Anyone interested in Gung Fu tea?
I had an opportunity to participate in an informal tea seminar/tasting today.
It was a lot of fun. My knowledge of it is limited but we had a chance to taste several different types and quality levels. Some were delicious. Afterwards we went out for lunch and took some good tea. It's difficult to make good tea at a restaurant. The waiters/hosts tend to think you're crazy and aren't terribly accomodating.

Never did like coffee, so took up tea instead. I've tried a number of teas over the years. These days I'm really liking Indian chai. The recent popularity of green teas has brought some very nice options to the market shelves. I've never heard of Gung Fu tea, please tell me more. My favorite cafe/coffee house has a very nice tea list, fun for trying new things.

I don't know too much. Gung fu (ie kung fu) simply means skillfully done or practiced diligently over time (more or less). It's the process of brewing a variety of teas from China (well, nowadays mostly from Taiwan).
Like most Chinese traditions, it was mostly purged after the cultural revolution and very little high quality tea is currently produced in China, although I'm told some people are working to change that.
There are lots of good sights on the web like:
http://chineseteas101.com/
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuis...k/tea/index.htm
http://www.shanshuiteas.com
http://chinese-tea.net/

I thought Gung Fu brewing involved LOTS of tea leaves brewed quick. It's supposed to give you a lot of infusions, but I am usually drinking tea for one and too cheap to sacrifice a bunch in one shot :-P.

I'm quite new to the topic but my Taichi master has a lot of knowledge about the subject. In one of our training camps he gave a talk about the Chinese tea ceremony, the different kind of teas and he also gave a little cultural-historical background. He also showed how the tea drinking is done and we could taste different kind of teas.

Some of my taichi friends also drink tea this way so when at their flat I could relish these wonderful falvors.

I really got enthusiastic about it. The only problem is to really cultivate this way of drinking tea, you need to by so many things: gaiwan, serving vessel, teacups, teapots, etc. that you haven't even drank a drop of tea you have spent a lot.
Where I live it is not very easy to find these products to start with. But I'm relentless and decided to find all I need to be able to enjoy those fantastic tastes that the Chinese teas have to offer.

Maybe later I will write a longer post based on the presentation.

Here is a good travel article about Taiwanese tea from a Western point of view.

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-9-17/59856.html

The article has some interesting information in it:
eg:
- "a high quality Oolong can be steeped up to 20 times"
- talks about how important the water is what you use for the tea
etc.

Its a good read!

Generally, you use a very small pot and put in just enough tea to cover the bottom. It's not that much. You then add boiling (or nearly) water and steep for a short time, depending on the tea. My shifu usually does no more than 4 or 5 rounds (infusions) as the taste usually becomes a bit flat by then. The first steep is usually ~ 30 seconds, then 45, then 60, then 90, etc... A small amount goes a long way but it's something to savor, not rush through.



You can minimize the expense by having a small pot (~ $20), a serving vessel (~$12), and a cup. That's enough for starters. Oh, and some tea... Beyond that you can get quite elaborate, if you choose.

Just did a quick search on Gung Fu Tea. Here is a link to the Wickipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gongfu_tea_ceremony

Will search further as time allows. Thank you xuesheng for sharing your tea experiece.

Oh yeah!

Had some great tea at tea houses in Jiufen in Taiwan, Beijing in China, and Daniel's place in Irvine.

Here's a really good site for information if you can't go to Taiwan or China:
http://chineseteas101.com/

About "Gong Fu Cha":
http://chineseteas101.com/kungfu.htm