This is the third article of the Methods of Tea Brewing series.
The Shao An style of brewing is most commonly seen in Shao An, Nanrui, Xi Nan areas of Fujian. It is usually employed in the brewing of heavy roasted or aged oolongs, and more commonly seen to be used with pots that are single hole (filterless)
Tea Equipment needed
1) Tea pot
2) Tea dish/boat for the tea pot
3) Thin egg shell cups of 25 ml volume
4) A tea boat for the cups
5) A tea towel
6) A piece of paper with one corner folded in
Step 1 – Assemble the tea wares and lay out the tea equipment as pictured
Step 2 – Sorting the tea leaves
For single hole tea pots, they are easily clogged by fine tea leaf bits, affecting the rate of pour and can result in oversteeping of tea too. In the Shao An style, one shouldnt unclog the pot by using a tool as it is sometimes not very graceful (although nothing truly wrong!). To prevent clogging of single hole tea pots, the tea leaves are spread out on a piece of paper, shaken a little, to allow the larger leaves to rise to the top of the pile, and the fine bits to the bottom. Since this method uses heavy roasted teas, it may be unnecessary to re-bake the leaves, but if the leaves are not in optimal condition, a quick re-bake can be done by hovering the paper with the tea on top, over a small flame or charcoal stove. Constant movement will prevent the paper from catching fire, and the tea leaves to be baked by the heat.
Step 3 – Warming the pot
Add hot water into the pot, incubate for ten to twenty seconds before discarding to warm the pot.
Step 4 – Loading the pot
The larger leaves are loaded towards the front, behind the spout, and the fine bits to the bottom or to the centre/rear of the pot. This is to prevent the smaller bits from escaping, and the larger leaves acting as a filter.
Step 5 – Brewing.
The first steep can be discarded as its often regarded as the “wash” step
Step 6 – Washing the cups
In this brewing style, the steeping duration is timed by the washing of the cups. Each cup is filled 1/3 with hot water and washed as pictured, with the fingers rotating the cup in the hot water. Cups are washed in between every steep.
Step 7- Dispensing the tea
Whilst dispensing the tea, it is important to note that the first cup is usually for the brewer. The tea leaves are only steeped 3 times by tradition, but can be extended if the tea leaf quality is good.
This is the third article of the Methods of Tea Brewing series.
The following articles are part of this series:
- Yixing / Taiwanese Brewing method for Tea
- Anxi Brewing Method for Tea
- Chaozhou Gongfu Tea Brewing Method
