Brewing Tea like a Pro - a Quick and Dirty Guide (with printable cheat sheet!)

Tea can be confusing. Green tea, black tea, oolong tea, herbal tea, white tea, pu-erh tea, rooibos... so many teas and so little time. This quick guide will help you steep your teas to perfection.

Green Tea

Green tea has got to be one of my favourites. Especially green tea with jasmine or genmaicha, which is green tea with toasted rice! It incredibly simple to brew but the main thing that many people miss is using water that has NOT been boiled. Green tea tastes best when it has been steeped for 2-3 minutes with steamed water (about 175F or 80C). This can be accomplished by bringing your water up to a boil, taking it off the heat and letting it sit for 5 minutes before using it to brew your tea.

White Tea

White tea is a delicate, lighter tasting tea made from young tea leaves that have not been oxidized. It is best steeped in a similar manner to green tea. The water can be a bit hotter (185F or 85C) and it can be steeped for 4-5 minutes, depending on your preference.

Oolong Tea

Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese tea that we can think of as an in-between of green and black teas. It offers bold flavour and is a bit hardier than green tea allowing us to use water slighter hotter to brew (190F or 88C) and steeping for around 5 minutes.

Black Tea and Pu-erh Tea

For the purpose of simplicity, these 2 tea types have been grouped together because they can be brewed in a similar manner. Both black tea and pu-erh tea have undergone an oxidation process with pu-erh aging the longest. These teas will hold up well steeped in boiled water (210F or 98C) anywhere from 3-10 minutes. A longer steep time will yield a stronger tea.

Herbal Tea and Rooibos Tea

Herbal teas include fruit infusions and herbal infusions, such as camomile. Rooibos tea comes from an entirely different plant from white, green, black, oolong, and pu-erh teas. These two teas, herbal and rooibos, boast unique flavours and many different varieties can be found on the market. In general they can be steeped at a high temperature (210F or 98C) for long periods of time (3-10 minutes but up to overnight).

Tea is something that can be enjoyed by anyone at any time of day. It brings me great joy to share my love of it! Download my quick tea steeping cheat sheet and slap that up on your fridge for an easy reference. Happy steeping!

Tea Steeping Cheat Sheet.pdf

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