Brewing basics.
Most bitter tea is just water that was too hot.
Three variables decide almost everything: how hot the water is, how long the leaf sits in it, and how much leaf you used. Get those roughly right and cheap tea tastes better than expensive tea brewed carelessly.
Water temperature
Worth taping inside a cupboard door.
| Tea | Water | Steep |
|---|---|---|
| Green | 70–80°C | 1–2 min |
| Gyokuro | 50–60°C | 2 min |
| White | 75–85°C | 3–5 min |
| Oolong | 85–95°C | 2–3 min |
| Black | 95–100°C | 3–4 min |
| Pu-erh & dark | Full boil | 3–5 min |
| Herbal tisane | Full boil | 5–7 min |
The principle underneath it: heat pulls catechins and caffeine out of the leaf quickly, and those are the bitter, astringent compounds. Delicate teas have less to give and give it up fast, so you go cooler and shorter. Robust, fully oxidised leaf needs the heat to open at all.
No thermometer? Boil, then let it stand uncovered. In an average mug, two or three minutes gets you near 85°C, five or so nearer 75°C.
How much leaf
About 2–3 g per 200 ml cup — a rounded teaspoon for most leaf, a heaped one for big fluffy whites and herbals, which take up far more room per gram. If a tea tastes thin, add leaf before you add time. Longer steeping mostly adds bitterness; more leaf adds body.
Re-steeping
Whole-leaf teas are not single-use. Good oolong, pu-erh and shaded green will give three or more infusions, and the second is frequently better than the first. Add a little time with each round and keep the leaf from sitting wet for hours between them.
Water itself
Filtered is enough; distilled is worse, not better, because tea needs some mineral content to taste like anything. Freshly drawn water, brought just to the boil once, beats water that has been sitting in the kettle all morning.
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