A Look At Gongfu Cha: Why It’s The Best Way to Enjoy Tea

If you like tea, then you have to try gongfu cha. There are a few extra elements to this Chinese method of enjoying tea, it’s not as simple as boiling water and steeping your tea! There are just a few more steps to this age-old method!

I’ll go over all the steps, and what gong fu tea accessories you’ll need to get started.

I will admit, it can be pricey to get started, but there are a lot of alternatives you can use to get around this high cost of entry plus I think it’s worth it!

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

What Is Gongfu Cha

Despite common belief, gongfu cha (also known as kung fu tea) is not a Chinese tea ceremony. It translates to brewing tea with discipline and skill. But it’s become so much more than that!

Gongfu cha brewing method is all about a higher tea to water ratio with multiple, brief infusions. It’s a great steeping method to taste and analyze tea notes.

But, today it’s also how tea is typically served in China to guests and family at home.

For more tips on how to taste tea, click here!

Why Steep Gong Fu Tea?

As I said, gong fu tea is a great way to taste and analyze tea notes. Because it’s about multiple short infusions (with a lot of tea) you can really see how the tea changes over steeps – from the taste, smell, to look of the leaves and liquor.

But beyond that, because it’s a process to steep tea it’s a great way to take a step back from your day and be mindful about what you’re doing. It can be a nice change of pace to your day, to incorporate some calm and relaxation.

What You’ll Need – Gongfu Tea Set

There are quite a few extra tea accessories that you can use for gong fu tea steeping .

A Primary Tea Vessel: Gaiwan or Yixing Clay Teapot

A primary tea vessel can be a gaiwan or a chahu (yixing clay teapot). The primary vessel is simply where the water and the tea hang out together.

A gaiwan is a unique Chinese teapot, resembling more of a covered bowl. It requires some practice to use, but once you get the hang of it, can be a lot of fun! See gaiwan teapots on Amazon here.

A Yixing teapot is a small (emphasis on small!) teapot that is typically made from clay and is from Yixing China. These are works of art, so are often more on the expensive side. See Yixing teapots on Amazon here.

Whether you choose a gaiwan or yixing teapot is your preference. The gaiwan can be difficult to use, especially at the beginning. The clay teapot, on the other hand, will keep your tea hotter but it will also take longer to pour out (meaning the infusion will continue as you’re pouring, and interact with air for longer) so it’s something extra to factor into your timing.

Gaiwans can also have a much smaller price tag which makes it an easier entry point for this style of tea making. You can read more about using a gaiwan here.

Teacups – Chábēi

You will also need a small teacup (Chábēi, or Pin bēi – tasting cups) to pour your tea into once it’s steeped.

This can be a small porcelain cup like this one here or I like double walled mugs (like these) to keep my tea warm.

But, you can also just use any cup that you have at home.

Temperature Controlled Kettle

I recommend getting a temperature controlled kettle (I have this one from Amazon). Tea is best when brewed when your water is at the right temperature for that type of tea, otherwise you risk burning the leaves which leaves your tea tasting quite bitter (read more about the types of tea here).

Tea Boat (Chápán)

A tea boat is what you can place your teacup and teapot on. There’s no sugar coating this, you’re going to spill… a lot! A tea boat is just a way to catch all the water, and contain the mess!

You can find all different types of tea boats, I got mine from Sebz Tea house in Quebec City (which has since closed down…). But you can find them on Amazon here.

Again, you don’t need this but I didn’t have one during my first few sessions and I made a mess. It was also more fun to just dispose of the water on a whim!

You can even replace it with something as basic as a plate or a tea towel (which brings me to my next tea accessory you need…).

A Tea Towel (Chájīn)

A tea towel (like this one here) is very practical and you might even want more than one for gongfu tea. Like I said, you’re going to be spilling water… a lot. Keep a tea towel handy to dry your surroundings as you go so it doesn’t get too wet.

You’ll also want a clean one for when you’re finished your gongfu cha session, to clean and dry everything.

It doesn’t have to be a fancy towel at all, even a simple cotton tea towel will do the trick!

And, like I said, if you don’t have a tea boat, you can place a tea towel underneath your gaiwan and teacup in case you spill.

GōngDao Bēi (Sharing/ Fairness Pitcher)

A GōngDao Bēi translates to liberal cup, but it means sharing or fairness pitcher. You can get one on Amazon here.

This is your secondary vessel. If you’re making gongfu cha for you and at least one other person, you need a fairness cup.

You will pour your tea from your gaiwan, or Yixing teapot, into the GōngDao Bēi before pouring into individual teacups. This ensures an even brew is served to everyone.

This is another item that can easily be replaced with a common kitchen item such as a glass measuring cup (like this one!).

A Strainer!

You might have noticed that the tea is placed directly in the water in the gaiwan or Yixing teapot. No bag, or steeper, just tea and water!

Well, you can use a strainer before pouring your tea into your sharing pitcher or teacups to catch any small tea leaves that sneak through.

I have a weird squash strainer, but you can get a simple metal one (like this one here). And again, you also don’t need one.

You can just dispose of the leftover water with tea leaves at the bottom of your cup by pouring it out into your tea boat (or bowl!). Sometimes I even pour it back into my gaiwan!

A Scale

You do not need a scale, but I like knowing how much tea I’m steeping. This is especially useful if you want to do tea tastings, so you can compare the taste with the amount of tea you used. If it was too strong, next time you add less (and vice versa).

There’s actually no rule for how much tea to use for gongfu cha. That’s because there are too many varying factors – for starters, the size of everyone’s teapot is different.

As a general rule of thumb, the amount of tea you use should simply cover the bottom of your gaiwan. If you’re using a Yixing teapot, you fill it up about 1/3 with tea leaves.

I like using a scale though, especially when I’m doing a tasting or a new tea to know how much I’m using. This way, you can also follow a 1:25 tea to water ratio (1 gram of tea to 25 ml of water)

I like this digital scale from Amazon here (see a similar one on Amazon.com here).

Cha Dao Set (Tweezers – Chá Jiā)

Cha Dao translates to the way of tea in gongfu cha. It’s a set of tea accessories that help with different elements of gongfu cha. The set often comes with 6 useful tea accessories.

A Cha Dao gongfu cha set (like this one on Amazon) will have:

• A ‘vase’ to hold all the accessories 
• A tea scoop to pick up tea leaves
• A funnel to place the tea leaves into a teapot without losing or damaging any leaves.
• Tongs (Chá Jiā) to pick up the cups without touching them. It’s a much nicer way to serve tea to your guests rather than hold the teacups directly if they are too hot.
• A tea brush to clean tea leaf scraps, and push extra water down the tea boat.
• A needle to clean and remove tea leaves from the spout of a teapot.

Tea Pet (Chá Chong)

This is quite possibly the most useless part of gong fu tea, but it’s also the most fun! A tea pet serves absolutely no purpose other than being a more fun way to pour out your extra tea. Now you can pour the water on your pet rather than nothing!

But there’s more of a spiritual belief behind the tea pet. At the beginning, it’s just clay with no soul, but over time you will cure it with tea – giving your pet a unique soul.

If you get a clay one, they’ll eventually start to change colour and even develop a unique smell based on the tea you use. You can also find ones that change colour with water temperature or pee out water (known as the peeing boy)!

This one on Amazon just makes me so happy though! I got my dog tea pet from Sebz Tea House in Quebec City (unfortunately closed now).

You can collect tea pets, and even have specific ones you use for different teas.

What Kind Of Tea Can You Use For Gongfu Cha?

You can use whatever tea you want! Obviously though, it is made for Chinese teas, like pu’erh, black, white, oolong, and even green teas.

Just be sure to follow steeping temperatures so you don’t burn the leaves.

P.S. Don’t know what the difference is between each tea!? To learn more about the different types of tea, click here.

Gongfu Cha Method For Tea – Steps

Now that you have everything you need, let’s talk about how to use it all, and the individual steps for a proper gongfu cha session.

There is a process you should follow when using a gaiwan to taste tea.

1. Waking Up Your Tea Vessels

Waking up your tea vessels is the first step in the gongfu cha steeping method. It’s as simple as pouring hot water over everything you will use for that gong fu tea session. This includes your primary and secondary tea vessel, strainer, and teacup.

This serves two purposes: first, it cleans your vessels, but it also warms everything up in preparation for your tea.

The idea is that when you’re ready to steep your tea, the water won’t drop too much in temperature by being poured into cold porcelain. If you skip this step, it would defeat the purpose of heating up water to a specific temperature to steep your tea!

First pour the water into your primary tea vessel. Once it’s warmed up, pour the hot water into your secondary tea vessel. And follow the same rules; once it’s hot, pour that water into your teacups.

If you are serving tea to guests, make sure to wet the rims with boiling water of your tea cups to clean them before use.

2. Preparing Your Tea For Gongfu Cha

You’ll have to measure your tea.

Like I said, there’s no hard rule for how much tea to use. You can measure it out using a 1:25 tea to water ratio, or you can eyeball it.

If you’re using a gaiwan, cover the bottom with tea. If you’re using a Yixing teapot, fill it up with 1/3 tea.

Before adding it to your teapot, look at the dry leaves and take notes on how they look and smell.

3. Warming The Tea Leaves

Once your tea is measured and your primary tea vessel is warmed up, add your tea leaves and cover your teapot.

Let your teapot sit covered for a few seconds to warm up and add a bit of moisture to the tea leaves. This will heighten the smell of the leaves.

Once the tea leaves have had time to warm up, open up the lid to smell the tea leaves. You can start with smelling the lid, and then the leaves.

You can also cover it back up and shake your primary tea vessel to further open up the aromas of the tea leaves.

4. Rinse & First Infusion

Now, you can add some water to your tea. If the tea requires you to rinse the tea leaves (like aged tea), add a bit of water and quickly pour it out.

When you do this, if you’re using a gaiwan, you can leave a larger gap to let some of the smaller and broken tea leaves escape. When you pour this tea out, it’s the perfect opportunity to pour out the water over your tea pet if you have one.

Now you’re ready for your first infusion! Add water to your primary tea vessel, remove any bubbles with the lid, and cover it. Wait about 10 seconds and then pour out your tea into teacups or your secondary tea vessel.

If you poured into a secondary tea vessel, you now have an extra step to pour into individual tea cups.

Before tasting your tea, you can also smell the teapot lid and tea leaves again. The aromas might have changed. Take note of the colour and look of the liquor and the wet tea leaves.

Next you’re finally ready to taste your tea!

5. Continue Infusions

Repeat these steps until you’re done with the tea. With each infusion, you can add more time, especially if you notice your tea is becoming weaker.

6. Cleaning

Once you’re done with your gongfu cha session, you will have to clean your gongfu tea set so that it’s ready the next time you want to use it…

How To Clean Your Gongfu Tea Set: Putting It To Sleep

Once you’re finished with your gongfu cha session, you need to clean everything. Just like you woke everything up, you will now be putting everything to sleep.

This is important so everything gets disinfected, and you don’t get any residual tea stains.

You’ll need boiling water and a clean, dry towel. You should avoid using soap (especially scented soap) that can affect the tea.

If you want to use something stronger than boiling water, you can use melamine sponges (like these on Amazon), which are like the magic eraser.

There are specific steps to cleaning your gongfu cha set as well…

1. Dump The Tea Leaves Out Of Your Primary Vessel

Either dump out your tea leaves onto an extra plate, towel, or directly into the tea boat.

You might need some extra water for this step to get them all out.

2. Rinse Your Vessels

Once there are no more tea leaves, add hot water to your teapot. You can even cover it and pour the water over the lid as well to disinfect and sterilize everything.

Let it sit for a few seconds before pouring it out. Then take a dry, clean tea towel and use a bit of pressure to rub off the tea stains and dry it. If you’re using a gaiwan, don’t forget to clean the bottom and the saucer!

This might take a few passes depending on the tea stains and material.

3. Repeat The Process

You’ll now do the same thing but with your sharing pitcher and teacups. For a bit of extra disinfection on the teacups, make sure the boiling water touches the rims.

4. Dump Out Your Tea Boat & Dry Well

Don’t forget to carefully dump out the water from your tea boat – you don’t want that staying in there.

And then dry it out like you did for everything else!

Now you’re ready for your next gongfu cha session!

Shop What You’ll Need For Gongfu Cha On Amazon

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• How To Brew Tea With A Gaiwan: A Complete Beginners Guide
• How To Make Tea – Brew The Perfect Cup Every Time!
• Tea Tasting Tips For Beginners – A Step By Step Guide
• 11 Popular Types Of Black Tea You Should Try (&Why!)
• What Are The Different Types of Japanese Green Tea?

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Last update on 2024-05-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API