How to brew oolong tea, Western style and gongfu

Oolong is the broad family between green and black: leaf allowed to oxidise part of the way, then stopped with heat. A light oolong from Taiwan's mountains can be nearly as green and floral as a green tea; a dark, roasted one from Fujian's Wuyi mountains tastes of stone fruit and toast. Rolled into tight balls or twisted into long dark strips, oolong is made to be infused many times.

Western style

Water: 85 to 95°C — lighter, greener oolongs at the bottom of the range, dark and roasted ones at the top. Leaf: a teaspoon, about 2 grams, per cup. Time: two to three minutes. Those are Whittard of Chelsea's figures. Brew the same leaves again, a little longer each time; good oolong is still giving at the third pot.

Gongfu style

The Chinese way, and the way oolong is meant to be met. Much more leaf, much less water, much shorter steeps. The figures here are Moychay's for its Anxi Tieguanyin; Moychay is a tea house in Amsterdam that holds tea ceremonies as well as selling the leaf.

1. Warm a small pot or a lidded bowl (a gaiwan) of about 100 to 150 ml with hot water and pour it away.

2. Add 6 grams of leaf for every 100 ml the pot holds. Rolled oolong will swell to fill it.

3. Rinse: cover the leaf with hot water and pour it straight off. This wakes the leaf and warms everything.

4. Brew with water at 95 to 98°C for just three to five seconds — a flash, poured off at once — and pour every drop into a jug, then into small cups.

5. Repeat, lengthening each steep a little until the tea suits you. Moychay counts on up to ten infusions; each tastes a little different from the last, which is rather the point.

Which oolong?

Tieguanyin, from Anxi in Fujian: rolled, often light and orchid-scented. Taiwanese high-mountain oolongs: buttery and floral. Da Hong Pao and the other Wuyi rock teas: dark, roasted, mineral. Dong Ding: medium-roasted, nutty, a good first oolong.