How to taste tea: water temperature and gongfu brewing
Tasting tea well comes down to three things: water at the right temperature, the right amount of leaf for the water, and paying attention in a simple order.
Water temperature for each tea
Boiling water suits dark, compressed teas; delicate teas need it cooler. Too hot, and a white tea turns flat and a black tea bitter; too cool, and a pu-erh stays closed. These are the temperatures and steeps for the four teas of Box I.
| Tea | Water | Desk · 200 ml | Gongfu · 100 ml | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonlight White | White Tea | 85°C | 90 s, +60 s, +90 s | 20 s, +5 s each |
| Dian Hong | Black Tea | 90°C | 45 s, +30 s, +60 s | 10 s, +3 s each |
| Shou Puer | Ripe Pu-erh | 100°C | Rinse · 30 s, +30 s, +60 s | Rinse · 10 s, +5 s each |
| Sheng Puer | Raw Pu-erh | 95°C | Rinse · 30 s, +20 s, +40 s | Rinse · 10 s, +3 s each |
How to brew gongfu style
Gongfu means skill, or effort. Instead of a lot of water for a long time, you use a small vessel, about 100 ml, the same leaf and many short steeps: ten seconds, then a little longer each time. Pour every steep out completely, so the leaf does not keep brewing. Each infusion shows a different side of the tea, and one sachet gives six to nine cups. For pu-erh, rinse first: a few seconds of hot water, poured away.
How to taste, step by step
- Look. The colour and clarity of the cup, from pale gold to near black.
- Smell. The cup, then the wet leaf, which often smells stronger.
- Sip. Draw in a little air with the tea so it reaches the whole mouth. Notice sweetness, bitterness and body.
- Wait. Swallow and count to twenty. What stays, and what comes back? A sweetness at the back of the throat is huigan.
- Compare and score. Taste teas side by side and write down what you notice, so the differences become your own.
Tasting with Box I
Box I turns this into seven guided sessions. Scan the box and the app gives you the water, the timing and a steep timer for each tea, at your desk or gongfu style, and a sheet to score what you taste. At the end it ranks your scores and tells you which tea was yours.