Had my first cup of oolong last night and I'm hooked. Per recommendations,
I prepared it gongfu style. Couple of questions:
1. When you rinse the leaves, do you just cover them with the hot water or
fill the pot entirely before you pour it off?
2. Does the leaf rinse remove all or most of the caffeine?

Babba Rom /9/03


> Had my first cup of oolong last night and I'm hooked. Per recommendations,
> I prepared it gongfu style. Couple of questions:
> 1. When you rinse the leaves, do you just cover them with the hot water or
> fill the pot entirely before you pour it off?

Classically, you fill entirely with water and pour off. I do often cheat and
just cover the leaves. Others skip this step entirely, drinking the first
steep, which is a quick one. You can hardly go wrong, unless there's someone
you're trying to impress.

> 2. Does the leaf rinse remove all or most of the caffeine?

Ho, ho, the big question. I like to think so, since my doctor says there is
no caffeine in my future. The only thing we normally agree on here is that
caffeine is removed with the steep; how much is open to serious debate.

Michael

"Babba Rom Dos" > wrote in message

> Had my first cup of oolong last night and I'm hooked. Per recommendations,
> I prepared it gongfu style. Couple of questions:
> 1. When you rinse the leaves, do you just cover them with the hot water or
> fill the pot entirely before you pour it off?

If you are doing it "gongfu" (that means formal style) , since the reduced
size of the teapot and the amount of leaves necessary, covering the leaves =
filling the pot.
If you do it relax style, only covering the leaves is enough.
At the end of the post , I copy you the Chinese steeping method and "gongfu"
explanation they gave me at the Hong-Kong tea museum (that's very similar to
what I was shown in Taiwan, where many Fujian people settled).

> 2. Does the leaf rinse remove all or most of the caffeine?

Normally no, as you "rinse" the leaves, you pour the water imediatly (10
seconds after). That rinsing is meant to clean the dust and outside dirt of
the leaves, that's not an infusion.

Frankly, the day you don't want theine, you cannot do "gongfu", that method
makes the strongest teas possible. The best hour to do gongfu is at about 3
pm, a few hours after your guests have enjoyed and hald digested a good
meal.

But it is not not the only way to prepare your oolong.

To eliminate a large part of theine, you need to let it longer. 1 minute is
safe, probably less is enough, too much is bad as you loose substances that
compensate theine and develop in infusion between the 2nd and 5th
minute -supposing there is way to measure the timing for each sort of tea.

I've seen old Chinese -that wanted to reduce theine- rinsing first, then
doing a first infusion about 1 minute and throw it away, and drink the
second and next infusions. No idea if there is a good reason to do that,
maybe they fear the "dirt" from the first water leaves greasy stains inside
their precious clay teapot if not evacuated imediatly, or they have done it
formal all their life and don't want to change their habits. (anyway
multiple infusion is no longer "gongfu")
Don't forget "gongfu" is 1/3 enjoying delicate potteries and instruments,
1/3 executing a relaxing fixed ritual (tea is a martial art !), 1/3 drinking
tea + the 4th and most important 1/3 is sharing feelings with your drinking
partner(s). I know I can't count, but you can really get more than 100% !
That's not something you do when you are alone, or when you're thirsty,
that's a luxury tea serving for your guests and dear ones.

If you do your second, third, etc brewings successively to serve many
guests, you don't need to rinse the leaves.
But if you have waited a while, you'd better rinse again. Not for the
theine, but to get a better taste (well that's relative...I like the taste
of oolong infused in cold water).

2 tea preparation method (among others)
(from Hong-Kong art museum)
* ans (..) are my comments

Steeped tea.
The following illustrations synthetize several methods as given in various
Ming texts.

1. Ustensils used in the steeping method.
Water pot, teapot (normal size), waste water container (a large bowl of
twice the capacity of the teapot) and teacups.
2. Warming the teapot.
Before making the tea, warm the teapot by swilling with hot water.
3. Discarding the water.
After warming the pot, discard the water by pouring it into the waste-water
container.
4. Putting into the tea leaves.
Put the appropriate amount of tea leaves : in the proportion of 2 grams to
0.5 litre of water.
5. Washing the tea leaves.
Pour boiling water into the teapot in order to 'wash' the tea leaves.
6. Discarding the water.
Immediatly discard the water so as not to lose the flavor of the tea through
over washing.
7. Adding water the water.
Add the correct amount of water in proportion to the tea leaves and close
the lid of the teapot firmly.
8. Serving the tea.
Serve the tea in cups after steeping for about one minute. Tea should be
drunk hot and savoured in small mouthfulls.


Gongfu tea (the Chinese version litteraly says : "accomplished great tea
steeping rules")

Gongfu is a popular style of tea preparation in Fujian and the Chaozhou
area of Guangdong province. It is considered the best method of bringing out
the aroma, flavour and colour of oolong tea.

1. Rinsing the teapot (a small red clay teapot is necessary, a yixing clay
one is recommended by tradition, but a good quality non-yixing is better
than a cheaply finished
yixing that melts when you pour the water).
Rinse the Yixing teapot with boiling water.*
2. Emptying the teapot.
Empty the teapot by pouring the water into teacups.
3. Removing impurities from tea leaves.
Take some tea from the caddy and spread it on a sheet of paper to remove any
impurities.
4. Filling the teapot.
Fill 3/4 of the teapot with leaves.
5. Washing the tea leaves.
Add boiling water to the teapot to overflowing in order to was tealeaves.
Pour out the water rapidly into the waste water container, and refill the
pot with boiling water.*
6. Removing the bubbles.
Remove the bubbles on top of the tea with the help of the teapot cover.
7. Keeping the tea warm.
Put the cover in place, and our boiling water on to the outside of the
teapot to help maintain the temperature of the tea in the pot.
8. Rinsing the cups.
Rinse the cups with the water already in them.**
9. Brewing the tea.
Let the tea brew for about 1 minute.
10. Serving the tea.
The tea is then poured into cups and served.***

*Of course boiling water does not mean the "boiling" bubbling water in which
you put your spaghetti, you pour it from a water-pot (a larger teapot)
you've filled directly from the kettle just before starting (tea brewing
methods were all written before the invention of electric kettles) so the
water temperature is in fact somewhere between 90 and 100 C.
**They empty the water of one cup in the next, then the next...That's a way
to measure time as when you've done the 3 or 4 cups, one minute has passed
and the tea is brewed.
***You put your teapot nose down into a little bowl to let the excess of
liquid get out.

Kuri

I suggest you a a link of a Taiwan page which explain through images the
phases of "gongfucha". There are also explanations of each picture (if you
can read chinese fantizi):
http://www.istea.com.tw/new/tea/skill/tea_index2.htm
Ciao,
Ramon

> Had my first cup of oolong last night and I'm hooked. Per recommendations,
> I prepared it gongfu style. Couple of questions:
> 1. When you rinse the leaves, do you just cover them with the hot water or
> fill the pot entirely before you pour it off?
> 2. Does the leaf rinse remove all or most of the caffeine?