Procedure to prepare and enjoy Chinese tea

Juifen was one of the places I visited during my 10 days vacation in Taiwan. It is located outside Taipei city and is famous for its old streets and many eating places, including tea houses. Many tea houses are located on the high ground overlooking scenic views (if there is no mist!).

One of the more prominent tea house at Juifen is the Juifen Old Tea House. This tea house offers many selection of Taiwan’s tea and charges a per person cover charge of 100 NT plus cost of whatever tea leaves purchased. This is the place where I had my first demonstration on the Chinese tea drinking procedure.

Water for making Chinese tea must be hot. In this tea house, there is a pot of hot water heated continuously over a charcoal fire at each table.

The utensils are as follows:

• Tea Making Pot or Bowl (with cover and holder)
• Tea serving Pot or Bowl which is about the same capacity as the tea making pot
• Tea Cups (one per drinker)
• Large bowl for discarded water and used tea leaves
• Measuring spoon and spatula

All these are presented on a wooden tray.
The video below shows how it is done.


Procedure to prepare and enjoy Chinese tea

First, all the utensils are rinsed and warmed up using the hot water. Discard the used water in the large bowl.
Then the tea leaves added to the Tea Making Pot using the measuring spoon and spatula. Add about one quarter full. Hot water is added to the pot and covered up. Allow the leaves to soak in the hot water for 15 to 20 seconds. 

For normal Chinese tea, the tea from the first soak is discarded to get rid of dust and ot her residues that may be found on the leaves. But in this case, the tea leaves are the “High Mountain Tea” and the tea from the first soak need not be discarded and can be consumed. 

Empty the tea from the Tea Making Bowl into the Serving Bowl. Note: ensure all tea is poured out completely; else the residual tea would affect the taste of the next round. The serving bowl is then used to serve the prepared tea to each tea drinker.

When all tea is consumed from the Serving Bowl, the next round of tea can be prepared using the same tea leaves. Soaking time for the second round is also 15 to 20 seconds. Subsequent rounds can be longer. Up to 6 or 7 rounds of tea can be prepared or until the tea leaves has lost its flavour. Then the used leaves are discarded; tea making pot rinsed and procedure repeated using new tea leaves.

You may like to read more about Juifen in my previous post.