Gongfu brewing guide and times

By exactee · Updated 2026-10-13

Gongfu brewing uses a small pot or gaiwan (100–150 ml), a lot of leaf (about 1 g per 15–20 ml, so 5–7 g in a 100 ml gaiwan), a quick rinse, and very short infusions: start around 10–20 seconds and add 5–10 seconds each round. One measure of leaf gives 6–10 or more cups.

What gongfu brewing is

Gongfu cha roughly means “making tea with skill and effort”. It is the traditional way of brewing oolong and pu-erh in southern China and Taiwan. Instead of a little leaf steeped for minutes, you use a lot of leaf for seconds, and repeat. Each small cup tastes different as the leaves open, so you follow the tea through its whole arc.

What you need

• A gaiwan or small teapot, 80–150 ml. A gaiwan (lidded bowl) is cheap, easy to clean and works for every tea. Unglazed clay pots (Yixing and similar) are lovely but best kept for one type of tea.
• A fairness pitcher (gong dao bei): pour every infusion into it first, so all cups get the same strength.
• Small cups, a strainer, a kettle and ideally a scale.
• A tray or bowl to catch spills: gongfu is splashy.

Gongfu brewing times table

These are starting points. More leaf means shorter steeps; less leaf means longer. If the first cup is too strong, don’t throw out the leaf: just pour faster next time.

Step by step

1. Warm everything. Pour boiling water through the gaiwan, pitcher and cups, then discard.
2. Add the leaf. Weigh it; rolled oolong should cover the bottom of the gaiwan generously.
3. Rinse (for oolong and pu-erh): pour water over the leaf, wait 5 seconds and pour it away. This starts opening tightly rolled or compressed leaf.
4. First infusion. Pour water over the leaf, lid on, count the seconds, then pour all of it out into the pitcher. Hold the lid slightly ajar as a strainer.
5. Serve from the pitcher into the cups.
6. Repeat, adding a few seconds each round, until the tea tastes thin. Late infusions of pu-erh can go to a minute or more.

How to read the leaf

Look at the leaves after each round. Rolled oolongs slowly unfurl into whole leaves; when they have fully opened, the tea is usually at its fullest. If the cup suddenly turns flat and watery, double the time once. If that still doesn’t help, the leaf is done.

Common mistakes

• Infusions too long: with this much leaf, 60 seconds early on makes tea undrinkably strong. Count out loud.
• Leaving liquid in the gaiwan: pour out completely or the next round turns bitter.
• Skipping the rinse with pu-erh: compressed leaf brews unevenly without it.
• Burning fingers: fill a gaiwan only to just below the rim, and hold it by the rim and lid knob.

Gongfu vs. western brewing

Western brewing uses roughly 1 g per 60–80 ml for 2–5 minutes. Gongfu uses three to five times as much leaf for seconds. Neither is more “correct”. Western-style gives a large, steady cup; gongfu gives a sequence of small, intense and changing cups, and usually more total tea from the same leaf. For western-style numbers, see the brew guides and the calculator.

Is gongfu stronger in caffeine?

Each small cup can be concentrated, and you drink many of them, so a long session can add up to a fair amount of caffeine. Pace yourself, or move to lighter late infusions as the session goes on. More about how caffeine behaves over several infusions in resteeping tea.