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Before
Kung Fu Cha starts: |
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What is the meaning of "Kung Fu Cha"?
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It's a tea brewing
process. In Chinese, Cha is "tea". For "Kung Fu",
you might be familiar with one of it's meanings - martial arts.
But it has more meanings in Chinese - hard work, labor, level of
achievement, skill, free time, etc. Kung Fu Cha is the Chinese tea brewing
process that has a little bit of ALL these meanings - you will find out
why when you go through the whole process yourself.  |
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What classes of tea are appropriate for Kung Fu Cha?
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Oolong class .
Kung Fu Cha uses YiXing teapots (more info on YiXing
teapots) that retain a high
temperature during brewing. High temperature is what it takes to extract
flavor from Oolong.
However, tender tea classes like green tea should NOT
be brewed with Kung Fu Cha. 
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Procedures are dead. What do we look for in Kung Fu Cha?
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We look for the right
combination of amount of tea leave, water temperature, brewing time,
etc.
to make a good cup of tea. And keep in mind that Kung Fu Cha offers
an advantage over other brewing - higher water temperature.
The procedure illustrated in the
coming up pages are just basic steps. Feel free to modify the steps
(e.g. putting
the YiXing teapot in a hot water bath to slow down heat loss, etc.,
etc.) if such steps give you a better cup of tea .
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YiXing teapot (must) - YiXing teapot is slow
in losing heat. Small (personal preference is below 6 oz)
and deep teapot is preferable for best result. For convenience, bigger
teapots can be used (the trade off is a lesser degree of control over flavor).
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Teacups (must)
- that is, if you don't want to drink direct from the teapot. 3-4 cups
of about 1 oz each is fine, depending on the size of the teapot.
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Tea Tray (not a must) - quite a bit of spill and waste water is produced
during the process. The tea tray holds such water so you don't have to wipe it
off the table.
It might seem to be just for convenience but it's BIG convenience.
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Tea Tools (optional)
- in the tool set, there are tea shuffle, funnel, tongs, digger, tea needle.
You won't get into much trouble though if you brew without the tool set.
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Tea (must)
- need no expert to tell tea is a must.
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Faircup (optional)
- transitional container when teacups are full but tea in teapot has to
be emptied to avoid overbrewing.
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Strainer (optional)
- screens out small pieces of tea leaves.
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A pair of hands (must), and perhaps your
mouth too.
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Source of hot water (must) - Sorry, please
don't try to look it up in the PIC above because it's not there. You can use a variety of source, say, a pot heated on stove, an electronic
heating pot, etc. Just make sure whatever you use can give you boiling water.
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Now what are we waiting for?
Kung Fu Cha! |
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