Qigong tea

Thanks to the pandemic, I've finally invested the time to learn the Yang 24 form of tai chi from a DVD I bought several years ago. Actually, I learned it through the combination of the DVD and a book. I've also been reading this book on qigong off and on for the past year.

Thank you Half Price Books for making the used paperback version even cheaper than the Kindle version. 

While tai chi and qigong are different, they do share some of the same concepts. I find that the concentration required for tai chi helps decrease anxiety, and the exercise is gentle and helps improve my posture. I can't say that I have done a lot with qigong yet, but while flipping through the book recently, I discovered that there is an ENTIRE chapter on tea. Of course you knew that I had to try it out. It was also the perfect excuse to buy yet another tea set. I had been contemplating buying this style of tea set for my birthday, and I finally found the style of set at a price point I was willing to pay.

Oh, yeah, I also got a set of meditating Buddha tea pets. What better way to cultivate calmness and peace, right?

They start off talking about the health benefits of tea, and tea's connection to meditation (caffeine is a good way to stay awake while meditating). As for brewing, they advocate the 3 ingredients that make for a good cup of tea: good tea, good water, and proper technique.

The writer advocates for the use of loose leaf tea being the best. I would have to agree. I really like the quality and beauty of loose leaf tea. I remember back at the end of my time spent drinking bagged tea, I got a store brand oolong tea that nearly made me gag when I tasted the brew. It was truly horrible. No wonder people say that they hate tea! In spite of my bad experience with a bagged oolong tea, I actually decided to use an oolong tea for my brewing on that day. I used my Wuy Shan Ti Kwan Yin (named for the Buddhist goddess of mercy). It is described as a moderately oxidized oolong, although it is still quite green. The dry leaves are beautiful little balls, and the unfurled leaves are big with beautiful coloration. When I tried bagged oolong tea, I couldn't tell the difference between oolong and black tea. Now that I have tried different high quality oolongs I can tell the difference. There is a lengthy discussion in the book about how to find good quality tea, and different tea retailers in the states, but thankfully I have a nice tea house that is willing to ship packages.

The water used should ideally be from a mountain spring. Considering that I live in the middle of a continent where the mountains are nearer the coasts, there are no mountain springs to be had anywhere. Technically water from the mountainous areas of the country flow into the major rivers at the boarders of my state, but they are heavily contaminated, so mountain spring water is definitely not an option. The next best water is from rivers far from human dwellings. Again, all our rivers are heavily contaminated with agricultural runoff, especially the ones far from human dwellings (you have to remember that these rules come from a different era in a different part of the world). Well water was the next on the list. The author acknowledges that these water sources are unrealistic in today's modern world, so they say that cold, filtered tap water that has been allowed to run for 30 seconds before being collected is best. Thanks to my filter pitcher that is easy enough to do. Flint Michigan is a good example of why to filter your water even if the authorities say that it is safe. The community where I live has also been upgrading the water system over the last couple of years, and we periodically have some water quality issues, especially when the new wells came online. There have been some damming news stories in the local media about our water supply, although the local utilities are telling us that they are not using the well noted in the news stories that keeps testing above the acceptable limits. The water is supposed to be heated in stainless steel or "Pyrex" until just bubbling. Heating for too long will cause the water to taste dull and flat. I will admit, I usually microwave my water in a glass measuring cup (not Pyrex brand), and that I'm never sure when it is boiling. I also heat the water on my stove top sometimes, and I have stainless steel pans, but I don't watch very closely for just boiling.

There are a couple of different methods given. Today, I was trying what they call gong-fu tea. Unlike my previous posts about gong-fu ceremonies, this is brewing in a small tea pot. The book describes the tea pot as being somewhere between the size of an orange and a grapefruit holding 1-2 cups of water. My teapot holds a bit less than a cup of water, but I'm fine with that.

Here's my basic setup. I decided that I didn't want to use the strainer that came with the set because I'm using a large leaf tea. I also don't like the fact that the strainer is plastic mesh held onto the bottom of the funnel with a rubber band. I guess there's a reason that they didn't show any sort of close up of that part of the tea set. Any serious tea brewer knows that plastic is looked down on. My metal mesh strainer will work fine with this set, I just didn't feel like getting it out. I wanted to keep my setup simple.

The essential steps given are as follows:
Scald the cups and the outside of the teapot with hot water. (I poured hot water inside of my teapot, too).
Fill the pot about halfway with tea leaves. Always use a spoon, preferably wooden, to handle the tea. They also say that with practice you will learn how much tea to use. I didn't use nearly that much. As you can see from the picture above, I did use quite a bit of tea - it was enough to cover the bottom of the cup, but not nearly enough to even cover the bottom of the tea pot.
Pour hot water into the tea pot, and then pour it out again (tea rinse).
Pour hot water into the tea pot, and put the lid on this time. Pour more water over the outside of the teapot for heat. Your teapot should be on your tea box, and you should pour 1 - 1.5 inches of hot water into the tea box to keep things warm.

Look at the steam rising in the sunlight

While it was originally very steamy, the water in the tea box quickly cooled down. Perhaps because I was using my tea box with the slide out plastic tray rather than the solid wood one. At most, I had maybe 1/2 inch of water in the tray because it is fairly shallow, especially if you know you have to move it somewhere else to empty it.

Finally, steep your tea for one minute, and pour into your cups and decanter. I go for pouring into the decanter first because the tea can mix together and have a more uniform flavor. If you pour each cup full, then fill the decanter, the tea will have different steeping times depending when they were poured.
For subsequent brewings, you are supposed to add 30 seconds to your brewing time.

I didn't exactly follow their brewing times. Since I was using this particular oolong, and a large quantity of it for the volume of water used, I kept the brewing times shorter. I also know that I don't like the flavor of this oolong if it brews too long, but I do like it if I keep the brewing time short.

So how did it work out using less than half a teapot of tea leaves?

The much smaller amount of dry leaf used expanded to fill most of the teapot. Imagine if I filled it half way with dry leaf. The leaves would have been exploding out of the top of the pot! Maybe they mean use enough leaf to fill the pot half way once they have expanded. That's the only way I see it working.

Enjoy a peaceful brew. Yes, I did end up with some leaf debris in my cup, but it didn't bother me. They are easily rinsed away at the end of the cup if you don't like them.