Master Easy Loose Leaf Tea Brewing
We hate to see people opt for tea bags for its convenience or easy method and miss a good cup of tea that loose leaf could’ve provide! (Guilty here as well...)
Everyone deserves the good stuff, especially when they are busy working, living, or making other lives easier.
With some of our simplified rules and tips, you too can hack the loose leaf tea brewing!
These are secrets I found after hundreds of cups.
About
Water
Temperature:
Green, yellow, white –
cool it to be right
Dark, oolong, black –
water boiling best
Internet resources suggest 75℃ for green tea and 85℃ for white tea. For oolong tea, some should be 100℃ and others should be 90℃.
These temperatures do not need to be followed strictly.
Making tea is not an exact science. A Taiwanese tea connoisseur once said, you never go too wrong with good tea. While many may raise their eyebrow on this, we believe tea brewing should be as pure and simple as it is.
So, for green tea, yellow tea and white tea, boil the water and open the lid to let it cool down for 2-3 mins. For any other dark tea, oolong tea, and black tea, make sure you use just-boiled water. Again, it’s not an exact science, so the boiled water can sit for 5-15 mins with the lid on and it will still do.
ABOUT
BREWING AMOUNT
AND TIME:
3 seconds commit
or 3 grams sit
3 Seconds Commit
Without a doubt, Gong Fu Cha (gongfu brewing) is the way to abstract the full taste, aroma, and sensation of a tea. The concept of Gong Fu Cha (gongfu brewing) is really about using the right amount of tea leaves with a relatively small vessel, a small amount of water, and pouring out the tea fast enough, usually within seconds. We have experimented with a lot of teas and come up with a simple method that is easy to remember and implement.
The common Gong Fu Cha (gongfu brewing) suggestion is between 5 to 8 grams for different teas, but 6 grams seem to be the one amount that fits for all types of tea. We’ve tested dark, oolong and black teas, with 6 grams amount of leaves, 3 seconds is the most suitable time for the first infusion, especially for oolong.
And for green yellow, or white tea, 2-3 times of 3 seconds brewing would do. You can simply count 1-2-3,1-2-3,1-2-3 and pour. Then depending on the strength of the first cup and your preference, you can decide to only count to 3 twice or add 3 more seconds to it. With each infusion, keep adding 3 seconds. You may even add 30 seconds when you start to find the last cup is lacking.
3 Grams Sit
No time for Gong Fu Cha (gongfu brewing)? We hear you! Instead, put 3 grams in a cup, a mug, or a bottle and let it sit. Try it after 3 mins and see if it’s good for you. The tea might not be as perfect as it could be but you still get the most of it. For a 500ml-800ml western teapot we recommend doubling the 3 grams for use, but you should probably strain the tea after 3 mins.
The complexity of loose leaf tea determines that there are many variants when it comes to how the tea tastes, with the biggest one being your preference for each tea. So feel free to adjust anything recommended above as they are just meant to get you started. After brewing for a while, you inner timer and inner scale will work just fine.
Anything else?
There are a lot of blogs online discussing the dos and don’ts about other brewing elements such as the water you use, the vessel, etc.
While as useful and informative as they are, we summarized them with a neat chart to help you understand and remember the standard along the way.
|
|
Water |
Vessel |
Number of Infusions |
|
Best |
Spring water |
Gaiwan/Teapot |
Gaiwan: up to 5 |
|
Western teapot/ mug/bottle: 1 |
|||
|
Good |
Filtered water |
Anything porcelain, glass or pottery |
Gaiwan: up to 7 |
|
Western teapot/ mug/bottle: 2 |
|||
|
Not a crime |
Re-boiled water |
Paper cup |
Gaiwan-up to 15 |
|
Western teapot/ mug/bottle: 3 |
|||
|
Best to avoid |
Tap water |
Plastic or stainless steel |
When it tastes like nothing |
We hope you find this article helpful!
Share it with a friend who you think would appreciate these simplified rules and would like help hacking loose leaf brewing.