Brewing guide

These are only rough guidelines, tea preparation can vary from individual to individual.

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It is best to use these as a starting point, and adjust according to personal taste. There is no wrong way to brew tea!

This is the Chinese or Eastern style of making tea.

The concept with gong fu brewing is to have a high volume of tea leaves to a smaller quantity of water. Due to this you only let the tea infuse for very short periods of time. This is a great way of bringing out the intricacies of the tea, as the harsher bitter notes tend to only show themselves after a longer infusion times.

It is generally accepted that a tea wash is good for certain teas. Rolled teas and pu-erh greatly benefit from this. Just helps loosen the tea leaves so they can infuse properly from the first real infusion. For a tea wash or rinse you just pour out your first tea water after 10 seconds.

Gong Fu Brewing

General brewing guidelines;

and these can vary from tea to tea, so always check the guidelines for your tea

White teas –           85-95°C for 5 seconds, at least 4 infusions

Green tea –             80-90°C for 12 seconds, at least 5 infusions

Oolong strip –       90-95°C for 10 seconds, at least 5 infusions

Oolong rolled –    90-95°C for 15 seconds, at least 7 infusions

Black tea –              90-95°C for 10 seconds, at least 5 infusions

Puerh tea –             95°C for 10 seconds, at least 8 infusions

Herbal tea/tisane – 100°C for 30 seconds, all herbs are different so experiment!

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Western Style Brewing

The by far most common style of brewing tea in today’s western society.

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A quick and easy way to make tea, it is still possible to get a good cup of tea from this method. However due to the longer brewing times the bitter astringent characteristics are more likely to be present.

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A general rule of thumb for this method is 1 or 2 heaped teaspoons of leaf per cup (300ml). Due to the size of the tea leaves you will find here, the guidelines on individual teas are by weight.

Western Brewing

General brewing guidelines;

and feel free to adjust according to personal taste!

White tea –               85-90°C for 2 minutes, at least 2 infusions

Green tea –               80-90°C for 1.5 minutes, at least 2 infusions

Oolong strip –          90-95°C for 1.5 minutes, at least 3 infusions

Oolong rolled –       90-95°C for 2 minutes, at least 4 infusions

Black tea –                 95-100°C for 1.5 minutes, at least 3 infusions

Herbal tea/tisane – 100°C for 6 to 10 minutes, normally just the one infusion

All these can vary from tea to tea, so always check the recommendations for your chosen tea.