give try, maybe 1,5 g of green tea per 100 ml and brewed a half minute :)

[@hybrid2003]

What about Yellow Tea?

[@CatBat90s]

Where do you get the tiny mugs if you have the gongfu decanter rather than a whole set?

[@supersonicyou]

I've used 5g for ball rolled oolongs. Might experiment with 7, but 5 is quite economical in the sense that I still get all the flavors but less steeps I guess.

[@susanaserrano4040]

What if you have more guests? do you double the amount of leaves and water?

[@NinjaFromMixedLand]

How many cups a session how many cups a day? Normal tea cup and please let me know

[@benmoore7946]

why are there no videos on gunpowder? Or did I miss it? anyway, love this channel. It encouraged me to try new teas.

[@MeiLeaf]

If you are referring to Gunpowder green tea then this is usually a relatively inexpensive, simple country tea usually using larger leaves and designed for everyday drinking. We do not stock this tea but what would you like to know about gunpowder tea?

[@benmoore7946]

Thank you for the response. I did mean gunpowder green, but there isn't something specific I would like to know. I have learned so much from your videos that anything you would have to say about any kind of tea I would be interested in learning. The fact that you do not stock this tea explains why it was not featured in a video yet, but perhaps a detailed masterclass video on the different types of green tea someday will hit upon gunpowder? The question that begs asking, however, is why do you not stock it? is it a lower quality tea? does a good quality gunpowder green tea not exist?

[@MeiLeaf]

+Ben Moore Hi, we are sure that we will be doing more videos on different types of Green tea. We don't stock gunpowder because it is generally low quality tea. There are some higher quality gunpowder but we have quite a few other high grade greens that we have decided to leaves gunpowder. We are not criticising gunpowder, it can be a good, everyday drinking green but it is not as interesting and aromatic as others.

[@richlaue]

i agree, gun powder can be a good everyday cheap tea. Usually get from the local chinese store, and even here I've noticed a difference in quality between the brands

[@mattdill1219]

What gram to 100ml suggestions to you have for Roobios? Should add it to the cheat-sheet on your website!

[@MrStelver]

I mean... rooibos is not from the tea plant so...

[@HokiHumby]

^^

[@marveloushamper]

Since the rolled oolong leaves expand so much, you have to keep adding more water, right? What's the right amount of water for these leaves as they expand?

[@humanlizard9221]

I have a 180ml gaiwan, how do I know how much tea I need... I don't rlly understand. Thank you for the great video!

[@MeiLeaf]

Multiply any amounts which we give per 100ml by 1.8 for a 180ml gaiwan.

[@humanlizard9221]

Mei Leaf thank you!! Just for clarification... let’s say I want to brew green tea, so 3.5x1.8=6.3g? I hope I got this right!

[@victorsundeev1878]

@@humanlizard9221 yes that is right !!!

[@floppajima8510]

so i dont have lot of tool and i am actually using teaspoon for measuring tea (i know its not precise) and i want to know if its ok for overall tea i considered 1 teaspoon = 2g ?

[@kristianrother]

At around 3:15 you say that the tea is g/100ml pot volume. My gaiwan is 120ml but I only fill it with about 80ml of water when brewing as that's roughly where the lid still closes nicely. I'm assuming I'd use the actual amount of water I use for the calculation and not the theoretical max. capacity of the gaiwan? So if your recommendation is 5g of tea/100ml I'd use 5*0.8=4g of tea instead? Or is that loss in water already "priced in" and I would use 5*1.2=6g? I think in your videos you also don't fill the 150ml gaiwan to the max so how much tea do you use with that pot if your recommendation is 5g/100ml? Thanks a lot, great channel. The passion of everyone involved can be felt in every video :)

[@A_A828]

Just experiment and see what works best for you! .5-1g one way or another will make a difference but it's not like it would be ruined either way. I reckon your 5*0.8=4g calculation is what was intended though.

[@timothyjadet]

Don't think it too much, just try some ammount of grams and feel it. Actually different tea is different.

[@markmatolcsy1844]

I bought a beautifully made teacup recently, at the store it looked like 100ml+ cup, but it turned out to be a 50ml cup. I got confused, I usually drank 100-130 ml brews with the same amount of leaves you presented here. Would you recommend halving the amount of leaves? Also, can I keep the recommended re-brewing times?

[@mscharocher]

My yixing teapot is 260ml. So if I put 5g of tea in it I should only pour 100ml of water inside? What is the perfect amount of puer tea for 260ml teapot if i want to fill the whole teapot with water?

[@chrisshunter5450]

How to prepare match a

[@BARANSHAMPANSKY]

I bought a pretty good shu puerh “grand pa’s tea” from Runtu . It came with a promo bag of fossils. I haven’t tried to brew it yet. Have you?

[@askialuna7717]

I am quite sensitive about aroma and always take half the amount as recommended as a starting point.

[@tendingtropic7778]

do you also double the infusion time then?

[@Caranthire]

I have just 1 quick question. Is there to much tea for a day?? I drink about 1-1.5l a day (gong fu style) is there a limit or to much, or is the limit like the 2-3l like water? xD

[@ginaC53]

Don, I personally find black teas very challenging to brew, in terms of extracting the best flavour out of them, and I wonder if you can help me. I have a couple of black teas, they both seem to perform much better grandpa style, but even then I have difficulty bringing out the flavour.

[@MeiLeaf]

Are they big leaf or small leaf black tea? What temperature are you brewing?

[@ginaC53]

I'm brewing about 80-90 degrees. How do I know if they are big leaf? One has twisted leaves 2/3 centimetres long, the other I think is machine cut, and in little centimetre long sort of rolls.

[@MeiLeaf]

The temperature is a little low in our opinion. We usually use 90 for black teas and if they are large leaves 2cm or more then we use 95.

[@ginaC53]

Thank you, I'll try hotter water

[@kinghazzah]

Don, since I'm a US tea-head, for Fahrenheit temperature usually I do the same but it's at about 200 (+ or - a bit) for your 90 (I usually take it off the boil and then decant into my stainless steel double walled thermos made for using for COFFEE but works great keeping the temperature for quite some time but unless it's already hot it drops the temperature enough) and for your 95 usually somewhere near the 205 and maybe even 208 or so. In short, I believe that you can still make a great pot of tea with slight variations in temperature. I prefer to filter out our city water to rid it of the chlorine taste and fluoride but the electric driven table top method I use keeps the regular nice mineral content while softening the undesirable elements out. My rule of thumb even with any product I'm going to consume that has water as a major element of it that if I don't want to drink it right out of the tap (although that is very safe to do where I live as they have, at least what they consider, one of the best whole city charcoal filtration units in the world) the addition of the chlorine (to keep away bacteria etc.) and the fluoride (good for teeth?) after they do the charcoal filtration. That seems somewhat standard for US water filtration plants unless they're using an underground aquifer where it may only contain the local mineral content. In short, water for myself is more of a key factor (as important as not "stewing" my green teas which in my early days of even trying green in bags (YUCK) by using too hot of a temperature) sometimes I find that you can play a bit with the temperature and the amount of time brewed to get the desired results. In short, each areas water may be a factor in the finished result of your brewing. That's why I'm sure when I discovered Gong Fu style brewing several years ago and started experimenting with that it's become my preferred method for brewing (and of course to date my favorite is your GURU)!! Keep up the fantastic work sourcing those quality teas and brewing equipment (even the occasional western style) and we'll all keep buying. As an office desk top type of brewing, the Connoisseur glass brewer and container style as well as the leaf and bean style you offer (and even some smaller containers that have space for enough tea but only about 200 ml total with built in strainer and lid made to pour off) work well as next best choices. JUST KEEP DRINKING THE GOOD STUFF!!!!!!!!

[@vizzo7]

Would you recommend gong fu brewing for Sincha green tea for japan? I mean it is not that cheap

[@MeiLeaf]

Japanese tea does work well with Gong Fu but I do think that Japanese brewing parameters are great for these teas.

[@andrewlovely5870]

Hey Don, I have a question abuot Puerh teas. I was looking into some different puerhs and i came across a section of teas called "Dark tea". It looked similar to Puerh but I was wondering is there any difference between the two?

[@MeiLeaf]

Hi, Dark tea is a catch all name for any tea which is post-fermented like PuErh and Liu Bao.

[@MrDgmiller]

Water is 1 gram per ml. It would make more sense to 0 the scale with the gaiwan on it and weigh how much water it holds.

[@mskittycutthroat]

I'm looking into getting a super tiny pot for gong fu brewing as 1 so much to drink on your own and 2 sometime caffeine effects my sinuses badly and then in I'm headache town for hours but at the moment I have a connoisseur tea brewer from you guys and brew a lot of tisanes and blends... Can I do these gong fu style, if so what amount am I looking at or can I brew less volume in my brewer even if it's 200ml ?? (Always so many questions 😂)

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes you can brew blends and tisanes Gong Fu style. The amount depends on the shape of the tisane - if it is fluffy with flowers then maybe fill up 1/3 to 1/2 of the Connoisseur brewer and if it is leaf then maybe less but follow your instincts. Of course you can put less leaf in and not fill the brewing container when brewing.

[@Surviving65]

Are there any "conversion" equations that you use for bigger gaiwan? Instead on 100 ml, what about 150ml or 180 ml?

[@lennutrajektoor]

What about yellow tea? You forgot yellow tea ;)

[@somedude2748]

Ask a Chinese Empero- oh wait...

[@lennutrajektoor]

+Some dude Mei Leaf has a yellow tea in their stocks. Highly recommend.

[@somedude2748]

+lennutrajektoor haha I was just goofing a little. You've had the one they stock? Been dying to try it but already have loads of tea to work through! I saw that brewing yellow is essentially the same as white, so maybe that's why it wasn't included?

[@lennutrajektoor]

+Some dude I got one in Great Taste gift box. Never had any expectations. Turned out to taste noticeably different but definitely in top dogs list.

[@lost2199]

Just tried the Amber Mountain and love it!

[@moritzkohler9214]

Hey Don. I realy love your channel. Last time i heard the suggestion to use so much tea, that the bottom is covered. That should be a good amound for every pot. How do you see that? Thanks and cheers

[@thedood4713]

Flash brewing sounds cool ,or slightly problematic 😆 🤣 what as I flash someone then brew a pot.

[@markpark2713]

A gram is a gram no matter how loose or light of dense the tea looks!

[@MojiLaoshi]

If you ever go to China, you’ll see double of these quantities💁🏻‍♂️ 6-7 grams at least, but shu puer can go as high as 10

[@000GunterGabriel000]

I use pretty much the exact same figures for 150ml.

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes we like it a bit heavier on the leaves but this will work too.

[@TheRealJanKafka]

I first heard of gong fu brewing a month and a half or so ago and have been thoroughly confused ever since. I've watched dozens of videos, checked out dozens of website, only to find out that everyone gives completely different advice. Tea amount, water temperature, wash or don't wash, brew time...It's all over the place. I've even seen websites that provide contradictory information for brewing the same tea in the same vessel. What gives? My takeaway is that to brew tea gong fu style, you just do whatever the fuck you want to do...

[@anselknight1866]

Lol, yeah I got a teapot for specific gong fu brewing but can’t find a tutorial.

[@wesnohathas1993]

Gong Fu brewing just ruined tea bags for me.