But on weekend outings, while others had brunch, my family went out for dim sum accompanied by a dark tea called pu erh, chrysanthemum tea, or a mix of both, using whole leaves and flowers. (Kids especially liked the chrysanthemum with a tiny bit of sugar.)
When we visited my uncle, a trained Chinese chef, across the border in Washington state, he made gong fu cha, a process of preparing tea in a tiny pot and serving it in tiny cups.
All my life I thought gong fu cha was a type of tea. But at a recent Fancy Food Show held by the Specialty Food Association in New York, I talked to a tea expert and educator, Shunan Teng, and learned that it’s not a specific type of tea but a way to brew it.
“It’s a flash brewing method where we use a large amount of tea and very little water,” said Teng, who’s the founder and CEO of Tea Drunk, which offers online courses on the origins, history, and preparation of various types of tea. “We don’t let the leaves linger in water.”
After steeping for just 5 to 7 seconds, the resulting liquid, called liquor, is poured off into what’s known as three-sip cups. The same leaves are used more than a dozen times, each time revealing a layer of complexity. “This method will enable us to enjoy the aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and aftertaste of good tea in full technicolor,” Teng said.
Of course, tea preparation doesn’t need to be labor intensive. Here, we break down how to prepare the perfect cup or pot of tea, whether it’s black, green, white, herbal, or iced.
