Brewing Guide

Brewing guide

How we make it, and how we'd suggest you do too.

None of these are rules. They're the starting points we hand out when someone asks. Adjust to taste — the leaf will tell you what it wants after a cup or two.

Black Tea

1 tsp per 8oz cup · 205°F · 3–4 min

Give it room. Steep too short and you get thin water; too long and you get tannin bark. Strain the moment it smells right.

Green Tea

1 tsp · 165–175°F · 60–90 seconds

Cooler than you think, shorter than you think. If it tastes like grass clippings you brewed it too hot. Steep the same leaf twice.

Oolong (rolled)

1.5 tsp · 195°F · 45s, then 60s, then 90s

Rolled oolongs unfurl over five to eight steeps. Use a smaller vessel and short infusions to see the arc.

White Tea

1.5 tsp · 175°F · 3 min

Patient. Sweet. Don't crowd it. Silver Needle rewards a longer steep than you'd expect.

Puerh (shou/ripe)

2 tsp · 208°F · rinse, then 20s, 30s, 45s…

Rinse once with hot water and pour it out — that wakes the leaf up. Then steep short and often.

Herbal

1 heaping tsp · 208°F · 5–7 min

No caffeine, no bitterness — you can basically forget about them and they'll still be good.

A few small things that matter more than you'd think

Fresh water, actually. Kettle water that's been sitting since morning has lost oxygen. Refill.
Warm the pot. Rinse it with hot water before you brew. It costs 3 seconds and matters.
Weigh the leaf, at least once. Teaspoons vary. 3 grams per 8oz is a good baseline for anything rolled or twisted.
Cover while it steeps. Aromatics escape with steam. A lid keeps them in the cup.
Taste every 30 seconds. The best time to pull a tea is the moment before you thought.