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.
Brew by the numbers · live calculator
The brewing calculator. Numbers, not guesswork.
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 sourced from professional brewing tables (ITC, Camellia Sinensis, JoyOfTea).
- Cross-checked against the supplier guidance on every product page.
- Free, no sign-in, and your brew prints as a card for the kitchen.
The calculator · in numbers
What it works out
11
tea
types
types
4Strengths
3Formats
1–12Cups a brew
0pFree to use
Water temperature
Japanese green
70–75
White tea
75–85
Oolong
85–95
Black tea
95–100
Herbal
100
Standard · 200ml cup
Full table →
The calculator · four choices
Build your cup. We do the maths.
Tea, cups, format and strength. The brew card recalculates on every tap.
Start with the tea you have in the cupboard.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eyeballing the leaf
Weigh it like baking. 2.5g per 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 11 tea types from the calculator at standard strength, 200ml cups, loose leaf or matcha bowl.
Tea typeWater 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 · 1,428 wiki entries
Related guides.
Guide
Brewing loose leaf, step by step
10 min read · with photos
Read →
Reference
Ideal water temperatures by tea type
Reference card · printable
Read →
Caffeine
Caffeine content by tea family
5 min read · with chart
Read →
Tea Wiki
The full Tea Wiki
1,428 entries · growing weekly
Read →
Quiz
Take the tea-finder quiz
60 seconds · 5 matches
Read →
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 at wiki@teas.co.uk.
