For seven consecutive Sundays, starting from March 17, the Police Tea Art Club will organise a series of talks and forums at the Police Sports and Recreation Club by introducing different types of Chinese tea and techniques to make a pot of good tea.

Club Chairman Ng Kui-lam told OffBeat that the event would be the first large-scale activity organised by the Club since its establishment last July.

Mr Ng said: "Many of us, I believe, would like to learn the techniques involved in brewing tea, and by organising the talks and demonstration on the subject, the Club hopes that colleagues would be able to fulfil their goal and enjoy their favourite tea better."

Mr Ng explained that Chinese tea could be classified into six major categories according to the level of fermentation and the different methods involved in its production process. The six categories are green tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, white tea, black tea and compressed or hardened tea.

"Different types of tea have their own characteristics. To make a pot of good tea, we should use tea leaves of good quality and pay special attention to the amount of tea leaves used, the temperature of water and the soaking period. The optimum level of these three elements vary with the type of the tea you are brewing," Mr Ng said.

"In general, an amount of tea leaves can be used for more than one serving. For green tea, the pot can be refilled at least twice. However, for oolong tea, it is not unusual to have the pot refilled six to seven times. For some high quality post-fermented tea, the pot can even be refilled up to ten times."

Mr Ng added that the study on teapots was another favourite subject of tea lovers.

"Teapots made of different materials will have different effect on the tea quality. Teapots with very high heat-retaining capacity are good for making tea with tougher leaves but not for green tea because its leaves are tender," he said.

He pointed out that brewing and drinking Chinese tea helped people to relieve stress and also gave them an opportunity to talk about their problems and share their feelings with each other.

On the future plans of the club, Mr Ng said: "To further enrich our club members' knowledge of tea, we are planning to pay visits to tea manufacturers or attend tea-related activities in the Mainland and Taiwan."