Proportion 7:3 is only an approximation
After posting the 2008-07-09 Brewing Technique - Proportion of Tea Leaves, there was some feedback which was worth sharing.A tea lover said, "It is an effective way. However, it is troublesome and not easy to do that." Cloud replied, "It isn't troublesome and it is easy to do."
People may think that it will be quite annoying if the electronic scale has to be used every time when brewing Chinese tea. In fact, that is not the case. At the time taking photos of the 7:3 proportion of tea leaves, Cloud used 2 electronic scales. The purpose is to let you compare the intact tea leaves and the broken tea leaves visually in the same photograph. Cloud just showed and let you have an idea of how these 7:3 proportion of tea leaves looked like. Without these 2 fine devices, how could Cloud measure and tell that the portion on the right was 70% and the portion on the left was 30%?
Actually, when you brew your own tea at home, it is quite easy to do so. What you need to do is to put approximate 70% of intact tea leaves (or small chunks) and then add on approximate 30% broken tea leaves, that is. Is there any rule stipulating that it must be 7:3 proportion? The answer is "NO". You can adjust the proportion according to your personal flavor.
No matter whether it is,
9:1
8:2
7:3
6:4 or even
5:5
the most important aspect is to understand your flavorite taste and concentration
so that you can brew your own good tea at home.
Some people might misunderstand that Cloud often used electronic scale to weigh tea leaves for brewing. In fact, Cloud didn't do so. Unless I have to compare 2 different Puerh teas, I will not use the electronic scale. Using electronic scale to weigh tea is to make sure 2 different teas are on the equal basis. In short, using electronic scale is ONLY for comparing or judging tea. When Cloud is appreciating tea, putting approximate quantity by experience is good enough.
Cloud providing this brewing technique and proportion is to let tea lovers know that there are always some other ways to brew tea. You may brew a tea with different methods as long as you like the taste brewed from this particular way. If only the tea chunks are used for brewing tea, Cloud's experience tells that the first few infusions will be too mild. However, after the tea leaves unfurl, the tea broth will become strong (might be too strong). That's why Cloud suggests this way to handle the tea by adding some broken tea leaves proportionally.
It is not hard to obtain these broken tea leaves and you do not have to crack some. When you try to break up a tea cakes, there are always some broken tea leaves falling off from the tea cakes. These broken tea leaves are good enough to contribute their flavor to the tea liquor. Normally speaking, if these broken tea leaves are not used in this way, there will be many at last when the tea cake is about to finish. People may just use these residues to brew tea liquor to make their purple clay teapot shiny.
14 July 2008 wrote
15 July 2008 translated
Cloud (Hong Kong)
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