FACTBOX-How to brew traditional Chinese tea

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Brewing a pot of traditional Chinese tea takes more than a teabag.

One tightly sealed sack of loose leaf tea, a seven-piece utensil set, good quality water and at least 10 minutes of patience are needed to make Chinese-style tea:

1. Choose oolong or related varieties of tea from a vacuum-packed bag no more than a month or two old. Ideally use spring water, but if you have to rely on tap water then use tap water that's already been boiled.

2. Fill about one-third of a small tea pot with tea leaves.

3. Pour near boiling water, at about 90 degrees Celsius (194 Fahrenheit), over the leaves. Strain the water and throw it out. This first infusion, which is always immediately thrown away, washes the leaves.

4. Pour more hot water over the tea leaves. Wait a couple of minutes and then pour the liquid through a tea strainer into a small vessel (part of a standard tea set) so it doesn't steep too long and become bitter. It should be a greenish yellow color.

5. Pour the liquid from the vessel into a tiny cylindrical sniffer cup. Sniff it the way you sniff good wine and then pour into a small drinking cup. Both cups come with tea sets. 6. Drink contents of cup in three to four sips.

7. Repeat from step No 4 until the leaves become too weak to yield any flavor.

8. The third through fifth infusion are generally considered the best infusions of tea, although different teas react differently and may require additional infusions of boiling water to bring them to life.