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2025-01-02T16:55 |
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Generally green teas like lower temperatures. I usually steep mine around 80c. Aged white teas are much more oxidized like a black tea, therefore they can handle higher temperatures like 90-100c. How much tea you should use depends on how you're going to brew it.
Western style tea brewing uses longer steep times and less tea leaves usually .5-1g per 100 ml of water and steeping for 2-3 minutes. Most of the flavor will be extracted in just a couple of infusions.
Chinese style tea brewing uses more tea and shorter steep times. Usually around 3-5 g per 100ml of water and steeping for 10-30 seconds. With this method you get many smaller brews with a flavor that develops and changes subtly with each infusion. You can often get 3-10 infusions out of a high quality tea using a brewing method like this.
You can also brew tea with a method called Grandpa style which is especially popular with green teas. Add a few grams of tea to a tall glass of large mug then add hot water. Steep as long as you like and drink about 2/3rds of it until there's only a bit of water left, add more hot water and repeat until the flavors gone or you don't want any more tea. If it's too strong add more water, if it's too weak add more tea.
As far as when to drink tea, that largely depends on how sensitive you are to caffeine. I drink tea any time of day but usually avoid drinking it within the last 2 hours of the day. Morning is a good choice, especially if you don't know if caffeine affects your sleep, but a nice cup of tea after work is a good afternoon pick me up.
Also if you do not have a kettle that can heat water to a specific temperature you can cool water to about 80 degrees by pouring it from the kettle to an empty cup or bowl, then into the tea pot to brew.
- Oolong Tea is my current favorite as of January 2, 2025 4:57 PM
- perfect for any mood
- morning, night, when programming/working, chilling, watching movies, etc.
- Earl Grey Tea is my previous favorite
- Classic Green Tea
- English Tea is good for mornings