HotCat.org

This may prove to be the tea that unseats my favorite (King’s Tea #409 from Ten Tea): Shui Xian tea also from Ten Tea (notice that I enjoy Ten Tea’s tea? I’m not a shill, I just love their teas.) It’s a dark oolong, not rolled (like a lot of oolongs, I’d rather it was rolled, but not a significant issue) with a smokey overtone and complex flavors. Every sip, even from the same brewing, is different. The flavor is highly temperature dependent, and quite nice. Bonus is that it’s USDA organic and $40/lb (King’s 409 is $144/lb, yikes!) Lesse if it grows on me or I get sick of it…

Most folks drink coffee from a coffee maker, or soda from the soda machine. Me? I drink tea. I drink it constantly. I have been drinking it for around 10 years in the office.

What is required for tea in the office?

Water – in order to cut down on trips to the water source in the building, I use a 1g plastic jug, one I bought from one of those water stores, made of the same plastic as the 5g water cooler bottles. The plastic imparts little/no flavor to the water, even after years of use. We used to have a water cooler, but federal law prevents the Center from buying bottled water so I just use tap water now, and I don’t really notice a difference in flavor.

A way to heat water is critical, I prefer one in my office (not the best thing to have around computer equipment, admittedly, but I haven’t damaged anything, yet.) I used to use a real basic one, and I still have one that I use for travel from Bodum, but they are either going to boil until they boil dry or they turn themselves off after reaching boiling temperature. One problem, most teas should not be steeped using boiling water–the less fermented the tea, the lower the water temperature so you have to fiddle with it and time it right to get water of the right temperature.

The kettle I’ve been using for the past 8 years or so is one that turns off at boil and on at ~90c. Most of my tea is dark oolong (see below) so 90c is about right, I grab the kettle when it starts another round of boiling. The stainless interior is amazingly free of rust or scale. I might spring for a Zojirushi unit, but the plastic parts make me concerned about reliability.

Third is brewing equipment, a tea cup is obviously necessary. Loose-leaf tea can be brewed loose in a cup, but you’re likely to over-brew green/oolong, brew conservatively. You can use tea bags (either pre-packed, or pack-your-own) or a tea ball. If you use pack-your-own bags or a ball, I’d pack it 1/4 of the way as the tea expands considerably and you want it to breathe.

Brewing equipment is where things get really interesting. If you’ve been to a Chinese market or gift shop, you’ve certainly seen yijing teapots. These teapots are generally small (fits in the palm) and range from basic and functional to decorative and fanciful. I would stick the latter on the shelf and not try to brew tea in ‘em, they’re not meant for real use. A functionally-designed pot will have a lid that fits well and a spout that pours straight, and a small hole in the lid to let air into the pot while the water is pouring out.

I would only use a yixing teapot for high-quality oolong or ti quan yin, or pu erh teas. If you can, find a reputable vendor that sells teas. Note, however, that price is not always an indicator of quality, you’re certain to run across some real junk (for example, Republic of Tea looks and sounds great, but their tea is crap.) If you buy junk teas, brew it in bags or tea balls or make iced tea out of it. A good indicator of quality is how whole the leaves are (or rolled tea leaves, common with oolong and ti quan yin). If you have a lot of small pieces – bag it. If you have dusty looking tea – bag it. (Of course, all tea has dust and fragments that settle to the bottom.)
With your new pot, run boiling water through it a couple times and let it sit with boiling water as well, then start off with some lower-grade teas and whatnot ’cause the clay is not likely to have a neutral scent/flavor.

Fill the pot 1/3 of the way full (yes, that’s a lot of tea) and pour the proper temperature water in the pot until it fills and overflows. You do have something to catch the overflow, right? Start a timer, pour the water out into a cup (or pitcher, if you have a set) when the timer goes off. Gong fu style is unique in that you will brew the same leaves multiple times, if you look at the leaves you’ll notice that they’ve not completely unfurled/expanded on the first brew. I do the second brewing with less time and the same water temperature, and the third brewing and beyond with incrementally more time. My brewing times are usually: 1m, 45s, 1m15s, 1m30s, 1m45s, 2m, 2m15s, 2m30s. After that, usually the tea has been brewed out and the water tastes weakly of tea. Toss the tea and start another pot. I leave the tea in the pot if I haven’t brewed it out, but only overnight. NEVER wash your teapot with soap, but boiling water will help clean it out.

Drinking, contrary to what you might think, is (if done via the small cups) not an act of sipping, at least traditionally. Sometimes I enjoy sipping anyways, so traditions be damned, as far as sipping is concerned.
Me, I drink King’s 409 tea from Ten Tea (previously known as Ten Ren Tea, a Taiwanese tea and ginsing company.) King’s 409 is a dark oolong infused with ginsing, and it’s a very smooth and full-bodied tea with no flavor of the ginsing. Occasionally, when the conditions are just right, the flavor is perfectly balanced and almost tastes a little like butter! Yes, it’s a pricy tea, but not insanely-priced (high-end drinkers easily spend $300+/lb, thousands for aged pu-erh.) 3 teaspoons will last about two days of brewing. One pound lasts about 5 months. Compare that to quality coffees and you’ll find it’s not far off.

My equipment is also from Ten Tea, I find their pots generally of high quality and functional, with less focus on form but aesthetically pleasing nonetheless. Their site is very helpful if you would like more details, and you can buy tea and equipment online. I really enjoy using their tea sets, my desk has a long rectangular bamboo tea tray that catches the water and extra dust and I have the pot, pitcher, and cup lined up for easy access and frequent brewing.