How to Brew Tea Well

Brewing tea well equates to consistency, and this consistency can be developed in two ways: with technology or intuition. In the video above, water temperature is deduced by the size of the bubbles is comparison to shrimp, crab, and fish eyes.

There is an air of profundity around someone who intuitively brews tea well. How much tea do they use? How long do they leave it for? What temperature of the water do they want, and how do they know when it’s at that point? An intuitive based brewer makers decision based on past experience, adjusting their methods for their teas to match certain aromas and colours. An intuition based brewer is an artist, perhaps like the manufacturer of the tea itself.

Since information can be passed down, having a teacher who is skilled at intuitive brewing would help the speed of a students progress significantly. Intuitive brewing does not require a teacher but it does require first hand experience of knowing the how’s, why’s, and when’s of tea extraction.

Technology based brewing asks the same questions, and while it might not seem as skillful or elegant to an onlooker; brewing tea with tools such as scales, thermometers, and timers is much more consistent and therefore by my interpretation of ‘brewing tea well’: better.

It’s also my opinion that ‘western style’ brewing benefits more from tools than ‘gongfu brewing’. Gongfu brewing is more of an art and with the significant amounts of flavors in play, consistency is not as important as whimsical enjoyment of tea. (Isn’t that what it’s really all about?)

Either way you brew tea, whether it’s technology or intuition based:
1) Find a ratio that works for you.
If you’re using a scale I might start with a ratio of tea(g):water(ml) at 1:75 for ‘western brewing’. I was content with that ratio as a standard for almost all teas I tasted for many years and have only recently parted with it. Intuitively you just eyeball a little tea for a lot of water.
‘Gongfu brewing’ ratios are more like 1:6 to 1:10. Intuitively you just eyeball a lot of tea for a little water.
2) Find a steeping time that works with the ratio you like. The longer you steep the richer and more bitter the tea will become. Using a timer is handy but if you’re relying on intuition, brewing in glass is the easiest. Looking at the color of the tea, the state of the leaves, waiting until familiar aromas present themselves will inform you that the tea is where you want it to be.
3) Find a temperature that works best. Hotter water extracts more, and extracts faster. The extracted compounds can overwhelm the tea and so more is not always better. In almost all circumstances (there are very few, and very specific exceptions) you want to be above 70 degrees Celsius.

I highly recommend keeping a tea journal until you ‘get it right’, and after you do, having a sticky note or paper on/near your tea canister to remind you of your process when you need reminding.

My form of ‘tea journal’ is surely over the top for most people. I had a lot of fun with it initially but it soon became tedious. I think it went a long way for me to develop as a tea drinker and I am satisfied that I persevered through the tedium. I wrote about it in an article called Evaluating Tea (you can read here) which is the logical continuation of this article.