One of my colleagues visits China regularly and was given this tea as a gift. However they didn’t see themselves making the most of it so offered it to me.
I have no idea what to do with it though. It’s like a circular brick of compressed tea leaves. Do I just take off a chunk and leave it in hot water? Does the temperature matter, and do I need any particular tools?
I’ve only ever used tea bags so I’m a bit lost
Edit: also the expiry says November 2023… but it’s just tea right?
Very useful information, thank you! I’ll look up some videos to watch the technique. Would using a teapot with an infuser have a similar effect to a gai wan?
Thanks for confirming that the tea doesn’t expire.
Once I’ve got a hang of it, I’ll bring some into work to share with the colleague that passed it on 😂
To brew tea or coffee, you need about four items/things:
If you want to try to gongfu brew it with what you have at home, you can use some kind of smallish vessel (about 150ml), like a coffee mug or small water/milk pitcher (make sure it can handle boiling water). Use something as a lid-like object to keep the heat from escaping and helping to pour the liqueur while keeping the leaves in the vessel. A big spoon might work, if that’s all you can figure. If you have any kind of fine mesh filter (or just coffee filter paper), you can use that to keep the leaves from getting to your drinking cup.
A tea pot with an infuser should work just as well, the commenter below mine details the gongfu brewing method a little more than I did, and that’s mostly what you’re trying to do with the gai wan, the pot itself just lends itself to that method, but the tea pot with infuser will work similarly.