Tea · How-to · 16 min read

How to Make the Perfect Cup: A Guide to Brewing Every Kind of Tea

Green, black, white, oolong, matcha and pu-erh, Kerala chaya and masala chai, Sulaimani, Kashmiri kahwa, Moroccan mint tea and iced tea: how much leaf, how hot, how long, and the small secrets that make the difference. With the facts on tea and health.

By GK Global, Adimali, Munnar · Trails & Tales by GK

A good tea, badly brewed, makes a poor cup; a modest tea, brewed with care, can be delicious. The difference lies in four things: the amount of leaf, the water, the temperature and the time. This guide, the third of our tea series, covers all the main types, and the much-loved tea drinks of India and the world. (For the history read The Story of Tea, and for how tea is grown and made, Inside the Cup.)

The basics

• Water: use fresh, cold, clean water, filtered if your tap water is hard or smells of chlorine. Do not re-boil water that has sat in the kettle; it loses oxygen and tastes flat.
• Leaf: as a rule, about 2–3 g of loose tea (one level teaspoon of small-leaf tea, or a heaped one of large, fluffy leaf) per 150–200 ml cup. Tea bags hold about 2 g.
• Temperature: the more delicate the tea, the cooler the water. Boiling water scorches green and white teas, making them bitter.
• Time: too short and the tea is thin; too long and it becomes harsh and bitter as tannins pour out. Use a timer until you know your tea.
• Warm the pot or cup with a little hot water first, so the brew does not cool too quickly.
• Taste and adjust. These are starting points, not laws.

Quick brewing chart

Green tea: getting it right

Green tea has a reputation for bitterness that it does not deserve. Nearly always the cause is water that is too hot or brewing that is too long. Brewed gently, good green tea is sweet, fresh and grassy, sometimes nutty or with a hint of the sea.

Chinese green tea (Longjing, Bi Luo Chun, gunpowder)

1. Heat water to about 80°C.
2. Put 2–3 g of leaf in a tall glass or a pot. (A glass lets you watch the leaves unfurl and dance.)
3. Pour a little water to wet the leaves, wait 30 seconds, then fill.
4. Steep 2–3 minutes and drink, or pour off. In China people often drink from the glass and top it up with hot water when a third remains.
5. Re-steep two or three times; the second infusion is often the best.

Japanese sencha

1. Use a small pot (kyusu) with a fine strainer. Warm it and the cups.
2. Boil the water, pour it into the cups to cool it and measure it, then pour it from the cups onto 4–5 g of leaf (about 70–80°C by now).
3. Steep about 1 minute, then pour into the cups a little at a time, going back and forth so that every cup gets the same strength, down to the last, richest drops.
4. For the second steep use slightly hotter water and only 20–30 seconds, as the leaves have already opened.

Matcha

1. Sift 2 g (about one heaped bamboo scoop, or half a teaspoon) of matcha into a warmed bowl to remove lumps.
2. Add about 70 ml of water at 75–80°C.
3. Whisk briskly with a bamboo whisk (chasen) in a quick "W" or "M" motion, from the wrist, not round and round, for 15–20 seconds, until a fine froth of tiny bubbles covers the surface.
4. Drink at once, in a few sips. For a matcha latte, whisk the matcha with a little water first, then add warm or cold milk.

Green tea tips

• Buy fresh, store it airtight and cool, and use it within a few months of opening; green tea fades quickly.
• A slice of lemon or a little honey (added when the tea has cooled slightly) is fine; milk is not usual.
• Green tea bags are usually broken leaf: steep them only 1–2 minutes in water that is not boiling.

Black tea, the English way

1. Bring fresh water to a full boil.
2. Warm the teapot. Add one teaspoon of leaf (or one bag) per cup; tradition adds "one for the pot".
3. Pour on the boiling water and steep: about 3 minutes for small-leaf or broken teas, up to 5 for large whole leaf.
4. Strain into cups. Add milk to taste, and sugar if you like.

Milk first or tea first? The argument is centuries old. Tea first lets you judge the strength and colour. Milk first was said to protect fine china from cracking, and some say it keeps the milk from overheating and tasting "cooked". Both are correct, if the tea is good. A Darjeeling, especially a first flush, is best drunk without milk.

Kerala chaya: tea-shop style

The tea of the Kerala chayakkada is quite different from a British cuppa: boiled, milky, sweet and frothy.

1. For 2 glasses: in a pan, bring to the boil about 150 ml water and 250 ml milk.
2. Add 2 heaped teaspoons of strong CTC tea dust (a Munnar or Nilgiri dust is ideal) and sugar to taste. Boil gently for 1–2 minutes until the colour is a rich tan.
3. Strain through a cloth or fine strainer.
4. For "meter chaya", pour the tea back and forth between two vessels from as high as you dare. This cools it, mixes it and raises the famous foam.

Variations: kattan chaya (black tea with sugar, no milk), chaya with ginger (inji), or pal chaya with extra milk.

Masala chai

1. For 2 cups, lightly crush 3 green cardamom pods, a 2 cm piece of ginger, a 2 cm piece of cinnamon, 2 cloves and 3–4 black peppercorns.
2. Simmer the spices in 250 ml water for 3–4 minutes to release their flavour.
3. Add 2 teaspoons of strong CTC tea, simmer 1 minute, then add 200 ml milk and sugar or jaggery to taste.
4. Bring just to the boil, let it rise, lower the heat and simmer another minute. Strain and serve hot.

Every family has its own mix: some add fennel, star anise, nutmeg, bay leaf or tulsi (holy basil). (Read about cardamom, star anise and nutmeg.)

Sulaimani

The light, fragrant black tea of Malabar, offered after a rich biryani and a symbol of hospitality.

1. Boil 2 cups of water with 2 lightly crushed cardamom pods, and a small piece of cinnamon or a clove if you like.
2. Turn off the heat, add 1 teaspoon of black tea and steep 1–2 minutes only. It should be a clear golden amber, not dark.
3. Strain, sweeten lightly, and add a squeeze of lemon. A few mint leaves are a pleasant addition.

White tea

White teas are subtle and sweet. Use plenty of leaf (3–4 g per cup), water at 80–90°C, and steep 3–5 minutes. Silver Needle can be steeped longer without bitterness. Several infusions are possible.

Oolong, gongfu style

1. Use a small teapot or lidded bowl (gaiwan) of about 100–150 ml. Warm it.
2. Fill it a quarter to a third full with leaf (5–7 g); rolled oolongs expand greatly.
3. "Rinse" the leaves: pour on hot water (about 95°C) and pour it off at once. This wakes the leaves.
4. Brew for only 20–40 seconds, then pour off completely into a pitcher and on into small cups.
5. Repeat, adding a few seconds each time. A good oolong gives six, eight or more infusions, each a little different.

Pu-erh

Break off 4–5 g from a cake with a pick or knife. Rinse once or twice with boiling water to wash the leaves and open them, then brew in short infusions as for oolong, starting with about 15–30 seconds. Ripe (shou) pu-erh is earthy and smooth; young raw (sheng) pu-erh can be bracing and bitter, and mellows with years of ageing.

Teas of the world in your kitchen

• Kashmiri kahwa: simmer green tea with saffron strands, crushed cardamom and a cinnamon stick for a few minutes; strain, sweeten with honey or sugar and top with slivered almonds.
• Noon chai (Kashmiri pink tea): green tea leaves are boiled for a long time with a pinch of baking soda, "shocked" with cold water and whisked vigorously, then simmered with milk and salt. The reaction turns it a soft pink. It takes practice!
• Moroccan mint tea: rinse 1 tablespoon of gunpowder green tea with a little boiling water and discard the water. Add a big handful of fresh spearmint, sugar to taste and about 500 ml boiling water. Steep 3–4 minutes, then pour from a height into small glasses to raise a foam.
• Turkish çay: brew a strong concentrate of black tea in the small upper pot of a double kettle, steeping gently over the simmering lower pot for 10–15 minutes. Pour a little concentrate into each tulip glass and top it up with hot water: dark (koyu) or light (açık).
• Russian tea: make a strong concentrate (zavarka) and dilute it with hot water in each glass. Serve with lemon, sugar or a spoonful of jam.
• Teh tarik: strong black tea mixed with sweetened condensed milk, then "pulled" between two jugs for froth.
• Butter tea: boil brick or strong black tea for a long time, then blend with butter and a pinch of salt until creamy.

Iced tea and cold brew

• Hot-brewed iced tea: brew black or green tea at double strength, sweeten while hot if you like, then pour over a glass full of ice. Add lemon, mint or a little fruit juice.
• Cold brew: put 8–10 g of loose tea in a litre of cold water and leave it in the fridge for 6–12 hours, then strain. Cold brewing extracts less bitterness and caffeine, giving a smooth, naturally sweet tea. It works beautifully with green tea, oolong and Darjeeling.
• If iced tea turns cloudy, that is "tea cream", harmless compounds settling out as the tea cools. Cooling it quickly, or using cold brew, helps.

Storing tea

• Keep tea in an airtight, opaque container, away from light, heat, moisture and strong smells. Tea absorbs odours easily; never store it next to spices or coffee.
• Green and white teas are best within 6–12 months; black teas keep longer. Pu-erh and some oolongs are aged deliberately.
• Do not keep the tea you use daily in the fridge; condensation spoils it.

Common mistakes

• Boiling water on green or white tea.
• Leaving the bag or leaves in the cup "to make it stronger". Use more leaf instead; longer brewing only adds bitterness.
• Squeezing the tea bag, which releases bitter tannins.
• Using stale tea, or water that has been boiled again and again.
• Drinking it scalding hot (see below).

Tea and health: what the evidence says

Tea has been called a medicine since the days of the Shennong legend, and modern science has found real substance behind some of the claims, along with some exaggeration. Here is a balanced summary. It is general information, not medical advice.

What is in a cup

• Caffeine: a cup of black tea usually has roughly 40–70 mg, green tea somewhat less, compared with about 80–100 mg or more in a cup of brewed coffee. The amount depends heavily on the leaf, the quantity and the brewing time.
• L-theanine: an amino acid found almost only in tea. It is thought to give tea its "calm alertness", smoothing the effect of caffeine. Shade-grown teas such as gyokuro and matcha are especially rich in it.
• Polyphenols: antioxidant compounds. Green tea is rich in catechins, especially EGCG. In black tea, oxidation turns many catechins into theaflavins and thearubigins, which give the colour and briskness.
• Plain tea without milk or sugar has almost no calories.

Possible benefits

• Large population studies have repeatedly found that regular tea drinkers have a somewhat lower risk of heart disease and stroke. A UK study of nearly half a million people, published in 2022, found that those drinking two or more cups of black tea a day had a 9–13% lower risk of death over the study period than non-drinkers.
• Some studies link tea drinking with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and with better attention and alertness.
• An important caution: most of this evidence is observational. It shows an association, not proof that tea itself causes the benefit; tea drinkers may differ in other ways. Claims that tea "burns fat", "detoxes" or prevents cancer go well beyond the evidence.

Cautions

• Don't drink it scalding hot. The World Health Organization's cancer agency (IARC) classifies drinking very hot beverages, above about 65°C, as "probably carcinogenic", linked to cancer of the oesophagus. Let your tea cool for a few minutes.
• Iron: tea tannins reduce the absorption of iron from plant foods. People with anaemia, and vegetarians, may prefer to drink tea between meals rather than with them.
• Caffeine: too much can cause sleeplessness, anxiety and palpitations. During pregnancy, health authorities generally advise keeping caffeine below about 200 mg a day from all sources. Avoid strong tea late in the evening if it disturbs your sleep.
• Green tea extract supplements in high doses have been linked to rare cases of liver injury. This concerns concentrated pills and powders, not ordinary cups of tea.
• Sugar and milk: three or four cups of sweet milky chaya a day add up to a lot of sugar. Reduce the sugar gradually; the tea's own flavour comes through.
• Tea can interact with some medicines. If you take regular medication, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

Read also: The Story of Tea · Inside the Cup: the plant, production and trade · Munnar Tea · The KDHP Tea Museum · The spices of Idukki