Explaining our Brewing Style:

One of our dearest friends, and producer of our Cui Feng line of teas, brews up several types of tea for us.

Explanation of Different Types of Brewing Material:

Glass - Glass is an interesting brewing material. It typically has thin walls, which means it dissipates heat quite rapidly. This makes glassware ideal for brewing black teas. Conversely, this rapid loss of heat means that we do not recommend brewing oolongs in glassware.

Clay - Clay is probably our favorite material to brew in. It can round out the teas flavor, and suppress any off notes. However, if you do not do a good job of pairing the type of clay to the tea being brewed, you can also suppress some of the desirable notes. We will cover clay types, pot styles, and clay/tea pairings in a future post.

Porcelain - Like glass, porcelain is a neutral brewing vessel; it doesn't add, nor does it diminish, any characteristics to the tea it brews. A good porcelain gaiwan, or teapot, is hard to beat. While clay can be temperamental, porcelain is always reliable. If you're trying out a new tea, we really recommend using a porcelain vessel.

On the left, Ivy brews our No.18 Red Jade in glassware, and on the right she brews our Li Shan Mildly Roasted Oolong in a clay teapot.

In Taiwan, most people don't use a strict approach to brewing tea. For most people, it's more of a feeling, than it is a science. While we certainly feel that there is great merit in this style of brewing, we also feel like there is merit in more uniform, and thus repeatable, style of brewing tea. That is why we have created the brewing table below. Please note that we are not suggesting that strict adherence to our brewing style is necessary to brew our fine tea. Far from it. Tea is a living thing, and like all living things, it is subject to change. Because of this, we are always adjusting our own brewing methods. We hope to always be able to bring out the best in our tea. We present the following table not as a set of rules, but as a starting place on your own journey with our tea.

For Oolong: If you're interested in learning more about how we brew our oolong tea, you can feel free to check out this page.

Amount of Tea Used: 7 grams/100ml

Water Temperature: Boiling (100° C)

1st Round Brewing Time: 55 Seconds

2nd Round Brewing Time: 45 Seconds

3rd Round Brewing Time: 55 Seconds

For Black Tea: If you're interested in learning more about how we brew our black tea, you can feel free to check out this page.

Amount of Tea Used: 2.5g/150ml

Water Temperature: Several Minutes off Boiling (85-90° C)

1st Round: 40 Seconds

2nd Round: 35 Seconds

3rd Round: 45 Seconds

This is Joshuas Certiface for Professional Talent of Tea Sensory Evaluation. This is one of the highest degrees that TRES can bestow. The hours of intensive study that this document represents, along with the tutelage of his parents and grandparents, have been the biggest influences on Josh's development of our brewing style.

Best Wishes From our family to yours, The Wang Family