{
    "id": 1004840,
    "title": "How to Brew Every Type of Tea",
    "slug": "how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea",
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    "url": "https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/",
    "modified": "2026-04-19T12:22:00+01:00",
    "excerpt": "Every tea obeys three dials, temperature, time and leaf, and the type just sets where they sit. The per-type table plus the one rule under all of them.",
    "content_text": "How to brew every type of tea, in summary: Every tea obeys three dials, temperature, time and leaf, and the type just sets where they sit. The per-type table plus the one rule under all of them.\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/\nEach tea type wants a different brew; this is the one-page clear reference. This sits in the mega guide cluster beside the ultimate guide to making tea.\nLast reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in May 2026.\nBrewing every type, at a glance \nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/\n\nTypeThe rule\n\nBlackBoiling water, ~3-4 min, takes milk\nGreen~70-80C never boiling, short steep, re-steep\nWhite~80-85C, more leaf, longer gentle steep\nOolong~85-95C by style, lots of leaf, many short steeps\nPu-erh/darkRinse first, full boil, many short infusions\nHerbal/fruitFull boil, long steep, cover the cup, no bitterness penalty\n\nThe one rule: three dials\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for The one rule: three dials, How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/Every tea obeys the same three dials, temperature, time and leaf quantity, and the type just sets where they sit. Temperature is the master dial: delicate, less-oxidised teas (green, white, yellow, light oolong) are scalded bitter by boiling water and want it well off the boil, while robust and herbal material (black, dark, pu-erh after a rinse, rooibos, peppermint, chamomile) wants a full rolling boil to extract properly, see ideal water temperatures. Time is the second dial and interacts with the first: the cooler the water, the shorter the steep, and the commonest error of all is steeping a delicate tea both too hot and too long, two mistakes compounding. Leaf quantity is the third and most underused: strength should come from using enough leaf, not from extending the steep, because a long steep keeps pulling astringency after the good compounds have peaked. Walk the families in that light and the table is just the settings, full boil and a few minutes for black, off-boil and short for green, a touch warmer than green for white, by-style for oolong, rinse-then-short-infusions for pu-erh, full boil and a long covered steep for herbals, see green and oolong.\nReading faults back to a dial\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Reading faults back to a dial, How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/The real value of the three-dial model is diagnostic: when a cup is wrong, the model tells you which dial to move rather than leaving you guessing or blaming the leaf. A bitter, harsh, drying cup is almost always too hot or too long for that type, so for a delicate tea drop the temperature first and the time second, for a robust one shorten the time. A thin, watery, hollow cup is almost always too little leaf, not too short a steep, so add leaf rather than extending the brew. A flat, dull cup that does not improve on a second steep is usually stale or poorly stored tea, which the pot cannot fix. Every common complaint maps cleanly back to one of the three controls, which is also what makes an unfamiliar tea painless: place it on the delicate-to-robust spectrum, set the three dials, taste, and adjust one dial at a time, see how to make tea. If a cup ever disappoints, do not change the tea first, change one dial and taste again, because nine times in ten the leaf was fine and the temperature, time or dose was not.\nWhat to buy\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for What to buy, How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/Stock a tea worth brewing well: a robust black tea or a fresh green tea, or browse the wider loose leaf range. Browse the full tea shop; free UK delivery over \u00a335.\nReference noted\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Reference noted, How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/\n\nEncyclopaedia Britannica: Tea (beverage)\n\nFrom the curatorteas \u00b7 One good loose-leaf in a clean teapot beats five exotic bags drunk in a hurry.\nBrewing reading\n\nHow to make tea properly\nHow to brew green tea\nHow to brew oolong tea\nIdeal water temperatures\n \nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for How to Brew Every Type of Tea. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/how-to-brew-every-type-of-tea/\nMore from the tea wiki\n\nGreen tea\nBlack tea\nOolong tea\nWhite tea\nHerbal tea\nCaffeine in tea\nHow to make tea properly\nLoose leaf vs teabag",
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