/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Hello everyone! I am quite new to tea, only got my gongfu set a few days ago and ive been drinking this way daily since i got it-- don't know how I ever brewed things in a western pot. I recieved dragonwell tea and da hong pao samples, and had a ton of fun with the da hong pao, saving a second brewing of it for when I get some spring water from the countryside, but the dragonwell was quite grassy and acrid, leading me to believe I have either botched brewing it or that maybe the tea had some contamination or influence that degraded it's quality. Yesterday, I bought 30g of tieguanyin written down as having come from fujian - which I adored so deeply that I wish I bought 100g or 200g instead - and one brick of ripe yunnan pu'erh to complement the loose leaf raw pu'erh I have.

Anyway, regarding questions, I have the following:
>I've noticed that there are a select few people who are considered masters of tea. What makes someone a master?
>Gongfu tea is often described as a skill that one learns. What is it that should be honed? Should I be practicing anything each session to improve my preparation of tea?
>How do non-chinese tea variants respond to gongfu brewing?
>Following from this, why never do I see people talk about assam, darjeeling, or ceylon tea appreciation, for example? Are there Vietnamese teas worth trying?
>What about cultivars outside of Asia, such as teas grown in Europe, or Africa?
>Tieguanyin is god tier! Tieguanyin is my tea waifu! We worship the iron goddess in my household!!! I love it I love it I love it I love it <3333

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