New to the tea world! Any suggestions?

 

This title is taken from a Reddit post title, which states an obvious, repeating request, that turns up there a few times a week on r/tea.  They could just program a bot to respond that this is asked multiple times a week, so scrolling back through posts, even without searching, would turn up another half-dozen related threads.

I've been considering writing a basic, thousand word length answer to this question, so why not.  Years ago I wrote about this same post theme already, here, but that might've been based on a less "starting from scratch" perspective, more about moving from owning a dozen boxes of tea-bag teas into better loose tea.

that person's starting exposure (from the Reddit post; they said this):

I got myself one of those tea/fruit infuser bottles. I know loose leaf is probably the best way to go but I seen videos where it seems like you have to brew like 3 times over for that cup of tea. So I’m wanting to get more info and maybe places to look to get a good sampler to expand my pallet. But again besides tea bags that’s all my knowledge I have.  (For context celestial brand of green tea peach, hibiscus tea seems like the only ones I have gotten and often drink),

So they're kind of starting from only having tried Lipton before, and that herb tea / tisane; that comes up a lot.  This won't get too far into explaining what Celestial Seasonings herb blends and tea and herb blends are all about (both highly processed material in tea bags, essentially flavored tea).  That's a decent range to start on, but it's not "real tea."  

It's a really minor point but it's palate, not pallet; one is your sense of taste, the other is a wooden frame structure used in shipping and warehousing, and a pallete is an artist's range of paint colors that they're working with.

Real tea is any processed variation of a Camellia Sinensis plant, of variety Sinensis or Assamica.  It's generally in these broad type ranges:  black tea, green, oolong, white, and hei cha, with pu'er either a type of hei cha or related to it.  People tend to include yellow tea but you can skip over that; it's just partly fermented green tea, steamed and left to change some.  There's also no need to worry about oxidation levels or roast inputs early on; later you can sort all of that out more.  Drinking flavored teas or teas mixed with herbs is fine, but I'm not covering that here.

a current favorite Thai black tea; not all that similar to Lipton

initial types to explore:  people in discussion threads always suggest what they are into, so there probably is no clear answer to this.  Different answers work for different reasons.  One response is to get into better quality tin teas, like Harney and Sons (for blends and flavored teas, or some plain teas), or Ahmad (for Indian teas).  

I usually suggest flavorful, easy to brew, broadly appealing types, like light rolled oolong (like Tie Guan Yin), or Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea).  For some people shu pu'er is easy to approach and appealing, and for others it's way too earthy.  That and well-roasted Wuyi Yancha (Fujian oolong, like Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian) both make for a good cross-over from coffee experience, matching parts of the flavor.  Shu pu'er is earthy and has depth and rich feel like coffee, it's just not the same, and highly roasted "rock oolong," Wuyi Yancha, matches up with that roasted effect in coffee versions like French roast.

Then others recommend almost anything, white teas, green versions, other oolong, Darjeeling; whatever they're into.  Sheng pu'er is not a good place to start, a little too intense, bitter, astringent, and varied in character to pick up quickly.  But most of the rest of the range could work.  In general more whole leaf teas are better, representing a higher quality level, and those will be lower in astringency level (less rough in feel, which seems like bitterness to people who aren't clear on the distinction).  But early on seeking out high quality examples doesn't matter as much as trying out different types range, and exploring from there.

2006 Xiaguan tuocha (sheng pu'er); about a decade away from being age-transitioned enough

brewing advice:  there are two types of brewing, Western and Gongfu, and it probably makes the most sense to start using a Western approach.  The limitation with that is that some tea types don't work out as well prepared that way, especially sheng pu'er (the one I said to avoid initially), and high quality twisted style oolong (Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong).  Really any very broken leaf or flavored tea is better prepared Western style, and a lot of other range works out better Gongfu brewed, but it matters less for some types, and for lower quality teas.

What are the differences in the two processes?  I skipped over that part.  Western brewing is the one teaspoon per cup method (or using about 3 grams per 250 ml, put another way), and Gongfu brewing uses a higher proportion and many short infusions.  People typically brew 6 to 8 grams of tea in a 90 or 100 ml device, using short infusion times (10 to 20 seconds, versus 3 to 5 minutes for Western brewing), and brew a dozen rounds or more.  Or less, if they use a lower proportion; the proportion and timing balance with each other.

a gaiwan and some cups, in a Japanese small bowl style, but Chinese cups can be similar

For someone very early in moving past tea bags just exploring Western brewing would be enough, but if someone, even in that situation, wanted to delve into the whole experience range they could explore both brewing approaches.  That leads to the next topic.

what gear is required?:  you need some way to heat water, and using an electric kettle is standard.  But putting a pan on the stove also works, and for more aesthetic, ceremonial Gongfu brewing people tend to use charcoal and a cast iron kettle device, even indoors, even though that sounds crazy.

a favorite tea friend and her family, with a lot of very aesthetic teaware around

Next you need a brewing device, a teapot, or the equivalent.  Old-style ceramic teapots, like someone's grandmother or aunt would use back in the 20th century, would still work well.  Or glass versions are equivalent, or there are lots of other options for Western brewing.  I use a single-serving, for-purpose ceramic cup and basket device, with a saucer that doubles as a lid.  But I used a French press at work for years, and those work well, and own a glass teapot and tea bottle that are also fine.

basket style Western infuser devices; one I used from a glass teapot's basket insert

For Gongfu brewing there are three main options:  a gaiwan (lidded cup), clay pot (yixing is one well-known clay type), and the Japanese version of a small teapot, a kyusu.  A friend used a small glass teapot, shaped like the traditional Chinese clay versions, that worked just as well, for brewing 100 ml or so at a time.  A gaiwan is a nice option to start with, especially because a basic, fully functional, 100 ml, white porcelain version typically costs about $10 through Western online outlets.  They take practice to use, since you can pour it across your fingertips before you get it, but not very much, and there are lots of online video references about that.

To be clear you can use anything as a brewing device.  You could heat water in a pan, then put the tea in the pan, or brew in one mug and strain it into another.  Other options would probably seem appealing even early on, but the differences are minor.  Later subtle differences do tend to matter, factors like heat retention.

Cups are a complicated subject.  You can use a coffee mug, or small British style teacup, or something plainer and a bit rounder, but it's natural to shift to small Chinese or Japanese style bowl themed cups before very long.  At first setting this aside would work.

sources (where to buy tea):  this is really complicated.  At a local loose-leaf, specialty tea shop, or Chinatown shop works well, but for most people there isn't one nearby.  So it's on to the long list of online vendors different people see as natural starting points.  Yunnan Sourcing is one; a market-style Chinese tea outlet.  Rishi and Adagio are American plain and flavored tea outlets.  Commercial tins or boxed of tea are ok; Ahmad really is decent, or Dilmah is for Ceylon.  

market-style sites can be a bit much; Yunnan Sourcing sells thousands of tea versions

To me buying good quality tea at a good value makes the most sense, and overseas outlets can work even better for good value.  Hatvala and Viet Sun are good Vietnamese options; something like that.  Or Yunnan Sourcing's competitors can work out; King Tea Mall, or Chawang Shop, or White2Tea for pu'er.  Years ago I wrote about producer-direct sourcing options, here, and Wuyi Origin (for Wuyishan rock oolong) is the main option not mentioned in this yet.  It's better to start with more basic versions of teas than they sell.  For people seeking out good quality Wuyi Yancha and Wuyishan area (Fujian) black teas that's the place.

At the next level a lot of different kinds of curator vendors or type-specialists make sense.  Seven Cups is well regarded (a generalist source in the US), or Essence of Tea or Tea Encounter in the UK, again leaning towards pu'er specialization.  Pu'er is a common final-stage type preference, but again I'd try out oolong and black teas first, and maybe dabble in white and green before moving on to that.  Shu pu'er, the pre-fermented type, versus sheng / raw, is approachable--not bitter and astringent--but also quite earthy.

Then the list of decent sources never ends.  I think Liquid Proust is worth checking out (with some emphasis on pu'er; that never drops out).  In the EU Tea Mania is a good small outlet, based in Switzerland, and Moychay based out of the Netherlands is a good Russian market-style vendor.  

To jump ahead to high quality range the Trident Cafe and Bookseller is a great curator option, but again I'd avoid starting out at the top, even if budget isn't a concern.  There's no going up from there, and there's no harm in exploring teas with some quality limitations earlier on, to see how the whole range works out.  If you start out with Wuyi Origin Wuyi Yancha you are ruined for drinking Chinatown shop Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian, it just won't be good enough, and that's an interesting exploration phase to go through.  Learning about typical flaws is part of your experience curve; you lose something giving that up.  Not just something abstract either; it can help you place limitations in other tea types later on.

Chinese online sales is a strange range.  Teasenz is a good example of a Western-style outlet based out of China.  ITea World and Oriental Leaf are newer forms of outlets, focusing a lot on sample sets to get people new to tea introduced (or hooked, more pejoratively).  Farmerleaf is a popular option (based in China), again focused mainly on pu'er, but you can buy great black and white tea from such a source, usually.

teas from different production areas, and related sources:  I've not mentioned Japanese tea; in any list of source references, or any type discussion, most of the range has to drop out, or the discussion runs so long.  Yunomi is a popular Western facing option, and Ippodo is a Japan based larger distributor that's well regarded.

I live in Thailand most of the time (and in Honolulu the rest), and there are good Thai teas, and good Thai sources.  Tea Side is the main Western facing, higher end option, and 101 Plantation works as a way to check out what large scale producers selling directly are like.

And I've glossed over Indian teas.  Golden Tips might be a good generalist source, Gopaldhara is my favorite Darjeeling producer, and you can try Assam directly from a producer from Halmari.  Of course options keep going; there are countless small Indian tea vendors.  Herbs and Kettles is a US based on ran by an online friend.  I would check India-based options before doing too much with US sources though; you can buy teas at volume for not so much if you work around a large shipping cost addition.  Whenever you buy from abroad you just need to buy a bit more to get the lower per-volume rate to be more of an input than shipping, which is why most set minimums for "free" shipping around $100 or so.

Good tea comes from other places, from Nepal, Indonesia, Georgia (the country); the list keeps going.  Of course no one is going to start there, so it's all out of this discussion scope.  What-Cha is probably a good vendor option for checking what else is out there, if they're still around.

Tea is made in the US but I'd set that aside until later too.  Not much is, so that only relates to some quite ordinary mass-produced range from South Carolina, one specialty tea vendor in Mississippi (the Great Mississippi Tea Company; their tea is good), and tea from Hawaii, which is really expensive.  Of course every absolute generality I express here is partly wrong, as that one was; lots of people are growing just a little tea in the US, mostly in the South, and nothing stops them from selling some.

learning, mastering brewing technique:  this just takes practice.  If you want to take up learning background information as a secondary interest that's fine too though; it can complement your own direct experience, which is by far the main input.  I've written about tea reference sources here , covering some of what changed over the years after that first sources post, one part of what was covered in that beginner's guide.

Watching Youtube videos can help with parts you really need to get down quickly (eg. burning your fingers using a gaiwan), or they might shed light on brewing temperature issues.  For Gongfu brewing most people just use boiling point water, all the time, maybe except for green tea, but it's more common to use a range of different temperatures for different tea types when brewing Western style.

varying approaches to tea:  this is a higher level sort of theme; people approach tea in vastly different ways.  Early on many people want to try a good selection of all of the range, and to master basic brewing forms, and learn about storage issues, etc.  That's fine, but it can be like trying to drink the ocean.  You see lists of the ten basic or most famous traditional Chinese teas, so it sounds like just trying 10 versions is a clearly defined milestone, but no two lists identify all the same teas.  Almost no vendor would sell all ten, of any given set, and quality level varies a lot, and so on.  

Sampling works as a good approach early on, but most often those large market-style vendors offer samples to purchase, and buying a set is much easier than sorting through 2500 versions to identify where to start.  That's why using a region-specific vendor like Hatvala early on works out well; you could buy a half dozen of 30 or 40 Vietnamese tea types they carry, and that set would represent some of the rest.  It could include black tea, green, oolong, pu'er, or whatever you like, and you'd see what you had left behind, you could scan their whole product list.  The other curator site I'd mentioned, Trident Bookseller and Cafe, works for viewing a lot of tea range in a half dozen web pages, but their typical cost range would be around 50 cents per gram, instead of 10 to 20 for more intro-oriented, moderate quality level range.

cost as a factor:  I can't really help clarify how this works, because there are really dozens of types of vending outlets, and thousands of types of tea versions and products.  In general higher quality level teas will cost more, but value--quality in relation to price--varies by vendor.  In physical shops you tend to pay a little more for the extra service level, and to cover the extra overhead.  Some online sources represent a great value, and others terrible value; they can set the mark-up however they want, or they can even lie about what a tea actually is.  With quality levels also varying so much you can't get any feel for value within the first year or so of exploring tea.  You can accept others' input about this, and later confirm or reject their input based on your own experience.

It's a lot cheaper to buy more volume of tea at one time; that stays the same across most vendor types.  Then I also just said that sampling is a good approach to try a lot early on, buying tiny amounts, maybe 10 or 15 grams at a time.  There's no contradiction there, if there seems to be.  You end up paying a little more to try more range earlier on, usually.

You can buy really cheap tea at high volume from atypical types of sources (at a Chinese or Indian market, direct from producers, from some market-style vendors, through online auctions, whatever it is).  I've bought a kilogram or more of a tea for each of the last two years, basic black teas from Thailand and Vietnam.  I don't necessarily recommend this.  Until you know what kinds of tea you like, and how to evaluate sources, you might just buy awful tea, or decent tea in a style that you don't like.  If you are spending $20 on a kilogram it's only so much money wasted, but if it's the absolute lowest quality tea on the market there may be health issues to be concerned about, eg. pesticide contamination.  The highest exposure risk occurs when you drink a lot of one unsafe kind of tea, just that set of circumstances.

So this part everyone needs to sort out for themselves.  People tend to explore organically, to try a couple of types of tea and keep going from there.  Some people never move beyond Harney and Sons flavored versions of tea sold in tins, and that's ok.  Most British people aren't aware that not all tea comes in tea bags, which is fine.  It's a shame to never try better black teas, and oolongs, but it's just a drink choice, just one that a lot of people value quite a bit, and explore at great length.

rolled Tie Guan Yin and twisted Dan Cong oolong, both very much worth trying

what I'm not mentioning:  most of the other related factors, most of what a tea enthusiast would learn over the first two years or so.  This hasn't touched on tea storage issues yet, concerns related to using water with a low or high mineral content, how long you can leave damp leaves sit around (for half a day is ok), and many other things.  Cold-brewing is a nice option, and thermos brewing can work, or even simmering some versions of tea, but I'd advise against starting there.  Masala chai is nice, spiced black tea, similar to the "pumpkin spice" theme, which usually is simmered, and you can make that at home, but again it's no place to start.  Versions of hei cha could work out even as a starting point, but someone might as well try basic black teas and oolongs first, or move on to green and white versions.

I'll mention a few other issues in relation to photos that are handy, but in general the idea here is to support getting started.  The rest will come.

In a Chinatown shop, or anywhere else I guess, one might wonder if large-jar storage is ok.  It's not ideal, but it's still ok, especially for buying mid-range quality tea.  For early in exploration quality issues are a lot more of a concern than storage form.  Better tea tends to not be sold like this, but then you don't need to focus on high quality tea early on anyway.  

I'd go for it, exploring through this form of purchasing, even though I've had some really bad experiences doing so (especially related to the shop pictured; a Lapsang Souchong was made with fake smoke scent added, that was so strong and foul that it threw off the smell of all my luggage).  That's part of it too; the learning curve involves trying bad tea too, and other directions that don't work out.  A lesson learned from that experience:  even if you are in a hurry, and trying inexpensive random things, and a bit thrown off by walking around NYC in a snowstorm, you should take a whiff of the large jar, to make sure nothing is really wrong with the tea you are buying.

This shows how I brew tea, using a gaiwan, a cup, and a thermos (along with our cat and my daughter).  That's all you need, and for Western brewing a single stainless steel basket and a mug is enough.  There's no need to worry about using a scale, strainer, thermometer, brewing tray, tongs, sharing pitcher (gong dao bei), or any of the rest.  

Comparison tasting, trying two teas together, is a nice learning tool for later on, but it will make more sense once the basics are clearer, what types are, how to brew, and what some basic versions should taste like.

There are countless other brewing devices, gravity feed versions, simple pitchers (like this), tea bottle based; it never ends.  You can use any of them you like.  The small stainless steel ball version isn't ideal because tea leaves can't expand, and you can't put longer, whole leaves in them, because they won't fit, but most other forms are similar in effectiveness.

Loose, whole leaf black tea.  This style is similar to Dian Hong, Yunnan black tea, but this version is from Thailand.  Teas like this can be entirely different than tin-based ground up material versions, and are generally much better.

that one friend again; she visits Bangkok this week, and this is my favorite Chinatown shop

If you go in a Chinatown shop, or any shop, they'll first ask what kind of tea type you like.  If you don't have an answer for that things can get a bit stuck.  Just make of any given situation whatever you can, and more helpful vendors will be happy to help you sort through some basics early on, mapping roughly what sounds good to what they sell.  

In general you don't need to buy anything at any shop, regardless of how much tea you've tasted, but out of consideration I'll always buy a little if I've tasted more than one tea version.  If I try something and it's not good and staff isn't helpful I might just walk back out instead, buying nothing.

Some teas take different pressed forms, or can appear different in other ways, ground up, or varying in color.  This is sheng pu'er, the version I've been saying people shouldn't try right away, since oolong and black tea are more natural places to start (to me).  People shouldn't be put off or afraid to try anything, though, if they feel interested.  White tea cakes look similar to this, most often shou mei, and those are very approachable, another nice starting point.

The only storage form that you should absolutely avoid buying tea in relation to is when it's sitting out in open bins.  This degree of air contact is way too much; this tea will go dead fast.  For your own storage at home that doesn't matter too much, as long as the tea is well sealed, but the ziplock style bag form of plastic (also in this picture, in the lower right) isn't as good as it might seem, since that can "breathe," even the freezer-use versions.  Mylar or multi-layer bags are good.

There is no natural place to end this; I could reference another 20 photos and the part of the story they tell about tea experience.  I'll end by sharing a picture of the one thing I most typically leave out:  me, sharing tea with a favorite friend.  It's even the friend you've seen twice here, while visiting from Vietnam last year.

Basic gongfu brewing parameters advice

 

Two recent threads / questions on Reddit (r/tea) brought up the subject of gongfu brewing basic parameters.  Both work as a good intro to the basic starting points, and how minor differences in preference make it a quite complicated subject beyond that.  My own take is not presented as an objective best practice, or maybe even as a particularly good starting point, instead as just as one more opinion to consider.  The comments probably don't read like that, although I do mention that "it's all subjective" every time this comes up.

I wrote out a summary of how I brew tea gongfu style in one answer, which is such a basic approach that for some it wouldn't really count as formal or ceremonial enough to fit the form:

my own brewing approach:  I tend to use a high proportion, maybe 8 grams per 100 ml (I don't weigh it), water just off boiling point (for all types but green tea, but I drink the least green tea, and would brew most green tea versions Western style).  then I base every round timing on the results of the last. for some intense teas it's under 10 seconds, for others it's more like 20. I don't use a staggered time interval as is often shown (15 seconds, +5 seconds per infusion). teas don't seem to lose intensity that fast, or consistently enough that using a lower number works (+3 seconds instead).

The first post asked some pretty basic questions that outlined a standard approach (related to a gaiwan, but that doesn't matter so much, since a different device using the same proportion would be similar):

I'm new to brewing tea in the eastern style, and I struggle a lot with brewing good tea. I think it would be waaay easier with answers to these questions.

1. How do I keep the water the same temperature, in a thermal flask or something?

2. How much leaf do I add to gaiwan? I think mine is 120ml, is it scalable with proportions for a cup on the tea package? If so what are the proportions?

3. How long do I brew in the gaiwan, assuming that for a cup (250ml) I have to wait 1 minute?  Is that also scalable?

4. Do I keep the lid on, while the tea is brewing?

5. How many times do I brew the leaves, assuming that on the package it says that I brew it 3 times for a cup?

6. How much water do I add to the gaiwan?

I answered with my own thoughts on those points, as follows:

1. maintaining water temperature:  some people just use an electric kettle to heat water, or it can work well to use a thermos, so that you can take the tea session outside, or wherever else. it's normal for some people to always use water at or just off boiling temperature for most teas brewed gongfu style, or if you prefer the variable temperature approach a kettle designed to heat to a number of levels would help.

2. amount of dry leaf / proportion:  you will really need to experiment to see which parameters you like, related to proportion of tea to water and other factors, and those might not be consistent even within a broad tea type (eg. rolled oolong; it's possible that you could prefer completely different parameters for lighter or more oxidized and roasted versions). since online advice is going to span a broad range surveying that to find a median norm seems unreliable; it would depend on who happened to answer, which would vary in different places you might ask online. for 100 ml gaiwan a normal range might span 4 grams to 8 grams, and some people could go even heavier.

3. infusion time:  the other parameters define brewing time, since adjusting proportion will change the timing required to get to a certain infusion strength. brewing temperature shifts things just a little too, but that's more about altering the proportion of compounds extracted than serving as an input to the timing. preference for infusion strength varies this a lot, and that's completely subjective, probably varying some by tea version, not just type. 

4. brewing with the gaiwan lid on:  yes, you keep the lid on while the tea brews. it's common for people to recommend keeping the lid off or at least offset when not brewing, to avoid steaming the leaves, but I'm not sure if that really changes much.

5. number of infusions:  brew more rounds until the tea is no longer pleasant to drink; this part is subjective too. in cases where it's still pleasant into later rounds you might use long infusion times, out towards a minute, or potentially even longer, and go up to 15 infusions, or more. of course this depends on infusion time used, and how durable the leaves are (eg. even partly broken leaves brew out faster), and how pleasant late round results happen to be. 

if you do happen to be using cooler than boiling point or just off boiling point water you might experiment with bumping temperature to stretch number of rounds at the end of the cycle. a heavier range of flavors can extract at the end of a cycle, and feel can change, so that may or may not be as pleasant, it would depend on the tea.

6. amount of water used:  fill the water it to where it meets the lid, so that it's full, after the lid is replaced. if it's slightly too full water will collect just above the lid, and until you get the hang of how to hold the gaiwan that will make it harder to not burn yourself with the water or related to the top sides of the gaiwan being hot. it doesn't take much practice before it's easy to fill it to the same level every time.

I just ran across a good video practice demonstration of this theme created by William of Farmerleaf.  It's not mostly about parameters, in relation to discussing proportion, temperature, brewing time, and such, but it does include recommendations about all that.  It applies more directly to sheng pu'er than other types, since he is brewing that, his comments there relate to that type, and he mostly drinks that.

William mentioned that he thinks green tea isn't suitable for gongfu brewing, and in general that seems to work.  It is possible to just use cooler water and still use the other parameters, and I probably would for good Longjing, but in general I brew green tea Western style.  I would add broken leaf black tea to that list, for not being suitable for gongfu brewing, and also flavored teas, and teas blended with herbs / tisanes.  To me shu pu'er turns out similar prepared both ways, maybe only slightly better gongfu brewed, so it would depend on the version I was using and my mood at the time which approach I would use for that type.

On the same subject, another question post asked Where to find gongfu brewing parameters?

For a year or so I've been brewing almost all my teas in a 100ml gaiwan. I love it, but I'm still confused about good starting point with brewing parameters (tea to water ratio, water temperature, steeping times)... 

I wonder: Are there some places you can find gongfu brewing parameters for different kinds of teas?

I know big idea around gongfu is experimenting and finding parameters that suit you personally. But having some starting point, especially when trying a new tea, is helpful nonetheless. Also you can always learn a lot seeing how other people do the same things you do.

Mei Leaf's guidance table was mentioned, and Yunnan Sourcing offering input per type they sell (just not in table form, I don't think), and a Steeped App developer mentioned it's part of their app function.  I'm just posted about discussing that app version with one of the founders. 

I mostly discussed the Mei Leaf table there, as comments on that post.  Their table is actually pretty good, as starting points go, probably the best reference for that I've seen, at least in that form.  That's not saying much, because I don't remember ever seeing a brewing table broken out by gongfu and western parameters, so it's also the only one related to detailed gongfu parameter advice, and therefore also the worst, but to be fair it's pretty good.  Varying temperature using a gongfu approach isn't necessarily standard, but it's hard to get a feel for preference by vote / uptake, by how many people prefer which approaches.  This is that table:

Right away one might wonder what information from this works really well, and what isn't as good.

On the positive side, using a 100 ml gaiwan is a good starting point, or using a small glass pot would be identical in practice, really.  Someone could scale that up or down based on minimal experimentation, and 100 ml is relatively standard.  I think some 100 ml gaiwans end up holding only 90 ml of volume in the brewing area part but again that can get sorted out in a testing against preference phase.

a friend's (Sasha's) gongfu brewing set-up, using small glass pots

The categories in that table seem generally ok, since it would be hard to keep breaking them down further.  For example hei cha was left out, and how broken leaf material is makes a difference, how oxidized an oolong version is, white and sheng pu'er are really diverse categories, etc., but still it's fine like this, the basics are there.  Skipping yellow would've made sense, for all the more often that comes up, but it adds a feel of completeness (making it odd that they didn't add hei cha, to lean into that).  

I don't care for the base time + added time per round approach; to me that doesn't work.  In comments there in that discussion about what doesn't work as well that was the main critique:

timing, the +5 or 10 theme: this is the biggest error on the chart, it seems to me. there is no way infusion strength fades as fast as many of those timing cycles. adding 5 seconds for small leaf black tea per round and 5 seconds for rolled oolongs is a good example; the black tea would actually lose brewed strength much faster than the rolled oolong, and I think in this case it's that the black tea instruction is closer to right, and the oolong advice is not as good, but I just don't use that general approach.  it works to adjust each round timing based on how the last turned out. 

proportions: a bit arbitrary, since it's not as if the lower range they specify seems to map to that working better for those teas, or why using 4 grams per 100 ml for most makes more sense than 6 for every tea type.  I prefer using 8 grams per 100 ml gaiwan, maybe even a little more (I don't weigh it), because that makes it easy to judge related short infusion times without timing them, most somewhere between 5 and 15 seconds, most not over 20 even for later rounds.  you could try to learn to internally time 30 to 45 second infusion times but you might end up using some sort of timer instead, which, to me, would be a far less organic and enjoyable brewing process.

white, brew at 85 C: white is a broad range; to say that you would brew aged and young (new) shou mei, buds only versions (silver needle / silver tips), white Darjeeling, or white Nepal tea at the same temperature might not be ideal. you could, but later after experimentation that might change.  I've shifted to the practice of using just one temperature for all tea types, pretty close to full boiling point, but that's as much because it's simple and easy as related to optimizing results.  Maybe some of the white tea I drink would be better brewed at 85 C, with extracted compounds and aspect balance shifted a little.

green: I might brew Longjing gongfu style, but for most green tea types it's as well or better to use a Western approach. that's not a criticism of this chart, more a concern that the charts tend to drop out a lot of relevant context. I wouldn't brew broken leaf black tea gongfu style either, but this doesn't reference that, it only makes a distinction between large and small leaves.

oolong at 99 C: I think that's fine for a gongfu approach, but there's a reason why a lot of people back off that temperature for western style brewing oolongs. since personal preference is the final guide neither starting point is right or wrong. the quality of the oolong makes a difference, and these charts can only go so far in mapping out inputs.  one commonly expressed idea is that for better quality oolong using boiling point temperature water works best, and then for working around flaws the lower temperatures, that many parameter tables recommend, might work better, especially related to using a Western approach.  

related to them mentioning 99 C versus boiling point a little heat will escape related to cooling of a kettle, and transfer between devices, so it's as well to not overthink that.  pre-heating vessels would keep temperature higher, so that's not just a formality in the gongfu brewing approach.

oolong, infusion count per category: it's strange they are referencing 1 1/2 more grams per rolled oolong, versus twisted style, and saying that they'll both brew 9 infusions. timing is slightly longer for rolled versions, which do take longer initially to get started, and might brew a little slower later, but adding 5 seconds per the rolled version wouldn't even back out that proportion difference for durability. number of rounds relates to different factors, so that might be seen as minor, since it's a rougher than average estimate even within this starting point theme.

raw pu'er (sheng): actually not that bad, but the +3 timing change per infusion isn't right (per my opinion), it's better to brew based on how the last round worked out. many people prefer full boiling point and others 95 C, as shown, but that goes in their favor, since the point here is advising a starting point. "raw pu'er" is a very broad range of things, since aging changes a lot, and character varies quite a bit beyond that. I use timing differences to offset outcome differences, based of results of the last round, which makes it simple, but this approach of treating every version range as the same wouldn't work well.

shu, brewing for 20 infusions: generally not, and stretching timing by 10 seconds per round isn't how intensity difference progresses. it would work better to use more consistent timing for the first few rounds then stagger timing more after that, bumping it even more once it loses intensity past a certain point. temperature is ok, full boiling point, and the proportion and starting point at 10 seconds is ok.

So all in all those parameters are fine, for a starting point, just oversimplified or a bit off in those few ways, as I see it.  Others would see it all differently; gongfu approach is a subjectively guided process, steered towards matching individual preference.

There really isn't that much difference between what Don of Mei Leaf recommended, how I brew tea, and what William of Farmerleaf suggested.  Or related to placing more emphasis on finer points we are all preparing teas completely differently.

In terms of gear and steps I don't use a gong dao bei / cha hai, a fairness pitcher, as an interim step between brewing the tea and pouring it into a serving cup.  Of course that relates to using a larger teacup, one that matches the size of liquid volume the gaiwan holds, beyond the space the leaves take up.  William isn't using any sort of strainer for that step, which is a common practice (to use one), because he is using more whole leaf tea, is familiar with how to hold the lid to reduce material pouring out, and can just dump out a spare leaf fragment with the last of the liquid from the pitcher if it comes up.  

Functionally using some sort of sharing pitcher would absorb some of the heat, which is a good thing when it comes to trying to drink an already prepared tea at close to boiling point, after the concern of maintaining a brewing temperature at the earlier step has dropped out.  If I'm brewing tea gongfu style (or a variant of that) in a rush with a breakfast before work I'll use a similar step of pouring the tea from one cup to another, to remove enough heat to enable drinking it faster.  I'm not into smelling empty cups too often but when a particular tea leaves a heavy honey scent behind in an empty cup that can be nice. 

To me those details and mechanics don't matter so much.  Someone can keep smelling leaves and empty cups at different stages, as he recommends, or you can skip all that.  As with parameter specifics all that can be varied according to personal preference.

extra basic; just a gaiwan, cup, and thermos, for brewing outside

one of my introductions to tea interest was a Huawei on-site brewing demonstration, this

one of my favorite tea friends, Huyen, is into the more aesthetic and elaborate form

then she can  also scale that back when having tea in different locations