How to brew tea GongFu style. Video.

Gong Fu Cha is the traditional Chinese way to prepare tea. A large amount of tea leaf brews in small utensils for a short amount of time. The same tea leaves are often steeped up to 10 times or more, depending on the tea. When visiting a traditional Chinese tea house or buying Chinese tea, we are usually offered tea prepared this way. 

Gong Fu Cha is a traditional Chinese way to prepare tea (or rather one of the traditional ways): a generous amount of leaf is brewed in a small vessel for many short infusions rather than one long steep. The same leaves are re-steeped many times, with the flavor shifting subtly from one infusion to the next.

Quick steps:

1. Warm your gaiwan or a small teapot (80-200ml, with 80ml size more fitting for one person and 200ml for a group of 4-6 people) with hot water, then discard the water.

2. Add tea leaves (1g per every 20-25ml water).

3. Rinse the leaves briefly with hot water if needed (common for pu-erh, aged tea, or compressed cakes), then discard the rinse.

4. Steep for 5–10 seconds for the first infusion, decant the brewing vessel into a Cha Hai ("Fairness Pitcher"), then pour the tea into small cups.

5. Repeat, adjusting steep time as the leaves open up across infusions.

For the full walkthrough, including teaware and a complete step-by-step guide, see our complete Gong Fu Cha guide.