Tea drinking folks in China

Kungfu Tea Ceremony in Min Nan
The Gong Fu or Kung Fu Tea Ceremony is a Chinese Chaozhou and Min Nan way of preparing tea with great skill.

Chinese tea ceremony is inclusive of tea drinking rituals, an elaborate ritual to prepare tea, and a quiet interlude during which the host and guests strive for spiritual refreshment and harmony with nature. The ceremony can be practiced anywhere, at home or in a teahouse.

Introduction:
The term "GongFu" in Chinese means skillful, and "GongFu" Tea Preparation refers to a method of preparing tea with a Chinese Miniature Tea Set that enhances the enjoyment of the tea experience.

Initial Preparation:
Collect clean teapot, tea boat, tea pitcher, teacups, and loose tea. Boil water in a small kettle to the appropriate temperature. Optional equipage: saucers, smelling cups, tea tray, tea funnel, tea utensils, and waste water container.

Heat Equipment:
Place teapot in the tea boat. Using the kettle, carefully fill the teapot with hot water. Replace the lid on the top of the teapot and pour hot water over the teapot. Fill all the cups (and smelling cups) with hot water. After everything is heated, dispose of the water in the teapot and cups.

First Steep:
Scoop loose tea leaves into the warm teapot. As a general guideline, if the tealeaves are tightly rolled (e.g. Oolong), the leaves should fill a quarter of the teapot. If the tealeaves are not tightly rolled (e.g. Pouchong), the leaves should fill up to one half of the teapot. Experiment to discover the right amount of leaves for your teapot. Pour hot water over the leaves until the teapot is filled. Steep for around one minute. Dry the bottom of the wet teapot with a towel and transfer the brewed tea from the teapot to the tea pitcher.

Optional Step with Smelling Cups:
Line up the smelling cups. With the tea from the tea pitcher, fill each smelling cup to approximately 50% capacity. After a couple of seconds, empty the tea from each smelling cup into its matching teacup "partner." Offer the empty smelling cup to each guest for his or her enjoyment of the aroma of the tea.

First Service:
Line up the teacups (with saucers). With the tea from the tea pitcher, fill each teacup to approximately 70% capacity and offer the cup (with saucer) to each guest. Take some time to enjoy the color, fragrance, taste, and aftertaste of the tea, tea set, and the ongoing conversation with friends and family.

Second Steeping:
Before the first guest completely consumes his or her cup of tea, reheat the water in the kettle if needed. Pour hot water into the teapot with the same previously steeped leaves. Steep for around one minute and transfer the tea from the teapot into the tea pitcher.

Second Service:
Serve the tea from the tea pitcher by refilling each guest's cup to about 70% capacity.

Successive Steepings:
Reheat water if needed. Pour hot water into the teapot with steeped leaves. Lengthen the steeping time an additional 15-20 seconds for each successive steep (e.g. The third steep would be about 1 minute and 15 seconds. The fourth steep would be about 1 minute and 30 seconds.) The slightly additional steeping time should help to keep consistency in the tea taste without oversteeping. High quality tea leaves should be able to be steeped 4 to 6 times. Transfer the steeped tea into the tea pitcher and serve as before.

In the beginning you may experience some tea or water spillage or be unable to prepare the tea in time before some of the teacups run dry, but with practice and use of "GongFu" tea preparation you will soon experience the enhanced enjoyment of the tea time, tea, and teaset.

Proper Tea Storage
Keep in mind that tea is vulnerable to 5 things: air, light, odor, heat, and moisture. When tea is excessively exposed to these 5 elements, it will gradually lose flavor and become stale.

If you plan on not using your tea for a while, the best place to store it would be in double-lidded, airtight tin canisters or ceramic containers. Another very important rule to remember is to always keep tea at cool and dry places.

In general, black and oolong tea could be kept between 2-3 years under ideal conditions. Tea that is less oxidized has a shorter shelf time. Green and white tea could remain fresh for up to 2 years if stored properly.

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