The gap between a lovely cup and a bitter one is often a minute or two. Here is how time, temperature, and leaf work together, and why the timer earns its place on the counter.
Read the guide
There is a lot of mystique around tea, and most of it gets in the way. You do not need a shelf of special equipment or a vocabulary of tasting notes to make a cup worth sitting down with. You need decent leaves, water at roughly the right heat, and enough attention to pull the tea out before it turns bitter.
The Tea Corner is a small reading spot for exactly that. We look at green, black, and herbal in plain terms, sort out the steeping times that genuinely change the cup, and make room for the slow, unhurried part of it, the bit where you actually stop and drink.
Read them in any order. Each one stands on its own, and together they cover most of what a good pot of tea asks of you.
Under-steep and the cup is thin; over-steep and it turns sharp. A practical look at time and temperature for every kind of tea, and why a timer beats guessing.
Same plant, two very different cups. What oxidation actually changes, how each one likes to be brewed, and how to pick between them without overthinking it.
Not really tea at all, and all the friendlier for it. Building calm, caffeine-free cups from mint, chamomile, ginger, and whatever else is in the cupboard.
The part that has nothing to do with the leaves. Why making tea slowly, and drinking it while it is still hot, is worth protecting on a busy day.
General starting points, not strict rules. Taste as you go, adjust to your own cup, and trust your palate over any chart in the end.
| Tea | Water heat | Steep time | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Just off the boil, ~75–80°C | 2–3 min | Boiling water scorches the leaf and turns it grassy and bitter. |
| White | ~80–85°C | 3–5 min | Delicate and forgiving; a slightly longer steep coaxes out more. |
| Oolong | ~85–90°C | 3–5 min | Happily takes several short re-steeps from the same leaves. |
| Black | Full boil, ~95–100°C | 3–5 min | Wants proper heat; strong enough to stand up to a splash of milk. |
| Herbal | Full boil, ~100°C | 5–7 min | No real leaf to burn, so steep long and cover the cup to keep the heat. |
A quick swirl of hot water in the empty pot or cup keeps your brewing water from dropping too fast, so the tea steeps at the heat you meant.
Loose leaf needs space to unfurl. A roomy infuser or a proper pot beats a cramped little ball basket that keeps the water out.
When the time is up, remove the leaves rather than leaving them to sit. Otherwise the cup keeps brewing and slides toward bitter.
Often, yes. Good loose green, oolong, and white leaves give a second and sometimes third cup; just steep a touch longer each time.
Bags are convenient and fine. Loose leaf usually tastes fuller because the leaves are bigger and have room to open up.
It does. Fresh, well-aerated water makes a brighter cup. Reboiled, flat water tastes dull, and so does the tea made from it.
Usually it steeped too long or the water was too hot for the leaf. Shorten the time or cool the water and it evens out.