Gongfu with white tea?

Withered tea
cliffjudith
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Location: Midlands, England

Mon Aug 12, 2019 2:58 am

Just arrived on this site. By now, I expect you have tried your white tea. Bai Mu Dan may not be high quality it relates more to the picking standard, bud and two leaves not just bud as in Yin Zhen ( bud only).

It is a delicate, floral tea high in polyphenols due to the plant's requirement for protection but low in caffeine - it needs the nitrogen for protein synthesis. I try new whites with 5 gms per 100 ml water and nearly boiling water for about 1 minute for a new white. I adjust steep ties from that start point, then water temperature, then leaf quantity in that order until I have "learnt the tea". I usually find I need to let the cup stand for delicate teas so it cools enough to appreciate the delicate flavours.

Hope this helps and good luck
Ethan Kurland
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Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:48 am

cliffjudith wrote:
Mon Aug 12, 2019 2:58 am
Just arrived on this site. By now, I expect you have tried your white tea. Bai Mu Dan may not be high quality it relates more to the picking standard, bud and two leaves not just bud as in Yin Zhen ( bud only)……...ith 5 gms per 100 ml water and nearly boiling water for about 1 minute for a new white...
Welcome to the teaforum.
I have often written that too much emphasis is put on getting a specific cultivar; so, I am glad to see you mention that quality varies so much. Perhaps because of specifics such as, "bud and two leaves..." but also because of so many factors. In short, I believe that people should search for the taste etc. of what they want, at least within a category.
The white tea that I enjoy is from Nepal; thus, few people think it will be what they like. Yet, it is light-bodied, fresh, etc.: what one wants from white tea.
Can one gongfu with this? Better than that, 6 infusions come from few leaves, about 1 gram per 50 ml.
Like you, I like to share how I prepare, but my details are for the leaves I use & sell. I am not saying that your parameters for the white tea that you drink are not ideal. Parameters for what I drink are so different though:
One can use water close to boiling but 80 C or slightly higher seems ideal. One can steep for more time, but around 30 seconds seems ideal.
Anyway, the point that I make often on the forum, is I recommend searching for quality by getting exactly what one has sampled & liked, if possible,; or, exactly what is recommended by someone one trusts. (Of course, no system is 100% reliable because of objectivity.) While on this advice, I should mention that timing is important. Often written on the forum, is "I'll get that next...." Next season's or next year's etc. is not the same.
Cheers & again welcome to the forum.

To get to the main point: There are a lot of terms that can get in our way. E.g., "gongfu" usually means using very many leaves; yet, one might get many infusions out of a modest amount of leaves
Guy Juan
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Mon Aug 12, 2019 8:15 pm

Kale wrote:
Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:40 pm

Months after I started experimenting and trying shou puerh, an advice from a friend about brewing time and leaf quantity was totally life-changing.
How do you brew your shou? I’ve been recently experimenting and wondering what works for you?

As for white tea gong fu style:
6g tea
100ml gaiwan
1st brew I usually go by color (sometimes 30-60 seconds) and then adjust to taste for the others.

Even though each tea is different, it shouldn’t be too different than similar (albeit not as high of quality) teas you’ve had before.

Oh...don’t forget, I want to know how you brew your shou :mrgreen: because I’m a newbie with shou and curious if I can get a better result. Thanks!
Sweetestdew
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Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:08 am

Bai Mu Dan is amazing for Gong Fu Cha.
Im about to do my second white tea session today.
The flavors are going to be light, but if its good complex.
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