Charts

Gong Fu brewing chart

Gong Fu brewing means a lot of leaf, a small vessel and short infusions repeated many times. The table below gives the leaf-to-water ratio per 100 ml, the first infusion in seconds, how much to add each round and whether the type wants a rinse — computed from the 90 teas in this database that carry a complete infusion ladder.

Gong Fu parameters by tea type — ratio, first infusion, increment, rinse

Tea type Leaf per 100 ml Rinse First infusion Add per infusion Gong Fu infusions Total leaf time
Green tea22/40 teas 5 gtypical 5 g · 100 ml no0/22 · — 25 stypical 20 s–30 s +10 s 5range 4–6 2 min 53 s
White tea15/15 teas 5 gtypical 4.5–6 g · 100 ml no6/15 · 10 s 20 stypical 20 s–30 s +10 s 8range 5–12 8 min 10 s
Oolong tea29/29 teas 7 gtypical 6–8 g · 100 ml yes27/29 · 10 s 20 stypical 10 s–35 s +10 s 8range 4–15 6 min 40 s
Pu-erh tea16/16 teas 5 gtypical 5–6 g · 100 ml yes16/16 · 10 s 10 stypical 8 s–10 s +5 s 12range 9–20 5 min 45 s
Black tea6/33 teas 6 gtypical 5–6 g · 100 ml yes5/6 · 5 s 10 stypical 10 s–15 s +10 s 6range 5–8 2 min 55 s
Herbal tea2/43 teas 4.5 gtypical 4–5 g · 100 ml no0/2 · — 25 stypical 20 s–30 s +10 s 7range 6–8 7 min 8 s

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Real infusion ladders

The longest-lasting teas of each type, with their complete Gong Fu schedules exactly as the app runs them.

  • Dragon Well (Longjing) Green tea · 5 g/100 ml · 80 °C · 175 °F

    1: 20 s 2: 25 s 3: 30 s 4: 40 s 5: 1 min 6: 1 min 30 s

  • Sencha Green tea · 5 g/100 ml · 80 °C · 175 °F

    1: 30 s 2: 40 s 3: 50 s 4: 1 min 5: 1 min 20 s

  • Jasmine Green Green tea · 5 g/100 ml · 80 °C · 175 °F

    1: 25 s 2: 30 s 3: 35 s 4: 45 s 5: 1 min

  • Ceylon Silver Tips White tea · 6.5 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 10 s 2: 20 s 3: 25 s 4: 30 s 5: 35 s 6: 45 s 7: 55 s 8: 1 min 5 s 9: 1 min 15 s 10: 1 min 30 s 11: 1 min 45 s 12: 2 min 13: 2 min 20 s

  • Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yin Zhen) White tea · 5 g/100 ml · 85 °C · 185 °F

    1: 30 s 2: 40 s 3: 50 s 4: 1 min 5: 1 min 15 s 6: 1 min 30 s 7: 1 min 50 s 8: 2 min 10 s 9: 2 min 30 s 10: 3 min

  • Yunnan Snow Buds White tea · 6 g/100 ml · 82 °C · 180 °F

    1: 10 s 2: 12 s 3: 15 s 4: 20 s 5: 25 s 6: 35 s 7: 45 s 8: 1 min 9: 1 min 15 s 10: 1 min 30 s

  • Mi Lan Xiang Oolong tea · 7 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 5 s 1: 5 s 2: 5 s 3: 7 s 4: 10 s 5: 13 s 6: 15 s 7: 20 s 8: 25 s 9: 30 s 10: 40 s 11: 50 s 12: 1 min 5 s 13: 1 min 20 s 14: 1 min 40 s 15: 2 min

  • Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong tea · 7 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 5 s 1: 5 s 2: 5 s 3: 7 s 4: 10 s 5: 13 s 6: 15 s 7: 20 s 8: 25 s 9: 30 s 10: 40 s 11: 50 s 12: 1 min 13: 1 min 15 s 14: 1 min 30 s 15: 1 min 50 s

  • Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess) Oolong tea · 7 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 10 s 1: 30 s 2: 15 s 3: 20 s 4: 25 s 5: 30 s 6: 40 s 7: 50 s 8: 1 min 9: 1 min 15 s 10: 1 min 30 s 11: 1 min 50 s 12: 2 min 10 s

  • Lao Ban Zhang Pu-erh tea · 5 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 5 s 2: 5 s 3: 5 s 4: 7 s 5: 8 s 6: 10 s 7: 12 s 8: 15 s 9: 18 s 10: 22 s 11: 25 s 12: 30 s 13: 35 s 14: 40 s 15: 50 s 16: 1 min 17: 1 min 15 s 18: 1 min 30 s 19: 1 min 50 s 20: 2 min 10 s 21: 2 min 30 s

  • Aged Sheng Pu-erh Pu-erh tea · 5 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 10 s 3: 8 s 4: 8 s 5: 10 s 6: 10 s 7: 12 s 8: 15 s 9: 18 s 10: 22 s 11: 25 s 12: 30 s 13: 35 s 14: 40 s 15: 45 s 16: 55 s 17: 1 min 5 s 18: 1 min 20 s 19: 1 min 40 s 20: 2 min

  • Menghai 7542 Pu-erh tea · 6 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 10 s 2: 10 s 3: 10 s 4: 10 s 5: 12 s 6: 15 s 7: 18 s 8: 22 s 9: 28 s 10: 35 s 11: 45 s 12: 55 s 13: 1 min 10 s 14: 1 min 30 s 15: 1 min 50 s 16: 2 min 10 s

  • Jin Jun Mei Black tea · 5 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 2 s 1: 8 s 2: 10 s 3: 12 s 4: 15 s 5: 20 s 6: 30 s 7: 40 s 8: 1 min

  • Yunnan Gold Black tea · 6 g/100 ml · 93 °C · 200 °F

    Rinse 5 s 1: 10 s 2: 15 s 3: 20 s 4: 30 s 5: 45 s 6: 1 min 7: 1 min 30 s

  • Keemun Black tea · 6 g/100 ml · 90 °C · 195 °F

    Rinse 5 s 1: 15 s 2: 20 s 3: 25 s 4: 35 s 5: 45 s 6: 1 min

  • Chrysanthemum Herbal tea · 5 g/100 ml · 85 °C · 185 °F

    1: 30 s 2: 40 s 3: 50 s 4: 1 min 5: 1 min 20 s 6: 1 min 40 s 7: 2 min 8: 2 min 30 s

  • Osmanthus Herbal tea · 4 g/100 ml · 85 °C · 185 °F

    1: 20 s 2: 25 s 3: 30 s 4: 40 s 5: 50 s 6: 1 min

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What Gong Fu actually changes

Western brewing extracts a leaf once, slowly, into a large vessel. Gong Fu extracts the same leaf many times, quickly, into a small one — typically 5 g in a 100 ml gaiwan or clay pot, which is three to five times the Western concentration. Because each infusion is measured in seconds rather than minutes, you take the leaf apart in stages instead of all at once, and you get to taste each stage separately.

That is the entire point. The first infusion of a rolled oolong is bright and floral, the third is thick and sweet, the sixth turns mineral and long. Averaged into one Western mug, those become a single reasonable flavour. Brewed Gong Fu, they become a sequence — and a tea worth the price of good leaf reveals most of itself in infusions three through six, which Western brewing never reaches.

Ratio first, everything else after

The ratio column is the one to get right. Across this database the Gong Fu dose clusters around 5 g per 100 ml of vessel volume, against roughly 1.2 g per 100 ml for Western brewing. Measure your vessel once — fill it with water and weigh it — and you never need to think about it again: a 100 ml gaiwan takes about 5 g, a 150 ml pot about half again.

Heavy leaf with short infusions is what makes the method forgiving. If you push an infusion ten seconds too long at this ratio, the cup is strong rather than ruined, and the next one corrects it. Try the same timing sloppiness at Western concentration and you get astringency you cannot drink. Gong Fu looks fussy and is in fact the more tolerant of the two methods, provided the ratio is right.

The rinse — who needs one and why

A rinse is a few seconds of hot water over the leaf, poured off and discarded, before the first real infusion. In this database 54 of the 90 Gong Fu schedules include one, and they are not distributed evenly: compressed and aged teas take a rinse almost universally, rolled oolongs usually do, and unrolled green and white teas generally do not.

The reason is mechanical, not hygienic. Compressed pu-erh and tightly rolled oolong are closed; a rinse opens them so the first infusion you actually drink is not a weak accident. For an aged or stored tea the rinse also refreshes it, carrying off dusty top notes. A flat, delicate leaf has nothing to open and only loses flavour to a rinse — which is why the column says no for those types. Where a rinse is listed as optional, taste the rinse liquor once; if it is pleasant, drink it.

The ladder: first infusion, then increments

Gong Fu timing is a ladder, not a single number. The first infusion for most types in this database runs a handful of seconds — 20 s is typical — and each subsequent infusion adds roughly 10 seconds to compensate for a leaf that has already given up its easiest solubles. That increment is small early and grows late: rounds one to three sit close together, and by round eight you may be adding half a minute at a time.

The ladders in this database run from four infusions up to 20, and each tea's own page carries its exact sequence. Two practical notes: start counting the moment the water hits the leaf, not when you finish pouring, and pour the vessel completely empty every time. Leaf sitting in residual water keeps brewing and throws the next infusion off — this, far more than timing, is what separates a clean session from a muddled one.

Equipment, and doing it without any

A porcelain gaiwan is the standard tool because it is neutral, cheap, and lets you smell the lid — the fastest way to learn what a tea is doing. Clay pots are traditional for pu-erh and roasted oolong and are dedicated to one tea type, since porous clay carries flavour between sessions. Neither is required: a small teapot, a tasting cup with a strainer or even a mug you can pour off completely will run a ladder correctly, as long as the ratio is right and you empty it fully.

What you do need is a timer that survives many short intervals without you tapping through them, which is exactly what the Gong Fu timer on this site and in the Teafinity app does — it loads a tea's real ladder, counts the rinse, and advances infusion by infusion so you can pay attention to the tea instead of the clock.

Grandpa style, and the honest middle ground

Between the two methods sits the way tea is most often drunk in China: leaves loose in a tall glass, hot water topped up as it goes down, no strainer and no timer. It works because the ratio stays low and the leaves sink, and it suits robust green and black teas far better than it suits a tightly rolled oolong. If Gong Fu looks like too much equipment for a workday, this is the fallback that costs nothing.

The middle ground worth trying is a shortened ladder: use the Gong Fu ratio from this table but brew four infusions instead of 20, doubling each time. You get most of the sequence in ten minutes and you can stop whenever the tea stops giving. Nothing about the method requires ceremony — the numbers do the work, and the ceremony is optional.

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