Brew assistant

Infusion schedule

A session of 8–12 infusions is typical. The schedule below is authored to 7; beyond that, extend each steep noticeably rather than repeating the last time.

1. Infusion 18sShorter than the same tea in a gaiwan. The clay is still at temperature when the porcelain has cooled, and the leaf notices.
2. Infusion 27s
3. Infusion 310s
4. Infusion 416s
5. Infusion 526s
6. Infusion 645s
7. Infusion 775sExtend steadily from here; the tail of a rock tea is long.

Equipment

• Yixing teapot
• Fairness pitcher (cha hai)
• Tea tray (cha pan)
• Unglazed clay teapot (non-Yixing)
• Tea scale
• Tea boat
• Tasting cup
• Tea cloth
• Tetsubin (unlined iron kettle)
• Cha he (tea presentation vessel)
• Waste water bowl (jianshui)
• Cup stand (chatuo)
• Tea pet
• Cha dao utensil set
• Tea tongs
• Brewing timer
• Charcoal brazier (fenglu)
• Nixing pottery teapot — Nixing is the other unglazed Chinese pot used the same way as Yixing: burnished rather than glazed, so it stays porous.
• Sha diao (clay water kettle) — The Chaozhou clay kettle is the traditional water vessel for small-pot brewing — thin-walled so a small volume boils fast and is boiled again between rounds.
• Tea mat (chaxi cloth) — The dry-table alternative to a draining tray: a cloth defines the surface and the waste goes into a bowl instead of through the table.
• Electric ceramic tea stove — The common tea-table heat source in China, because a radiant plate heats clay, glass and unlined iron that induction cannot.
• Travel gongfu set — The packed version of the same practice, at the cost of vessel size — smaller pots shorten every infusion.

Vessel: A small unglazed pot of 80 to 150 ml kept for roasted oolong alone, rinsed with water and never with detergent. Pour boiling water over the outside between steeps — the outside cooling is what drags the inside down. Store it open and dry.

Note: Roasted Wuyi strip tea is the material the heat-retention argument is strongest for: a heavy roast needs sustained temperature to open and gives a thin, sour cup when the water falls away mid-steep. The session runs longer than a porcelain one because the leaf keeps being worked at full heat. What the clay does not do is improve a tea — a mediocre rock tea in a good pot is a mediocre rock tea with better heat management.

What this does not tell you

• These parameters are a synthesis of common practice rather than recorded practice for this specific tea.

• No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea, so the assistant cannot tell you how strong the cup will be in that sense.

• Leaf weight is a weight. A teaspoon is not — a fluffy white tea and a tightly rolled oolong differ several-fold by volume, so scales beat spoons here.

Other authored styles for this tea: Gongfu brewing (gaiwan) · Western brewing (teapot or mug)