Almost every complaint about tea — it is bitter, it is weak, it tastes like nothing, it tastes like a hedge — comes down to three numbers: how hot the water is, how long the leaf sits in it, and how much leaf there is. Get those right and cheap tea tastes decent. Get them wrong and expensive tea tastes terrible, which is a more common and more expensive tragedy.
There is no ceremony required here. You do not need a scale, a thermometer, a gaiwan or an opinion about water. You will get better results with a scale, and we will say why. But the floor is very low and the payoff is immediate.
The only table you actually need
Per eight ounces of water. Times are for a first steep; every one of these leaves has more to give afterwards.
- Green — 175 °F, 2 minutes, 2 g. Bitter means your water was too hot.
- White — 185 °F, 4–5 minutes, 3 g. Weak means you did not use enough leaf.
- Oolong — 195 °F, 3 minutes, 3 g. Then steep it again, four more times.
- Black — 205 °F, 3–5 minutes, 2.5 g. The forgiving one.
- Pu-erh — boiling, rinse first, then 2–3 minutes, 4 g.
- Herbal — boiling, 5–10 minutes, covered, 2.5 g. You cannot really over-steep it.
No thermometer? Boil the kettle and wait: 30 seconds off the boil is roughly 205 °F, one minute about 195 °F, three minutes about 175 °F. This is accurate enough. It has been accurate enough for centuries.
Why a scale beats a teaspoon
A teaspoon is a measure of volume, and tea leaves vary enormously in density. A teaspoon of rolled gunpowder green weighs about three times what a teaspoon of fluffy white peony weighs. Every recipe written in teaspoons is therefore wrong for most teas, and it is wrong in the direction that makes delicate teas taste like hot water.
A £10 kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 g removes the entire problem permanently. Weigh your tea twice, notice what those weights look like in the tin, and after a week you will be eyeballing it correctly for the rest of your life. The scale is training wheels, not a lifestyle.
The two mistakes that ruin most cups
The first is boiling water on green tea. Boiling water scalds delicate leaf and extracts bitter compounds within seconds. This single mistake is responsible for most people believing they dislike green tea.
The second is leaving the leaf in the cup. Tea keeps extracting as long as it is in contact with water, and the compounds that come out late are the astringent ones. Take the leaf out — a basket infuser you can lift, rather than a ball you have to fish for, makes this effortless.
Re-steeping: the free tea most people throw away
Good loose leaf is not done after one cup. Oolong and pu-erh will give you five to twelve infusions; green, white and black will give two or three. Each one tastes different, and the second is frequently the best.
Re-steep immediately rather than hours later — wet leaf left sitting around at room temperature is not something to drink from later in the day. Add roughly thirty seconds to each successive steep.
About water
Water is most of your tea by any measure. Very hard water flattens delicate teas and puts a film on the surface; heavily chlorinated water tastes like a swimming pool and will overwhelm anything subtle. If your tap water tastes bad cold, it will taste bad hot with tea in it.
Filtered tap water is enough. Distilled water is actually worse — tea needs some mineral content to extract properly, and distilled water produces a strangely flat cup.
Common questions
What temperature should tea be brewed at?
Green 175 °F, white 185 °F, oolong 195 °F, black 205 °F, and pu-erh and herbal at a full boil. The rule of thumb: the less oxidised the leaf, the cooler the water.
How long should you steep tea?
Green about 2 minutes, oolong 3, black 3–5, white 4–5, pu-erh 2–3 after a rinse, and herbal 5–10 minutes covered. Then remove the leaf — leaving it in is what makes tea astringent.
How much loose leaf tea per cup?
About 2–3 g per 8 oz of water, which is more than most teaspoon measures give you. Leaf density varies so much between types that weighing is genuinely more reliable than measuring by volume.
Can you use boiling water for green tea?
You can, but it will taste bitter. Boiling water extracts harsh compounds from delicate green leaf almost immediately. Let the kettle stand three minutes first.