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Okay. I’ve decided to play Gongfu. After looking at the very beautiful gaiwan sets at Verdant, I decided I wanted to try and give it a go. That said, I’m simply using two mugs (one to steep with, other to drink out of) so it’s not terribly official. xD But you know, before going all out for the “authentic” experience, I figured I better at least try it out to see if I like it.

This is my first gongfu attempt, so it might turn out to be an utter failure. But let’s try it. I wasn’t sure what size Verdant meant by “medium Gaiwan” so I decided to assume 6oz and did a tbsp of leaves, once again assuming that that was how much ‘5g’ was.

Okay, I did my rinse. It was a disaster. I panicked so I didn’t know what to use to hold back the leaves, so the rinse was around 15 seconds. XD Lost some of the leaves when pouring, and also made a bit of a mess on the counter. Dangit.

1st Steep 3 Seconds:
This tastes like how when I western brew it. Deep, dark chocolately, not to bitter not too sweet. Interestingly, when I brew western, I always feel the need to add milk to this. With this, I don’t feel the need for it at all.

2nd Steep 6 seconds:
Another mini disaster. Was tilting my infuser without thinking when using it as a strainer, lost some more liquid onto the counter. Also, now that my mug was pre-heated from the first steep, I forgot how much hotter it’d be to pour boiling water into a pre-heated cup so I burned my tongue. Note to self, use hot but cooler temp.
I feel like I’m getting more of that cinnamon taste that Verdant promised, which I never really got out of Laoshan black western style. Even as a resteep, I never tasted cinnamon, I’d just get the same flavor but weaker. Chocolate taste still in the background, and it’s sweeter now.

Steep 3 9 seconds:
Realizing that the infuser can fit onto the mug I stopped pouring it over my drinking mug like an idiot and instead inserted into the drinking mug, and poured the steeped tea through it. There. No mess.

It’s still cinnamony and chocolately. I feel like it’s weaker already than it should be. I suspect the boiling water and the stupidly long rinse is the problem. Next I’ll use under boiling and be sure to be prepared from the beginning. This is tasting like steep two would with western brew.

Apparently I’m tired. I missed my mouth at the second to last sip and the tea went down my shirt instead of down my gullet. Oh well, keep drinking. I’m going to have my shower after this session anyway.

Steep 4 12 seconds:
Yeah, I definitely messed up with that long rinse. This tea is already starting to be done like dinner, and it should be good for several more steeps yet. I’ll try a couple more in case it resurrects itself suddenly.

Steep 5 15 seconds:
… And it’s done. It’s now a shadow of what it was, with a feebly colored liquor.

Well, I won’t rate this session, as it wouldn’t really be fair seeing as I messed up. I’ll try again sometime. xD; Hopefully this provided some giggles at least.