In winter, with its biting cold, Tea enthusiasts quietly say to themselves: it's time for tea brewing.

Lin Qingxuan wrote in “Boiling Snow,” that there is a legend about people in the Arctic who, due to the freezing temperatures, have their words freeze into ice as soon as they speak, making them inaudible to others. Instead, they have to take the snow home to roast and slowly speak, a story so beautiful that it touches the heart.

Brewing tea is something every tea lover yearns for when winter comes.

Brewing is a process and also a wait. A wait for change, a wait for surprise…

Placing tea into water, watching the steam gradually rise as the temperature increases, the aroma slowly fills the air, listening to the bubbling sounds from the pot, warming the surroundings.

As the weather grows increasingly chilly, the tea-brewing method is more suitable than steeping. The tea broth, slow-cooked over a gentle fire, has a color like amber, a warm nature, invigorates the blood and dispels coldness.

Sipping the tea broth, watching the billowing steam, feeling the warmth spreading throughout your body from within, is one of the great joys of autumn and winter.

Since the tea-brewing method is entirely different from steeping, the criteria for evaluating tea are also different.

In addition to a good mouthfeel and an appealing broth color, steeping allows you to experience changes in taste with each infusion, while brewing aims for consistent flavor.

If the richly varied mouthfeel of steeped tea leaves a lingering aftertaste, then what is the charm of the consistent flavor of brewed tea?

The answer is: the richly varied physical sensations. Mentioning this, experienced tea enthusiasts may immediately think of Lu Tong's poem on the Seven Bowls of Tea, no wonder he wrote about bodily sensations rather than changes in flavor.

The tea-brewing method involves placing tea into water and cooking it before drinking. Directly placing tea in a pot and boiling it was the most common way of drinking tea in China before the Tang Dynasty.

Luyu described this process in detail in his “Classic of Tea.” Generally speaking, first crush the tea cake ready for use, then start to boil water, place fine water in a pot, heat it with charcoal until almost boiling, add the crushed tea.

When tea and water blend, foam appears at the second boil; the foam is the small tea flowers, the scum is the larger ones, both are the essence of tea. At this point, scoop out the foam and scum and place them in a heated bowl for later use.

Continue heating, allowing the tea and water to further blend, waves and ripples appear, referred to as the third boil. At this stage, pour the foam and scum collected during the second boil back into the tea broth, strictly adjusting the amount according to the number of people. Once the tea broth is ready, pour it evenly into everyone's bowls, symbolizing equal sharing of blessings and sorrows.

The peak period of Chinese Tea culture was during the Tang and Song dynasties, just like its politics and economy. During the Tang and Song dynasties, our ancestors drank tea by brewing it, the modern infusion method we know today only formed after the Yuan Dynasty.

In ancient times, tea brewing was divided into: court brewing, Zen tea, scholar brewing, and folk brewing. Putting tea directly in a pot to brew was the method used by commoners, hence called folk brewing. Court brewing had the most steps and was the most refined.

Tea House Etiquette believes that in addition to focusing on the integration of tea, utensils, water, and fire, the role of people should be emphasized!

How tea, utensils, water, and fire integrate, it is the role of people. Without people, they are merely individual entities. Only through the role of people can their value be discovered and enhanced.

Selecting Tea

When brewing tea, mostly choose teas such as dark tea, ripe Pu'er, aged White Tea, or aged oolong. These teas, through processing or aging, lose their initial rawness and coolness, their nature becoming warmer.

After brewing, these teas won't become too bitter or astringent to drink, and their warm nature makes them ideal for dispelling cold.

In addition to brewing dry tea directly, you can also stew the tea roots after steeping, this method is often used for older teas, allowing any unextracted essences to fully release, thus honoring the years the tea has endured.

Cooking

The water-to-tea ratio for the tea-brewing method is generally controlled around 5-6 grams of tea for every 1000cc of water, tea enthusiasts can adjust this ratio based on personal preference.

As the requirements for brewing are not as strict as steeping, if the tea broth is too light, simply add more tea or extend the cooking time; if it's too strong, add more water and bring it to a boil.

Tea can be placed directly into the pot, or added to a tea bag for easier cleanup afterwards.

If using a tea bag, try to use a larger size, so the tea leaves have ample room to expand, resulting in a better-bodied broth.

Stewing

Recommended stewing time is 60 to 120 minutes, to achieve a full-bodied and smooth quality. After brewing, pour the tea broth into a pitcher to serve, and keep the stove on low heat to keep it warm.

If the tea broth is too strong, add an appropriate amount of water to the pot and bring it to a boil, adjusting it to the desired concentration, which is another pleasure in itself.

Liking brewed tea isn't about the quality of the tea itself, but about the way of drinking it, spontaneous without complicated rules.

Gulong once said, “As long as the tea is hot, it won't be too bad.” The great swordsman had very simple expectations for tea, as long as it's hot, it can comfort a cold heart.

Hot things inherently have a warming quality, comforting and fulfilling, capable of softening all defenses. Sometimes, just a touch of warmth can sweeten the dreams of an entire autumn night.

I enjoy drinking a cup of hot tea on every cold day. The origin of the tea doesn't matter, what matters is the temperature of the broth, where there is warmth, there is flavor, memory, and stories.