Gong Fu Cha is a very specific ritual that has been around for a long time. There are some rules about how you should do it, but as I mentioned before, it’s important to do your own thing and to keep experimenting to find what suits you best. This article will be about the importance of experimenting.
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Anna (from ANMO) and I mentioned that I wasn’t really happy about the teapot I was using for slightly older sheng Puerh. She knew I had bought a new late-Qing / early RoC Neiziwaihong for Liu Bao tea (the one you can see in the picture above).
She told me to brew some aged sheng in it to see how it performed. I wasn’t too eager to do that, because I specifically bought that pot for Liu Bao… Nevertheless, I listened and brewed some Yiwu sheng from 2006.
Experimenting
This was definitely the right choice as it was a match made in heaven. The teapot worked well for Liu Bao, but it was even better for slightly older sheng. From that moment, that pot is my go-to pot whenever I feel like brewing older sheng. By trying what she suggested, I became even more convinced of the importance of experimenting.
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What About Liu Bao?
A new problem arose… I had to find a different teapot for my beloved Liu Bao. I tried the pot I was using for shou Puerh to see how it performed with Liu Bao and it seemed to be doing a really good job. I also had a small pot left that I didn’t really use, so that became my pot for shou Puerh.
In the end, I experimented a bit and switched some teapots, but all for the better. At first, I was hesitant to switch things up because I had bought those teapots for a particular kind of tea. However, listening to the tea and especially the teapot can be rewarding. Don’t settle for what you think is right, but go through the process of trial and error to see what works best.
By listening to a friend (who knows a lot more about tea than me), I saw the importance of experimenting once again and found a new way to improve my tea sessions. Every bit counts towards trying to brew the perfect cup of tea.
