🔥01
Boiling water on green tea
Japanese greens turn bitter above 80°C. Let the kettle stand for two minutes before pouring, or pour into a second mug first to drop 5°C.
Brewing calculator
Brewing calculator
Ask Lee a normal question and he'll route you to the right tea, page or answer.
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Lee
AI tea adviser
How to use Ask Lee
- Describe the whole situation: gift, caffeine, budget, time of day, who it is for.
- Ask it to compare teas, or narrow by flavour, price or stock.
- It recommends real products and points you to the right page.
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Hi, I'm Lee, the AI version. Tell me what you're trying to solve: gift, caffeine, flavour, budget, time of day, who it's for.
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Not sure where to start? Type it how you'd say it out loud — I'll take it from there.
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● BREW BY THE NUMBERS · LIVE CALCULATOR
The brewing calculator.
Pick your tea, set how many cups, choose loose or bag, and the calculator returns the right water temperature, steep time and leaf weight. Numbers are sourced from professional brewing tables (ITC, Camellia Sinensis, JoyOfTea) and cross checked against the supplier guidance on every product page.
STEP 1 OF 4
Build your cup.
● BREWING SCIENCE · WHAT GOES WRONG
Six mistakes that ruin a perfectly good cup.
The kettle clicks, the bag goes in, the cup turns out flat. Almost always one of these six.
🤏02
Squeezing the bag
Squeezing pushes out the bitter tannins from the end of the steep. Lift, hold over the cup for a few seconds, do not squeeze.
⏱️03
Over steeping
A 5-minute brew of strong black tea is rarely better than a 3-minute brew, it is just more astringent. Set a timer. Pull the bag.
☕04
Cold mug
Pre warm the cup or pot with hot water. Pouring 95°C water into a cold mug drops temperature by 10°C in seconds, under extracting the cup.
🚰05
Stale water
Fresh tap water has dissolved oxygen which carries flavour. Re boiled water tastes flat. Boil what you need, not what fits the kettle.
🥄06
Eyeballing the leaf
Tea is a recipe. 2.5g/200ml is the difference between a balanced cup and a vague one. A 5-quid scale solves this forever.
● STATIC REFERENCE · PRINT FRIENDLY
The full brewing table.
If you want it on the wall, here it is. All 8 tea families at standard strength, 200ml cups, loose leaf or matcha bowl.
TEA FAMILYWATER TEMPSTEEP TIMELEAF / 200ML CUP
Black teaEnglish Breakfast, Assam, Yorkshire
95-100°C
3-5 min
2.5g
Earl GreyBergamot scented black
95-100°C
3-4 min
2.5g
Japanese greenSencha, Gyokuro
70-75°C
1-2 min
2g
Chinese greenDragon Well, Gunpowder, Jasmine
75-85°C
2-3 min
2.5g
White teaSilver Needle, Bai Mu Dan
75-85°C
4-5 min
3g
OolongTieguanyin, Da Hong Pao
85-95°C
3-5 min
3g
Pu erh (dark, aged)Earthy, mellow
95-100°C
3-4 min
3g
RooibosSouth African red, caffeine free
100°C
5-7 min
2.5g
Herbal (peppermint, chamomile, fruit)Tisanes
100°C
5-10 min
2g
Chai (spiced black)Masala, sweet spice
100°C
4-5 min
3g
Matcha (ceremonial grade)Whisked, no steep
70-80°C
whisk 15s
1.5g per 70ml bowl
● GO DEEPER · 1342 WIKI ENTRIES
Related guides.
● GOT SOMETHING TO ADD?
Help us refine the numbers.
Logged in customers can submit additions to the Tea Wiki, admin approved, your name on the byline, plus reward points. Spotted an error in the brewing table? Tell us, wiki@teas.co.uk.
