Chai Malko Cuppa

The variety of ways to make caffeinated tea drinks worldwide is truly amazing and everyone of those can guarantee a completely different tea experience. We from Chai malko invite you to trust us in our selection on the method of preparation and enjoy tea, as it is traditionally made in China, the home of the tea plant, namely Gong Fu Cha or the consecutive short infusions method.

 

A SLOW CUP OF TEA

 

The Chai malko “recipe” is based on the Eastern, ie Gong Fu Cha method and guarantees a fully authentic tea experience that combines traditional knowledge of the tea plant, modern research, ways to make tea in a modern urban environment and our commitment to a healthy way of life.

 

Gong Fu Cha is a method of making tea that allows us to extract the maximum benefit contained in tea leaves as effectively and efficiently as possible. We make several short consecutive infusions, through which the beneficial substances of the tea are gradually released, revealing a wide range of complex flavors and delicate aromas.

However exotic and complicated Gong Fu Cha sounds to you, everything we need to make tea this way can be found in our kitchen or easily obtained.

 

Seven kitchen utensils are all we need:

1. vessel to heat water
2. separate vessel to infuse the tea leaves with the hot water
3. strainer
4. a cup for your tea to drink from
5. thermometer
6. stop watch
7. measuring spoon or balance
   

If a person can handle the above 7 things skillfully, he can make tea anywhere without compromising on quality and having enough freedom to experiment and discover his own personal recipe for tea.

 

WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT THINGS

In tea preparation, there are four important factors we should pay attention to. How we choose and experiment with these four factors determines, to a great extent, what our cup of tea will be:

1. Temperature of water
   
2. Time of the infusion of tea leaves with water
   
3. Tea leaves: quantity + structure/type of leaves (e.g. whole, broken, etc)
4. quality and quantity of the water used
   

 

1. TEMPERATURE OF WATER

 

Water temperature is extremely important for 2 main reasons:

• affects the water solubility of the tea leaf constituents
• affects the speed at which the constituents of the tea leaves are extracted into the water

The warmer the water we use for brewing, the higher the solubility of the constituents of the tea in the water and the faster they will separate into it. Let's take for example the tannins, which are largely responsible for the astringency we feel in our cup of tea. Tea leaves contain a certain amount of them and as a result of contact with warm/hot water, they disolve into the brew. White and green teas contain higher amounts of tannins, so the recommended temperature for hot drinks is between 75 and 85 ° C to limit the tannins in the brew.

We can experiment with temperature across the spectrum: from near zero to literally seconds before the boiling point. According to how we choose the temperature, we can get different extracts:

• cold (iced tea) 
• room temperature
  
• warm/hot
  

Given the different ingredients of the tea dissolve at different temperatures, the temperature determines to a great extent the nature of the tea extract, or in other words, what will fall into our cup of tea.

As we said, at high temperatures the extraction of the ingredients becomes much faster, so short breaks (10-45 seconds) are preferred. However, if we want to make cold tea, we need to put the tea leaves in cold water in the fridge for a much longer time: between 2 and 12 hours. 

 

2. TIME FOR THE INFUSION OF THE TEA LEAVES WITH WATER

 

Time is also a very important factor that determines the quality of a cup of tea. The longer you let the tea leaves interact with the water, the more of the ingredients in them will fall into it and the more saturated the infusion will be. If you prefer a stronger cup of tea (a more distinct caffeine and tannin taste), leave the leaves longer in contact with the hot water: 60-90 seconds.

 

3. QUANTITY AND STRUCTURE OF THE TEA LEAVES

 

Quantity

The general rule is: the more tea leaves used, the shorter the infusion should be. The ratio of the amount of leaves to the time of infusion determines our style of tea preparation (more information below).

 

Structure of the tea leaves

Whole leaves with a preserved structure release their constituents in the water more slowly than cut or broken or crushed leaves, in which the constituents are much more exposed to the external environment and make very rapid and direct contact with the water. The first brew of our white tea prakash, for example, is about 20 to 25 seconds, while our black tea, whose production process involves a deliberate disruption of their structure, which allows the ingredients of the tea leaves to interact during the production process and be exposed to oxygen in the environment, which allows for much more complex flavors and aromas. There, the infusion is extremely short, only 10-15 seconds. 

 

4. QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF THE WATER

 

Water makes up 99% of our cup of tea, so let's should pay attention to it ; ) Highly mineralized water is not a good idea as it can interact with the substances in the tea and prevent absorption (for example, polyphenols). The most appropriate is spring water.

 

METHOD OF PREPARATION

 

In general, we can divide the styles of tea preparation into two main categories: The Eastern and the Western. The main difference between them is that the eastern model uses more leaves, and making several consecutive short infusions with warm/hot water, while the western model uses fewer leaves, but making one or infrequent infusions, as the infusion is much longer and it depletes the leaves faster.

Method	Tea	Water	Time	# of infusions
Eastern	5-7 g	250-300 ml	15-30 s	multiple (4-8)
Western	2 g	250-300 ml	5 min	1

 

We at Chai malko invite you to trust us and enjoy the tea, as it is traditionally made in China, the home of the tea plant, which allows us to get to know the full nature of the tea and get the most beneficial effects in the best possible way, which is a central concern for each of us.