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Meaning of Gongfu Tea

ByDerry Liu

 

@teawish.co Meaning of Gongfu Tea. #teaculture #gongfutea #kungfutea #kungfu #chinesetea ♬ original sound – Derry@Teawish

What’s the meaning of Gongfu Tea?

Hi guys. Today let’s talk about Gongfu Tea. Before interpreting Gongfu Tea, I must explain the term Gongfu first. When you hear gongfu, what do you link to in your mind? Maybe Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan, or Shaolin? Probably yes. It’s a kind of Chinese traditional fighting skill. Officially called wushu in China.

However, the Gongfu with Tea is different from the gongfu as wushu. They are 2 different words in Chinese. Even Chinese people are often confused by them. Gongfu with tea, written in Chinese is 工夫, gongfu as wushu written in Chinese is 功夫. They just have the same pronunciation, but writing and meaning are different.

These 2 words are both consisting of 2 characters, and the second character is the same. 夫， means man. 功夫as wushu, 功 means power, capability, efficacy [ˈefɪkəsi] . That’s why a man with power is capable to fight. 工夫with tea, 工 means work, focus, finess, diligence and time consuming. So the man with spirit of artisan and always improving the craftsmanship is the man who makes tea and brews tea for you. All in all, 功夫 as wushu is result oriented, but 工夫with tea is process oriented.

Now I believe you get some sense on gongfu tea, right? It should be 工夫tea, with focus on the process. There are 2 meanings of Gongfu tea. First it’s a name of a group teas, that are manufactured with a lot of工夫. They are mostly black teas, for example, Dianhong gongfu, Qimen gongfu, Ninghong gongfu, Tanyang gongfu, etc.

Second, it’s a method of brewing teas, that uses special teaware, with a lot of focus, and follows certain procedures, and so on. Fujian province and guangdong province in south China have great passion to enjoy and promote this kind of brewing culture.

So when you hear gongfu tea, it’s about the process. It’s about how much time you spend in practising it. It’s about how much your mind and spirit is melt into the process of serving a cup of tea. That’s the core value of gongfu tea.