I have been thinking about Gongfu tea drinking temperature lately. Not too long ago, I had tea with some friends. It has been years since I’ve had tea with others (due to covid) and it reaffirmed my asbestos mouth and hands. If you ever drink with me, I drink fast. Boiling steeped tea gets poured, and I immediately drink it. No need to wait for it to cool. All the while my party hasn’t started sipping yet.
My hands are pretty good at hot cups too. It seems my hands don’t feel hot anymore. I have gotten too lazy to grab a fork, so I pluck noodles out of boiling soup pots with my fingers. Then I slurp those hot noodles to check doneness.
I never quite figured out why I drink so fast. Is it simply that I like all my food and hot drinks ripping hot? My taste buds also love spicy foods that incinerate my entire digestive tract. A lot of my tea enjoyment is smelling the fragrant steam rising from the cup. My nose is better than my taste buds.
My ripping hot tea habit could also be a part of solo drinking. There is no one to talk to. I’m used to slamming down tea and writing. I’m sure many of you Western solo drinkers are surprised when you witness how others brew and drink tea once in a group. Unique to those in the tea industry, I’ve also done years of “I need to sample 10 teas today and I don’t want to be here all day.”
Apparently, the preferred drinking temperature is 130-160F. In contrast to many places that serve hot drinks at 200F. TeaDB did an experiment on heat retention. Another takeaway is that in the majority of gongfu tea temperature, we can easily be drinking our teas over 160F. It may be best to take solo gongfu tea brewing slow, letting your cup cool and risk forgetting that you brewed it. Using a pitcher and small cups (50ml or less) will also help to cool your tea faster.
Owl’s Technique For Developing Asbestos Mouth to Drink HOT Gongfu Tea Temperature
So I drink tea too hot. Will I change? Unlikely. I know someone will roll in and say I’m a dumb owl. But for the rest of you, join me in tea-stained throat cancer.
Slurp
Embrace the slurp. Sucking the tea back quickly cools the tea in the mouth. It isn’t rude, but actually encouraged for gongfu tea. I can slurp fairly quietly, so you don’t need to do an obnoxiously loud and long SHHHHWHHUWUUPPPPPPP.
Tea Cup
My tea cup choice is particular. I like small “tulip” shaped low and wide cups that have a flare to hold onto. The flare gives a cooler ridge. This low cup shape may also be cooling my tea faster than most. The wide lip makes for a thin slurp.
Drink more tea
I wasn’t always able to grab instant ramen noodles from a boiling pot of water. Years of burning the fuck out of my hands did that. I cook the majority of my meals, steep most teas at a boil, and there have been plenty of kettle accidents with boiling water. In addition, horribly hot tuition cups and gaiwans have also trained these hands. Time will do it – no need to boil your hands for weeks like the training arc of an anime.
