Black Tea
Bold, robust, and deeply aromatic, black tea is the most oxidised of all true teas. Whether enjoyed straight, with milk, or over ice, mastering the basics will unlock its full richness — no bitterness, no waste.
Start with fresh, cold water
Fill your kettle with fresh, filtered cold water. Avoid re-boiling water that has already been heated — stale water produces a flat cup. Freshly drawn water retains oxygen and brings the tea to life.
Heat to a full boil
Bring the water to a rolling boil — 95–100°C. Black tea is hearty and needs this heat to extract its depth. Pre-warm your teapot or mug by swirling a splash of hot water in it, then discard.
Measure your leaves
Use about 1 rounded teaspoon of loose-leaf tea (or one tea bag) per 240 ml of water. For a stronger brew, add more leaves — don't simply steep longer, as that leads to bitterness.
Pour and steep
Pour the boiling water directly over the leaves. Steep for 3–5 minutes depending on desired strength. Cover the pot or cup to retain heat during this time.
Remove leaves and serve
Remove the leaves or bag promptly at your target time — leaving them in will make the tea astringent. Serve immediately. Add milk, honey, or lemon to taste if desired.
Green Tea
Grassy, vegetal, and sometimes floral — green tea is unoxidised and exceptionally sensitive to temperature. The single most common mistake is using boiling water, which scorches the leaves and turns sweetness bitter.
Cool your water — this is essential
Boil water, then let it cool for 3–5 minutes until it reaches 70–80°C. Alternatively, pour boiling water into your cup first, let it sit a moment, then add leaves. A thermometer removes all guesswork.
Warm the vessel
Rinse your teacup or pot with warm (not boiling) water and discard. This gentle pre-warming ensures an even brew temperature from the first pour.
Measure 1–2 teaspoons per cup
Lighter Japanese green teas like sencha need about 1 teaspoon; Chinese greens like Dragonwell can take a touch more. Quality green tea is forgiving in amount — experiment freely.
Steep for 1–3 minutes
Pour the cooled water over the leaves and steep for 1–3 minutes. Start at 1 minute for your first brew — you can always add time. Green tea reveals itself quickly.
Decant fully and enjoy
Pour every drop from the infuser — leaving liquid in contact with the leaves will cause the next steep to be bitter. Good-quality loose-leaf green tea can handle 2–3 infusions, each slightly longer.
White Tea
The most delicate of all tea types, white tea is made from young buds and minimal processing. Its flavours — soft, floral, sometimes honey-like — are easily overwhelmed. Patience and restraint are the two tools you need here.
Use the softest water you can
White tea is so delicate that heavily chlorinated or hard tap water can mask its nuance. Filtered or spring water is ideal. The cleaner the water, the cleaner the cup.
Heat to 75–85°C — never boil
Bring your kettle to just below boiling and let it rest off the heat for a few minutes. White tea leaves are fragile; excessive heat destroys the subtle top notes that make them remarkable.
Use a generous amount of leaf
White tea leaves are large and airy, so use about 2 teaspoons per cup. They may look like a lot in the infuser — that's normal. The buds are fluffy and will unfurl beautifully as they steep.
Steep gently for 2–5 minutes
Pour water gently over the leaves and steep uncovered for 2–5 minutes. Taste at the 2-minute mark. The liquor will be pale golden — don't be fooled by the colour; the flavour is there.
Re-steep several times
White tea rewards patience with multiple steeps. Each infusion reveals a slightly different character — the first might be floral, the second more honeyed. Increase steeping time by 1 minute per round.
Herbal Tea
Strictly speaking, herbal teas — or tisanes — contain no tea leaves at all. They're infusions of herbs, flowers, fruits, and spices. Being caffeine-free and wildly varied, they're highly forgiving and endlessly personalised. The guide below works for most common varieties.
Bring water to a full boil
Unlike true teas, most herbal tisanes are robust enough for fully boiling water (100°C). This helps extract flavour efficiently from tougher plant materials like roots, dried fruit, and bark.
Measure 1–2 teaspoons per cup
The right amount depends on the herb. Chamomile and mint are generous with flavour; rooibos and rose hip may need a bit more. Start with 1 heaped teaspoon and adjust to taste over time.
Cover while steeping
This step is often overlooked: covering your cup or pot with a saucer or lid traps the aromatic steam — which contains a significant portion of the herb's beneficial oils and fragrance. Steep for 5–10 minutes.
Strain and sweeten to taste
Remove the herbs and taste before adding anything. Many tisanes are naturally sweet (liquorice root, rooibos) or fruity enough on their own. If desired, add honey, agave, or a slice of fresh lemon.
Enjoy warm or cold
Herbal teas make excellent cold infusions too. Steep a strong batch hot, let it cool, then refrigerate for up to 48 hours. Hibiscus and mint are especially refreshing this way over ice.
Oolong Tea
Oolong sits gracefully between green and black tea — partially oxidised, richly complex, and extraordinarily varied. A lightly oxidised oolong can taste floral and creamy; a heavily oxidised one turns roasted and stone-fruity. Learning to brew it well means learning to listen to the leaf.
Match your temperature to your oolong
Lighter, greener oolongs (like Tie Guan Yin or alishan) prefer cooler water around 85–88°C, which preserves their floral top notes. Darker, more roasted varieties (like Da Hong Pao) thrive at 90–95°C where the heat unlocks their depth. When in doubt, go cooler — you can always adjust.
Rinse the leaves first
Pour a small amount of hot water over the leaves, swirl gently for 5–10 seconds, then discard. This "awakening rinse" opens up tightly rolled or twisted leaves and removes any dust or residue, preparing them to release their full flavour on the first true steep.
Use 1–2 teaspoons per cup
Oolong leaves, especially ball-rolled varieties, expand dramatically when wet — they can triple in size. Start with 1 teaspoon for a 240 ml cup. For the traditional gongfu style in a small clay pot or gaiwan, you can use considerably more leaf with very short steeps.
Steep for 2–4 minutes
The first steep is often the lightest — just 2 minutes is enough to establish the flavour profile. Each subsequent infusion can be extended by 30–60 seconds. Good oolong tells a different story with every pour: the first cup is lively, the third is sweet and deep.
Pour out fully and re-steep generously
Always decant every last drop between infusions to prevent over-extraction. Quality oolong comfortably yields 4–6 steeps, sometimes more. The leaves are still speaking — keep listening until the cup runs pale and flavourless.
Pu-erh Tea
Pu-erh is unlike any other tea in the world. A fermented and aged tea from Yunnan, China, it comes in two main styles — raw (sheng) and ripe (shou) — and can be pressed into cakes or sold loose. Its flavour ranges from earthy and mushroom-like to rich, dark, and almost chocolatey. Brewing it properly is an act of respect for time itself.
Break apart your pu-erh carefully
If brewing from a compressed cake or tuo, use a pu-erh pick or butter knife to gently pry off a section — around 3–5 grams per 150 ml of water. Try to keep the leaves as whole as possible; broken leaves can make the brew muddy and overpowering.
Rinse once — or twice for aged teas
Pour fully boiling water over the leaves, let sit for 10–15 seconds, then discard completely. This is not waste — it rinses away any storage dust or mustiness acquired during ageing, and begins to "open" the compressed leaf. For an older or earthier shou pu-erh, a second rinse is entirely reasonable.
Use fully boiling water
Pu-erh is a bold, dense tea that demands heat. Always use water at a full rolling boil — 95–100°C. Lower temperatures will under-extract the complex flavours that make pu-erh so distinctive, leaving the cup flat and thin.
Start with very short steeps
For gongfu-style brewing (recommended), the first true infusion after rinsing needs only 20–30 seconds. This sounds counterintuitively short, but pu-erh extracts intensely. Western-style brewing in a larger pot can go 2–3 minutes. As with oolong, extend each subsequent steep by 10–30 seconds.
Decant fully and keep going
Pour out every drop between steeps to control strength. A quality pu-erh — especially aged sheng — is one of the most rewarding teas to re-steep, offering 8, 10, sometimes 15 or more infusions. The later steeps often become surprisingly sweet and clean, a complete contrast to the earthy opener.