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Gongfu sessions fall apart after the fourth infusion with nothing left Brewing Help
120ml gaiwan, 6g of a mid grade shou puerh, flash rinse and short steeps. Infusions one to three are great, four is thin, five is water. Everyone talks about ten plus infusions. Am I over-extracting early, using too little leaf, or is this just what mid grade material does?
@petra_lindqvist · 10mo ago · 3 replies
Mostly leaf ratio and steep discipline, with a bit of material.
6g in 120ml is light for shou. Seven to eight grams is a more usual gongfu ratio and that extra leaf is exactly what buys you the later infusions. With a lighter ratio you compensate by steeping longer early, which strips the tea in three rounds and leaves nothing for round six.
Try 8g and keep the first three infusions genuinely short, five to eight seconds, pouring immediately. Then extend gradually: 10, 15, 20, 30, 45. If infusion four is thin, you are still steeping too long at one and two.
That said, mid grade shou honestly gives six to eight rather than fifteen. Ten plus infusions is a claim about material, not about technique.
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@petra_lindqvist · 10mo ago
It will look absurd and then it will fill the gaiwan when it opens. That is the correct amount of absurd.
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@tbr_theo · 10mo ago
Eight grams feels like an absurd amount of leaf in a small gaiwan.
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