How To Brew Tea, Properly: The Gongfu Cha Method

More leaf, less water, short steeps, many rounds. That's Gongfu Cha in one line — the opposite of dunking a bag in a mug and walking away. Pour hot water over the leaf, drain it fast, and repeat. Every steep tastes slightly different as the leaf opens up; that's the whole point.

Start with a rinse. Pour hot water over the leaf for 10–20 seconds — closer to 20 for compressed cakes and bricks — then throw it away. This isn't wasted tea: it washes off dust and wakes the leaf up before the first real steep.

Then time it short, and lengthen as you go. The first real infusion runs 10–15 seconds. Each round after that, add a few more seconds — the leaf has less left to give, so it needs longer contact with the water to keep pulling flavor out evenly.

The cheat sheet, per tea: Green tea — 70°C, 3g per 100ml. White tea — 70–75°C, 4g per 100ml. Sheng PUERH — 75°C, 3g per 100ml. Light and dark Oolong, GABA Oolong — 85°C, 3g per 100ml. Red tea — 75–90°C, 4g per 100ml. Shu PUERH — 95°C, 5g per 100ml.

No gaiwan? No problem. In a mug: 2–3g per 250–300ml, steeped 2–5 minutes. In a thermos for the day: 1g per 100ml, left for 10–20 minutes — slower, gentler, and it keeps working for hours.

Every cup you'll ever brew comes down to the same three dials: water temperature, how much leaf, and how long it sits. Turn any one up and you get more strength — and, past a point, more bitterness. If you'd rather not do the math yourself, our Brew Calculator on the Start page runs this exact Gongfu Cha schedule for you — pick your tea and teapot size, and it lays out the rinse and every steep, timed.