Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Lung Ching Brewing

A post at Wrong Fu Cha prompted me to try my hand at this unique method of brewing.
I am using my Ten Ren dragonwell.
A large bowl, a gaiwan, a delicate green tea, and a faircup are needed.

Room temperature water and the tea are put into the gaiwan.
The gaiwan is placed in a larger bowl.
Boiling water is poured into the larger bowl which will surround the gaiwan.
The boiling water slowly raises the temperature of the water in the gaiwan.

I brewed for a lengthy 1:30 seconds.
The dragonwell I used is a 2008 so I decided it needed a bit more time.
This tea still brewed up a flavorful cup. Good quality.

The resulting liquor is sweeter, a bit thicker in mouthfeel, and less toasty. The slow raising of the water temperature brings out components of the leaf that are not brought out right up front when using water around 160-180 f.
It is definitely a different way to bring out different notes in the same tea.
I enjoy the toasty flavors in a dragonwell especially, so I may not be using this method to often, but it did spark my curiosity.

Definitely worth a try for greens.
I will be brewing my greens a few different ways now to see which method suits that specific tea.
Good to have a back up plan.


~billy

4 comments:

  1. Ice,

    It really is. I am not sure if it is traditional or has any origins in China, but it is a very smart way to brew a sensitive tea!

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  2. William,
    very interesting post!
    I really have to try this someday.

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  3. Michal,

    I think this method would also work very well for japanese greens! I might have to try that someday as well! I have done this with dragonwell, as well as lu an gui pan so far. I have enjoyed my results!

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