Brewing Science Lab

The Brewing Science Lab

Set water temperature, steep time and grams of leaf, and see where they sit against the published guide for your brewing method

Steep checker

Temperature, time and leaf per 100 ml against each method’s cited guide, plus grams for your own pot

7 brewing methods

Western, gongfu, kyusu, matcha, grandpa style, cold brew and stovetop chai, side by side

Why it works

Temperature, leaf ratio, shading, oxidation and pile fermentation, each with a source

Steep checker

Pick a method, then move the sliders. The checker compares each setting with that method’s published guide; it does not predict taste.

Method:

Your settings

Fridge (4 °C)Boiling (100 °C)
10 s8 h
0.2 g8 g

Weigh 3.6 g of leaf for 240 ml at 1.5 g per 100 ml.

Against the Western teapot guide

Inside the published window for Western teapot.

Guide: 3–4 g per 240 ml (8 oz), 99 °C, 3 min, 1, sometimes 2 infusion(s). Source: In Pursuit of Tea, How to Make Tea

Where each setting sits

Temperature
99 °CWithin the guide · guide 99 °C
Steep time
3 minWithin the guide · guide 3 min
Leaf dose
1.5 gWithin the guide · guide 1.3–1.7 g per 100 ml

Green band: the published window (single-number guides get ±10%). Black line: your setting.

Brewing Methods Compared

Leaf dose, temperature, time and number of infusions for each method. Open a card for steps; pick two to compare.

Click a method to expand. Select two to compare side-by-side.

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Weigh 3–4 g of black tea for each 240 ml (8 oz) of water.
  2. Bring water to a full boil (210 °F / 99 °C).
  3. Pour it onto the leaf in a warmed pot.
  4. Steep 3 minutes, then pour off all the liquid so the leaf stops steeping.
Tips
  • Use a basket infuser big enough for the leaf to open; a small tea ball cramps it.
  • For first-flush Darjeeling, In Pursuit of Tea drops the water to 200 °F (93 °C).

Source: In Pursuit of Tea, How to Make Tea

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Warm the gaiwan and cups with hot water.
  2. Add 5 g of leaf per 100 ml of gaiwan volume.
  3. Pour water at 90–100 °C (100 °C for leafy oolong and black, 90 °C for bud-heavy teas).
  4. Pour off into a pitcher after about 10 seconds.
  5. Repeat, adding a few seconds each round, for 7–10 infusions.
Tips
  • Drink the first infusion; Cha Zhi Dao advises against pouring it away.
  • A fairness pitcher (cha hai) evens out strength between cups.

Source: Cha Zhi Dao, Brewing red tea in a gaiwan

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Weigh 3–5 g of sencha per 240 ml.
  2. Cool boiled water to 77–85 °C (170–185 °F); pouring it between cups drops it fast.
  3. Steep 2–3 minutes.
  4. Pour out every last drop; the final drops are the strongest.
Tips
  • Gyokuro: same idea at 49–60 °C (120–140 °F), with more leaf and less water.
  • Deep-steamed (fukamushi) sencha needs a fine mesh filter.

Source: In Pursuit of Tea, How to Make Tea and Gyokuro

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Sift 2 g of matcha into a bowl.
  2. Cool boiling water to 80 °C by pouring it into a cup first.
  3. Add 60 ml of the water.
  4. Whisk briskly in an M shape for about 15 seconds.
Tips
  • Sifting prevents clumps that no amount of whisking fixes.
  • Soak the chasen tines in warm water before use.

Source: Ippodo, Usucha recipe

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Put 4–5 g of Longjing in a 250 ml glass.
  2. Add water at 80–90 °C.
  3. Wait 1–2 minutes and start drinking.
  4. When the glass is half empty, top it up with hot water.
Tips
  • Works with green teas whose leaves sink; avoid it with small broken leaf.
  • Use the cooler end of the range for very tender spring leaf.

Source: Yunnan Sourcing, Dragon Well brewing notes

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Put 10 g of tea in a 2-liter pitcher.
  2. Fill with room-temperature water.
  3. Refrigerate for 8 hours.
  4. Remove the leaf or sachet and keep the pitcher cold.
Tips
  • Hibiscus is faster: Red Blossom cold-brews it for about an hour.
  • Japanese greens cold-brew well too; Ippodo recommends its Kumpu sencha as a cold brew.

Source: Red Blossom, Assam Milk Tea cold-brew directions

Difficulty:
Step-by-Step
  1. Combine 2 Tbsp chai blend, 1 cup water and 1 cup milk in a saucepan.
  2. Bring to a boil.
  3. Reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes.
  4. Take off the heat, sweeten to taste and strain.
Tips
  • Watch the pot: milk boils over fast.
  • Rishi says the same chai works over ice.

Source: Rishi, Masala Chai preparation

Oxidation spectrum

Tea types are mostly a statement about oxidation: from heat-stopped green tea to fully oxidized black and microbially fermented pu-erh.

UnoxidizedFully oxidized / fermented

Select a tea type to see how it is processed and how to brew it

Science Decoder

Six ideas that explain the numbers above.

Hotter water extracts more of everything, including the catechins that make tea bitter and astringent. That is why delicate greens get cooler water and black tea, oolong and herbals get boiling or near-boiling water. In Pursuit of Tea’s published guide: green 170–185 °F (77–85 °C), white 180 °F (82 °C), oolong 180–210 °F (82–99 °C), black and herbal 210 °F (99 °C); gyokuro 120–140 °F (49–60 °C).

49–60 °CGyokuro
77–85 °CGreen
82 °CWhite
82–99 °COolong
99 °CBlack, herbal

Source: In Pursuit of Tea, How to Make Tea

Western brewing: 3–4 g per 240 ml, one long steep. Gongfu: 5 g per 100 ml, around three times the leaf, with steeps measured in seconds and repeated 7–10 times. More leaf with less time gives a stronger cup that changes from round to round. ISO 3103, the lab standard for tasting, uses 2 g per 100 ml of boiling water for 6 minutes.

Source: ISO 3103 summary

Gyokuro and matcha bushes are covered for a few weeks before the spring harvest. Less sunlight means fewer catechins (bitter, astringent) and more theanine (sweet, savory). That is why shaded teas taste of umami and why they are brewed cool: hot water would pull out what catechins remain.

Source: In Pursuit of Tea, Gyokuro

Once a leaf is bruised or rolled, enzymes start oxidizing its polyphenols, the same browning as a cut apple. Green tea is heated right away to stop it. Oolong is stopped partway, anywhere from 8% to 85%. Black tea is allowed to oxidize fully. Roasting, which comes after, is a separate step.

Source: Wikipedia, Oolong

Raw (sheng) pu-erh ferments slowly over years of storage. Ripe (shou) pu-erh is piled, moistened and turned so microbes ferment it in weeks. Menghai Tea Factory and Kunming Tea Factory developed the method in 1973; Menghai’s 7452 recipe marked 50 years in 2023.

Source: Wikipedia, Pu’er tea

Every true tea, from matcha to pu-erh, comes from Camellia sinensis and contains caffeine. Rooibos is a South African legume, chamomile a flower and hibiscus a dried calyx; brewed alone they are caffeine-free. They also tolerate boiling water and long steeps without turning bitter.

Source: In Pursuit of Tea, Rooibos

Teas to try with each method

Real teas from named vendors, matched to the method their own brewing notes use.

Western teapot

The default for black tea and most herbals: one 3-minute steep at a full boil.

SignatureSri Lanka

Lover’s Leap OP Ceylon

Upton Tea Imports

CitrusBiscuitHoney

Lover’s Leap is a 19th-century estate at about 6,000 feet in Nuwara Eliya, the highest of Sri Lanka’s tea districts. Upton lists a citrus, biscuit aroma, honey sweetness and...

$17.25/ 100 g
$0.172/g
Black (fully oxidized)|Orthodox, orange pekoe grade
SignatureIndia

Darjeeling 1st Flush, Jungpana Estate

In Pursuit of Tea

NarcissusOrange peelCinnamon

Jungpana, founded in 1899 and sitting at about 5,000 feet, is one of the most remote gardens in Darjeeling. This is lot DJ 10 from the spring 2026 first flush, the first picking...

$22.75/ 57 g
$0.399/g
Black (lightly oxidized first flush)|Withered, rolled, oxidized, dried

Gongfu in a gaiwan

A heavy dose of leaf and seconds-long steeps; the same leaves give seven to ten rounds.

SignatureChina

Monkey Picked (Daily) Tieguanyin

Red Blossom Tea Company

NuttySmoothFloral

Anxi is the home of Tieguanyin. Red Blossom’s daily lot is an autumn harvest oxidized to about 30% and roasted medium, the older nong xiang style rather than the green, floral...

$16.00/ 56 g
$0.286/g
Oolong (about 30% oxidized, medium roast)|Nong xiang (traditional, roasted)
SignatureTaiwan

Mr. Lin’s Charcoal Dong Ding

Floating Leaves Tea

Roasted nutsLong sweet finishWarming

Dong Ding is the rolled oolong of Lugu Township in Nantou, traditionally roasted. Mr. Lin roasted this Qing Xin Wulong lot over charcoal for a long, low session in July 2026....

$15.00/ 25 g
$0.600/g
Oolong (rolled, charcoal-roasted)|Rolled, charcoal-roasted

Kyusu (Japanese green)

Sencha below boiling. Gyokuro goes much cooler, 49–60 °C.

SignatureJapan

Sencha Fukamushi

In Pursuit of Tea

RoundSoftSweet

Fukamushi means deep-steamed: the leaf is steamed longer than regular sencha, which breaks it into finer pieces and gives a greener, rounder cup. Organic, from a family farm in...

$36.50/ 113 g
$0.323/g
Green (unoxidized)|Deep-steamed (fukamushi)
SignatureJapan

Gyokuro

In Pursuit of Tea

CloverButteryArtichoke heart

Gyokuro is shade-grown before the spring harvest, which cuts the catechins that make tea astringent and raises theanine. This lot is from Uji, where the style began in the 1800s....

$68.50/ 57 g
$1.202/g
Green (unoxidized), shade-grown|Shaded, steamed, rolled

Matcha (usucha)

Powdered leaf suspended in water, not steeped: whisking time replaces steep time.

SignatureJapan

Sayaka Matcha

Ippodo Tea

SmoothSweetUmami

Ippodo’s recommendation for people new to its matcha: a smooth tea in its rich category, with sweetness and umami and a hint of bitterness. Blended and packed in Kyoto.

$49.00/ 40 g
$1.225/g
Green (unoxidized), shade-grown, stone-ground|Powdered

Glass (grandpa style)

Leaves sit in a tall glass; drink to half, refill, repeat.

SignatureChina

Premium Grade Dragon Well (Long Jing)

Yunnan Sourcing

Roasted chestnutSlight sweet-bitter

Pre-Qing Ming Longjing from growers around Hangzhou, wok-fried. Yunnan Sourcing describes a pronounced chestnut aroma and recommends brewing in a glass: 4–5 g in 250 ml at 80–90...

$14.00/ 50 g
$0.280/g
Green (unoxidized)|Pan-fried in a wok

Cold brew pitcher

Room-temperature water, then the fridge overnight. Slow, and very hard to over-steep.

SignatureTaiwan

Assam Milk Tea (Sun Moon Lake Assam)

Red Blossom Tea Company

HoneyStone fruitVanilla

Japanese planters brought Assam bushes to Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan; the area still makes black tea from them. Red Blossom packs it in 10 g sachets sized for cold-brewing a...

$25.00/ 100 g
$0.250/g
Black (fully oxidized)|Black tea, pre-packed in 10 g sachets
SignatureNot published by the vendor

Hibiscus Flowers

Red Blossom Tea Company

TartFruityCrisp

Dried hibiscus brews a bright magenta, cranberry-tart infusion with no caffeine. Red Blossom brews it at 180 °F for 2 minutes, or cold for about an hour.

$16.00/ 56 g
$0.286/g
Herbal (caffeine-free)|Dried calyces

Stovetop masala chai

The one method where long, hot contact is the point: milk and sugar absorb the bitterness.

SignatureSoutheast Asia (assamica base)

Masala Chai

Rishi Tea & Botanicals

CardamomCinnamonGinger

Rishi’s masala chai is robust assamica black tea from Southeast Asia with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cracked black pepper and clove. Its stovetop method: 2 tablespoons, 1 cup...

$17.50/ 113 g
$0.155/g
Black (fully oxidized), spiced|Black tea blended with spices

Where the numbers come from

Each method’s dose, temperature and time come from one published source, linked on its card: In Pursuit of Tea’s brewing guide for western, kyusu and green-tea temperatures, Cha Zhi Dao for gongfu, Ippodo for usucha matcha, Yunnan Sourcing for glass-brewed Longjing, Red Blossom for cold brew and Rishi for stovetop chai. Where a source gives a single number, the checker allows ±10%.

The checker tells you which side of the guide you are on. It does not score flavor; taste is the final test.