Oolong Brewing
The standing method for brewing oolong, gongfu and Western, with temperatures, gram ratios, steep times, and infusion counts, and how light floral and roasted leaf take different heat.
On this page
Oolong spans a wide range of oxidation. A green high-mountain tea and a dark roasted rock tea do not want the same heat or the same patience. Two methods sit under this range. Gongfu packs a small vessel with leaf and pours it off in seconds across many infusions. Western puts one heaped measure in a larger pot for a few minutes.
The two methods
Gongfu means a small brewing vessel, a high leaf-to-water ratio, and a series of short infusions. A gaiwan, or a small yixing pot, holds enough leaf that the first steep is counted in seconds. You extract a little at a time, taste the leaf change across the session, and stop when it has given what it has.
Western brewing does the opposite. Saratoga Tea and Honey4 brew 5 grams per 16 ounces, roughly 5g per 470ml, for three minutes, with five to six further infusions at lengthening intervals.
The two methods on the same dials:
| Gongfu | Western | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaf to water | 1g per 15 to 20ml, so 5 to 7 grams in a 100ml (about 3.5-ounce) gaiwan | 2 to 3 grams per 250ml (about 1 cup), or about 5 grams per 470ml |
| Water temperature | Set by style, not by method: 85 to 90C (about 185 to 194F) for light floral, 90 to 96C (about 194 to 205F) for dancong, 96 to 100C (about 205 to 212F) for roasted | The same bands. A working default is 195F (about 90C) |
| Rinse | Yes for rolled leaf, poured off at once and discarded | The same rule |
| First steep | 20 to 40 seconds | Three minutes |
| Each steep after | Add 10 to 15 seconds | At increasing time intervals |
| Infusions you get | At least five or six | Five or six beyond the first |
Leaf-to-water ratio
The gongfu standard is about 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel volume, which white2tea gives1 and applies as roughly 6 to 7 grams in a 100ml (about 3.5-ounce) gaiwan. Tealibere frames the gongfu range3 as 5 to 7 grams per 100 to 120ml. Take 1g per 15 to 20ml as your working band and settle it by taste.
Western ratio runs far leaner. Tealibere gives 2 to 3 grams per 250ml (about 1 cup), close to the Saratoga figure of 5 grams per 470ml.
Water temperature, by style
Tealibere gives the working bands.
- Light floral oolongs: 85 to 90C (about 185 to 194F).
- Dancong: 90 to 96C (about 194 to 205F).
- Roasted and Wuyi oolongs: 96 to 100C (about 205 to 212F).
A tieguanyin brewing guide on sohu.com5 runs hotter than the light floral band: it puts most modern, lightly-oxidized styles at 95C (about 203F), and pushes the fresh-fragrant and rhyme-fragrant (鲜香/韵香) styles all the way to a full 100C boil. The reasoning is that full heat better reveals the tea's yun (韵), the resonant character the rhyme-fragrant style is named for.
The rinse, and why rolled leaf needs it
A rolled oolong arrives as a tight pellet. When you brew a ball-rolled tie guan yin or gaoshan, only the outside of the pellet meets the water at first, so the opening infusion tastes thin and closed. The awakening step fixes this. Eco-Cha describes the step2: fill the pot with boiled water and immediately pour off the rinse before the first real infusion. It wakes the leaf, warms the gaiwan and pitcher, and lets the pellet begin to unfurl so the first drinking steep arrives already open.
Steep times, and how they lengthen
Gongfu times start short and grow. After the rinse, begin the first drinking infusion at 20 to 40 seconds for oolong, the band Tealibere gives, leaning longer for a tightly rolled tea still unfurling from its pellet and shorter for an already-open roasted leaf. Then add roughly 10 to 15 seconds to each successive infusion as the leaf gives up flavour more slowly. White2tea's own progression is a flash first steep with about 10 seconds added each round, then stretching toward two-to-three-minute infusions once the tea pales at the end of a long session. As the leaf tires, you extend the steep to draw the same strength.
Western is one motion. Three minutes for the first pour at 195F (about 90C), per Saratoga, then lengthen each re-steep.
How many infusions oolong sustains
White2tea gives at least five or six gongfu infusions for almost any tea, and Eco-Cha five to eight for quality tea. Western brewing gives five or six re-steeps beyond the first, per Saratoga.
Water
White2tea's guidance: use spring or well water, and if your tap is hard, cut it with distilled to soften the mineral load, but do not brew on pure distilled or reverse-osmosis water, which lacks the minerals to perform well.