Rare Pipachá Oolong Loose Leaf Oolong Tea

How to infuse your tea is very personal, and these are just our recommendations based on experience. Please experiment with these variables to your heart's delight. These are our recommendations, not hard and fast rules. The most delicious tea is the one you love.

Our guide uses a standard tea cup size (150ml/5.5 oz) as a measure, please adjust the quantity of leaf accordingly for less or more water. Our whole loose leaves are of such a high quality that you can infuse our teas at least twice, and the second infusion is often better than the first, with different flavours revealed as the leaf softens. If you prefer your tea stronger, add more leaf, don’t leave it for longer (this will just make it bitter).

A gaiwan is the ultimate way to enjoy your oolong tea, using a high leaf-to-water ratio that extracts very quickly. Used in China since the Ming dynasty (over 900 years ago), gaiwans are unassuming but beautifully functional teapots that can be used to explore tea to its fullest – the following method can be used to make up to six infusions.

For small gaiwans (e.g. our Traditional Gaiwan) start with 2-4g of tea, for larger gaiwans (e.g. our Easy Pour Gaiwan) use 4-6g.

If you're using a rolled oolong (Tie Guan Yin, Waikato Oolong, 21st Century Breakfast or Golden Lily Milk Oolong) this next step will greatly improve your infusion. Using boiling water cover the leaf in your gaiwan and immediately strain and discard the liquid. This "wash" softens the surface of the rolled leaves and allows the water to better penetrate.

If you're using a traditional gaiwan and you don't want to burn your fingers, please fill the bowl just to where the sides begin to curve outwards towards the rim. If you're an experienced gaiwan handler you can fill the bowl higher – its just important to note that as the water level reaches close to the rim it gets very hot to handle.

With such a high leaf-to-water ratio the infusion is very quick; infuse you leaf for 5-10 seconds and strain completely into your cup or a jug. There's no need to reheat the water as you go, because the softened leaves will require lower temperatures to release their flavours - but you will need to extend the time to 10-20 seconds for later infusions. We recommend at least six infusions to allow the leaf to completely open out and reveal all its beauty.

For a more comprehensive guide to using a gaiwan (including a video), click here for our full guide.