/tea/

Information and resources for tea enthusiasts, from beginners to connoisseurs.

[TOC2]

Info for Beginners

Where to Buy Tea

Places to avoid: Teavana (over-perfumed, expensive, poor quality), Starbucks (same issue), any place that sells lots of flavored tea that isn't French.

Visit your local tea shop!

USA

UK

EU

Canada

China

Hong Kong

Shops in HK that nobody has tried yet:

Taiwan

Japan

Thailand

Vietnam

Malaysia

India

Australia

Anon wrote a browser extension to show the price of tea in grams. It works for several popular vendors.

Buying Tea from Taobao

Taobao is a Chinese amalgamation of Amazon and eBay; most vendors don't ship internationally. Luckily, there are tons of buying agents that will act as middlemen and ship your stuff. The Taobao general on /cgl/ has info for selecting buying agents, and I will try to collect some here as people offer feedback. Buying from Taobao can save you a ton of money, but due to shipping costs and agent fees, it's best for larger orders. Look at feedback and reviews for each shop you consider buying from, as Taobao is also filled with fakes and low-quality products. For the paranoid, it is easy to buy only from the official storefronts of various tea brands, though their prices tend to be a bit higher than third-party dealers.

How to Find a Specific Puer Tea on Taobao

  1. Go to babelcarp.org, enter the English name of the tea factory, and copy the Chinese characters for the company's name.
  2. Go to www.puercn.com and enter the Chinese characters you just copied. Look for the listing of that factory's productions by year. Select the year you are interested in and find the specific tea you want. Turn off translation and copy the Chinese characters for the name of that specific tea.
  3. Enter these characters into Taobao along with the year of production if it's not part of the title.

Taobao Guides and Resources

Translator Plugins

Official Taobao/Tmall Storefronts

Other Taobao / Tmall Stores

Want to Buy a Clay Teapot?

Chinese

New Pots

Old Teapots

Japanese

Info about clay pots in the FAQ section.

Other Teaware

Subscription Services

FAQ

How to make tea

Gongfu

TEA TYPE TEMPERATURE AMOUNT (g per 100 ml) 1st INFUSION (seconds) ADD TIME PER SUBSEQUENT INFUSION (seconds)
White85°C / 185°F3.5 to 42010
Green80°C / 175°F3 to 3.5153
Yellow85°C / 185°F3.5 to 4155
Oolong (strip)99°C / 210°F4.5 to 5205
Oolong (ball)99°C / 210°F6 to 6.5255
Black95°C / 205°F4 to 4.510-155
Puer (raw)95°C / 205°F5103-5
Puer (ripe)99°C / 210°F5105

Western

TEA TYPE TEMPERATURE AMOUNT (g per 100 ml) 1st BREW (minutes) 2nd BREW (minutes)
White85°C / 185°F1-236
Green75°C / 170°F1-236
Yellow85°C / 185°F1-236
Oolong100°C / 210°F1-23-46-8
Black100°C / 210°F1-1.536
Puer (raw)90°C / 195°F1.52-34-6
Puer (ripe)100°C / 210°F1.5-2712

Japanese Tea Brewing Chart

GREEN TEA VARIETY TEMPERATURE BREW RATIO (g per oz/30ml) 1st INFUSION (min) 2nd INFUSION (min) 3rd+ INFUSION (min)
Light-Steamed (asamushi)175°F (80°C)0.61 ½0.51 ½
Medium Steamed (chuumushi)175°F (80°C)0.610.51 ½
Medium-Deep Steamed175°F (80°C)0.610.51 ½
Deep Steamed (fukamushi)165°F (74°C)0.50.75-10.51 ½
Kabusecha175°F (80°C)0.610.51 ½
Gyokuro155°F (68°C)1.020.51 ½
Houjicha, Genmaicha175°F (80°C)0.61 ½0.51 ½

1. Get a scale
Scales are useful for measuring amounts of tea, as their density varies widely. A rolled oolong, for example, is much denser than a silver needle tea (not to mention silver needle would be quite hard to measure with a spoon).

2. Get a kettle
A Japanese water boiler works too. Don't microwave your tea (hard to judge temperature, heats unevenly). A stovetop kettle or electric kettle are both fine; it's mostly up to preference.

3. Temperature
Different tea types require specific temperatures to bring out their best qualities and to avoid their bad ones. Green teas, for example, generally do not handle boiling water well as they will scorch. Other teas (e.g., black tea) may be too faint if you brew them too cool (besides intentional cold brewing). Raw puerh is mostly up to preference, and many start at one end of the spectrum and work their way up or down until they find what temperature the specific puerh shines at. You don't necessarily need a thermometer, although it is helpful. You can eyeball it (roiling boil, steaming but not boiling, no steam, etc.), use a water boiler or electric kettle with built-in temperature settings, etc. However, a thermometer is useful when you're newer to tea, as you can more closely follow others' instructions and adjust to preference.

4. Timing & Quantity
Most teas become bitter with oversteeping and extremely faint when understeeped. There are two main ways of preparing tea: one is gongfu (traditional Chinese method) and the other, much more common one, is the Western way (see ISO3103).

Western Style Brewing

  1. Heat water in a pot or kettle.
  2. Add some hot water to your teapot or mug to preheat it. Dump the water out after a few seconds.
  3. Add the appropriate amount of tea to your tea infuser. Place the tea infuser inside your teapot or mug.
  4. When the water reaches the desired temperature, pour it over the tea infuser into your mug or teapot. This will allow the water to circulate through the leaves.
  5. Time your tea. Once the time is up, dunk the infuser a couple of times to circulate the water. Remove the infuser and set it aside for a second infusion, which most leaves should be able to handle.

Gongfu Style Brewing

Gongfu style brewing is often done in a gaiwan (a lidded cup) or a small teapot. Common sizes of these brewing vessels range from 75ml to 150ml.

  1. Add some hot water to your gaiwan or teapot to preheat it. Dump the water out after a few seconds.
  2. Place leaves in your gaiwan or small teapot.
  3. Add water at the correct temperature for the type of tea you are brewing.
  4. The first couple of infusions usually take around 5–30 seconds, depending on the type of tea and your preferences. Tightly rolled or compressed teas may need longer first steeps as the leaves take time to open up.
  5. With puer and oolong (or any other tea that looks a bit dirty), you should do an initial 10-20 second brew and discard the liquid. This helps remove any dust or debris left over from processing.
  6. Pour into a mug, teacup, or other vessel.
  7. You will need to experiment with different infusion times for each tea, as the speed at which the leaves brew can vary dramatically depending on processing.
  8. Chaozhou Gongfu: https://www.kyarazen.com/chaozhou-gongfu-tea

"Grandpa Style" Brewing

The idea is to put leaves in a large mug and continue to fill it with water, never removing the leaves from the cup. This means the leaves will always be steeping. For this reason, it is best to avoid teas that get bitter easily.

  1. Add some hot water to your mug or cup to preheat it. Dump the water out after a few seconds.
  2. Add leaves to your mug; 3-4 grams in a 10oz mug is a good starting point.
  3. Add boiling water.
  4. Once you have drunk 1/2 to 2/3 of the liquid, refill with boiling water.
  5. Russian Tea: https://web.archive.org/web/20061127175621/http://home.fazekas.hu/~nagydani/rth/Russian-tea-HOWTO-v3.pdf

Tea Concentrate (Kazakhstan Style)

  1. Bring 500ml of water to a simmer on the stove.
  2. Add 4 spoonfuls of tea and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour (or longer if desired) to create your concentrated tea.
  3. To prepare for drinking, bring some water to a boil.
  4. Add the tea concentrate to your mug or cup of choice and top it off with hot water.
  5. You can adjust the strength to your preference by using more or less of the tea concentrate in your cup.
  6. Cold Brewing: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-the-best-cold-brew-iced-tea

Matcha

Materials required: Matcha whisk, some kind of bowl or cup, sifter or wide mesh strainer for removing lumps from matcha before brewing.

Usucha (Thin Matcha)

  1. Sift 2g of matcha into a matcha bowl or other vessel.
  2. Add 60ml to 100ml of hot water (80°C).
  3. Whisk vigorously for 15 seconds using a matcha whisk.

Koicha (Thick Matcha)

  1. Sift 4g of matcha into a matcha bowl or other vessel.
  2. Add 30ml to 60ml of hot water (80°C).
  3. Mix slowly with a whisk for 15 seconds using a matcha whisk.

Mate

  1. Fill about half of the gourd (or a mug) with yerba mate.
  2. Heat some water to a temperature between 65°C to 80°C (150°F to 175°F). Don’t boil; or let it cool a little.
  3. Cover the gourd, invert gently to redistribute fines, return upright creating a pit.
  4. Moisten the heap with a little cold water.
  5. Insert bombilla in the pit; pour hot water into the pit to about halfway.
  6. Sip; refill the pit with hot water as needed (avoid stirring).
    • Keep heap intact for slow extraction.
    • Don’t jiggle the bombilla (prevents clogging / over-extraction).

New to tea, what should I try?
A little bit of everything. (Sampler guidance…)

But tea bags are so cheap!
(Discussion of quality vs cost…)

Does all tea come from the same plant?
(Camellia sinensis explanation…)

Raw puerh? Ripe puerh?
Raw vs ripe overview…

Ripe puerh details…

I want to get into puerh; what should I try?

What if I want to try something…

How should I store tea?

Puerh: Storage overview…

What if I become obsessed with water quality?

I just bought a clay teapot; how do I get it ready to use?

How to carefully awaken a vintage pot:

More info about choosing clay teapots:

What do I need to know about unglazed or raw clay teapots?

Forget the romantic crap. It's about the clay:

  1. Don't buy cheap. (Advice…)
  2. Where to look: (Vintage vs modern…)

Stop overthinking it:

  1. The "one tea, one pot" myth…
  2. "Lid fit" is a scam.

How not to get ripped off:

  1. Ask first, buy later.
  2. Modern vs Antique pricing.

The practical stuff everyone forgets:

  1. Size matters…
    • Tiny pots (<100ml)…
    • Sweet spot 150–200ml…
    • Leaf volume considerations…
  2. The pour is everything.
  3. Buy a pot you’ll actually use.

Blogs/YouTube

Tea Books

Tea Videos

Credits

Old owner - Unknown (Not a username)
New / Current owner - Clara

Not By AI

(With <3)

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