Well before we can answer why, let's first ask - what is gongfu tea? Gongfu uses the same characters as the martial art (功夫) which is transliterated as Kungfu. Same words, different transliterations. It means "with skill" and is to refer to any study or practise, so if I were to brew loose leaf tea for you with skill, I'd be brewing gongfu tea, but it's obviously more than just its literal definition.
Gongfu tea is a style of making tea, usually Chinese teas, wherein the brewer uses a relatively small brewing vessel like a teapot and stuffs it full with leaves. Water is then poured over the leaves which are steeped very quickly (sometimes as quick as 1 second) and then decanted into cups or as is more common where I am in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, into a gongdaobei or otherwise known as "justice pitcher", which can subsequently evenly distribute the tea to the various cups so everyone gets the same strength of brew.
There are many different substyles to gongfu tea - dry pour vs. wet pour, Chaozhou style, and many others which don't exactly have names. Furthermore, the type of teapot you use can greatly change the flavour of tea, whether or not you even use a teapot or a gaiwan instead. The brewer is in complete control of the final outcome of tea and therefore manipulates things like the brewing vessel, steep time, temperature, amount of leaves used and of course the type of tea. Brewing starts long before the kettle is boiled.
Gongfu tea is often referred to as the "Chinese Tea Ceremony", however this comes across as a bit of an anachronism. While ceremonial styles have cropped out of gongfu tea, it is at its core a utilitarian way of making the best cup of tea. It can be stripped down to a teapot and a cup, or made incredibly fancy with all the bells and whistles of tea tools. Unlike the Japanese Ceremony which is a style of making matcha, Gongfu tea doesn't require precise movements and great amounts of training for the most part. It refers to a style of making tea and not the ceremony that can take place when someone brews tea in this style. This brings us back to the "why".
Simply put, gongfu tea is the best way to appreciate tea. It puts tea at the center stage and allows the brewer to manipulate the parameters to get the desired result. With each steep, you get a snapshot of the leaf rehydrating and therefore a flavour profile that shifts over time as the water penetrates deeper into the leaves, extracting different flavenols within.
If you've never tried gongfu tea, I recommend it! The first step however is to get good tea. Above all else, good tea is what will make or break your session, so make sure you go with a reputable vendor and get a good variety of tea to try out different styles to see what you prefer! If you have questions, we're always here to help.