The name of “Gongfu tea ceremony” is very attractive to many people.  What is Gongfu tea ceremony?  Chaozhou tea ceremonyBefore we talk about the ‘Gongfu Tea Ceremony”, we perhaps have to first establish a clear understanding about:What is Gongfu tea?Gongfu tea is a general description for the top premium quality tea which must first meet the following quality criteria:

  • Tea leaves were hand-picked, hand-processed semi-/heavy to full fermented teas which are strictly manual sorting quality teas.  The most commonly use teas are Oolong and Black Tea. Of course there are many fine premium quality teas in the Green-, White- and Yellow tea category, but due to the most suitable way of brewing for Green/White/Yellow tea is less sophisticated than Oolong and/or Black tea, so we don’t use them in the Gongfu tea ceremony, and cannot call either the top-, middle- to low throwing tea brewing methods in glass as Gongfu tea ceremony.
  • The flavor and taste must meet the basic principle of being “Pure, nature and authentic”, so the flavored and/or aromatic teas cannot be considered and/or used in the Gongfu tea ceremony.

P_20160519_120733Tea Pot or Gaiwan? 

  • For light fermented Oolong tea: Can use porcelain Gaiwan and/or small fire-burning ceramic tea pot. Because this is the best matching to enjoy the fine aroma, flavor and the refreshing taste
  • For traditional to heavy fermented Oolong tea: Can choose from porcelain Gaiwan, fire-burning ceramic small tea pot to Yixing tea pot; of course the best matching will be the Yixing teapot
  • In the Gongfu tea ceremony, we tend to enjoy the pure, nature and intensive aroma, flavor and taste, therefore the size of tea pot and cups are small.

Tea setting? 

  • The most common known the tea setting in Gongfu tea ceremony is using a serving cup and smelling cups. This kind of tea setting actually DSC_2485is an innovative tea arts presentation invented by a group of Tea Arts Masters in Taiwan in the 70′ based on the traditional Chaozhou style of tea ceremony.  Most of time, we use this tea setting for the tea brewing with traditional fermented and roasted Oolong tea. This kind of Gongfu tea ceremony was taking the lead in the 90’s from Taiwan, to Hong Kong and China.
  •  When the Gaoshan oolong tea became champion with its high notion of refreshing aroma and green creamy notes, and people want to enjoy the tea in more time efficient manner, so gradually smelling cups are less used these days.

Mind and Body Are Important

  • One cannot claim s/he can master Gongfu by attending the Gongfu lesson once, on the contrary it requires regular and diligently exercises till each movement and/or procedure became a ‘normal way of living’.
  • Therefore, one who wants to learn Gongfu tea ceremony must exercise the process to bring her/his mind, body and tea in one in each cup of tea s/he makes.

It does not matter which name you like to use, because at end what matters is the cup of tea that you know how to respect the natural quality of tea and in return the tea can accompany you with a true moment of tranquility and peace with an ease mind while enjoying a cup of fine pure and natural taste of tea.

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