Long leaf, small pot

[debunix]

A perpetual question people have, when being introduced to the small vessels so many of use love to use for gongfu sessions, is how to fit large or long leaves into a small pot. Today I decided to make a little video for fun showing how I do it:

Big tea, small pot

featuring Tai Ping Hou Kui from Seven cups, a porcelain kyusu from Yi Yong Cheol, and a micro pot that really is more toy than tool. Enjoy.

[Andrew S]

Thank you for taking the effort of making a video (though some might dispute that even such a tiny teapot is "more toy than tool"...). It's fun to watch the leaves surrender to the water, and it's always interesting to see other people's brewing methods in video.

I think though that for teas such as yancha, you do end up having to break huge leaves up a bit, at least if you're trying to fill the pot full of leaves and using flash infusions. That was my experience recently with disturbingly huge yancha leaves. But perhaps even then, there is an art that I'm yet to learn.

Andrew

[debunix]

for teas such as yancha, you do end up having to break huge leaves up a bit,

I never deliberately break leaves to fit a pot--not yancha, Dan Cong, greens, whites. I may nudge or push the sturdier yancha leaves more than the delicate TPHK, but the same priniciple works regardless of how you're stuffing the pot. Once they're wetted and pliable, mash 'em in there.

[Andrew S]

You're kinder to your leaves than I am...

I think the difficulty I have is pushing wet leaves into the tiny teapot without over-brewing them in the process, especially if they're pouring out of the teapot.

I may just need to try and try again. It's certainly a good excuse to drink more lightly-roasted yancha than I otherwise might.

Andrew

[Bok]

I did in the past fall for the mistaken belief that Yancha needs flash brewing, when the pot is stuffed.

It does only if the leaves are of mediocre quality. Good quality doesn’t overbrew in a matter of mere seconds. It’s actually quite easy and casual to brew I find. Dancong requires slightly more attention, but again not too much if the quality is good enough.

I think the whole flash brewing is really a working method to get something palatable out of of low grade teas… possibly much more necessary in the past when overseas Chinese communities had/have to deal with coarse export teas. Then it becomes a habit: “that’s how this tea is supposed to taste and be prepared”

[Andrew S]

Before and after...

It does work; just a tad messy, and I feel like I'm abusing the leaves more by getting them wet for longer than I'd like than by breaking them. But again, perhaps that's just a mental hurdle that I should overcome if I want to keep playing with lightly-roasted leaves like this.

And perhaps I should have written "short" or "controlled" instead of "flash" infusions.

Andrew

[Bok]

It does work; just a tad messy, and I feel like I'm abusing the leaves more by getting them wet for longer than I'd like than by breaking them.

But did it? In fact abuse the leaves? Taste wise I mean.

[Andrew S]

I brewed these ones harder today, so I can't yet tell if the taste was abused, or if it was just me, so to say.

They were both alright, though not as delicate or interesting as the first time that I brewed them, but obviously there are many factors that affect that (including my prejudice against lighter-roaster teas...).

My experience and my fear so far has been that over-brewing in the first few brews of a delicate tea (like this lightly-roasted yancha) tends to compromise everything that follows.

I do need to practise more, though, and I don't have much experience with lightly-roasted tea.

Andrew

[Ethan Kurland]

I just wrote in the other oolong thread: Try using a porcelain bowl & spoon. Perhaps have a clock by to note how many seconds are ideal. Tasting as you steep, smelling, seeing....could yield the ideal parameters.

[Andrew S]

@Ethan Kurland: unfortunately, one of the problems with small samples is that I feel constrained in how I can use my leaves before they're gone, so I try to aim for the same parameters that I always use...

I brewed the same two teas again recently, with leaves from the bottom of the bag shoved into the tiny pot with far less mercy than last time, and with a more quick and delicate hand when brewing them, especially early on.

I felt that brewing each infusion precisely and quickly gave a better result (more aromatic, better balanced, evolving more with each brew without bearing too much of any particular taste or sensation at once), and I still feel that precisely controlled infusions early in the piece result in better infusions later on for a lightly-roasted tea like this (or for some high mountain or similarly light teas), so my preference will probably be to break leaves rather than to get them wetter than they need to be, but there is still much for me to learn.

Andrew

[Ethan Kurland]

..., and I still feel that precisely controlled infusions early in the piece result in better infusions later on ....
Andrew

your precision & discipline certainly help you learn about the teas
+1 to early infusions effect the following rounds of tea; drastic over-steeping early is a mistake that definitely be beyond complete remedy

[LeoFox]

Some morning mountain greens hahahaha.
Since first infusion is about 50 seconds, no problem getting them folded in.

[debunix]

Yes