Chinese Tea Brewing Methods

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Chinese tea brewing method varies greatly with different class of tea, weather, and local custom. The brewing time, amount of tea, water temperature, and ways to brew are all essential elements in preparation for tea.

Brewing Time

Green teas usually require shorter time (1- 3 minutes) for the first brew. For second or third brew, it requires more steeping time. Oolong teas can be brewed in the same way as green teas. Tea drinkers love to savour the aroma of the Oolong tea for a moment before drinking. White tea is a subclass of Green tea. It needs longer brewing time (steep for 4-7) minutes) than other teas. Black tea ususlly required longer brewing time (3-5 minutes) than green tea. High quality teas can be brew second or third time. There is a saying in China that second brew of tea is the finest. There are different ways and teawares to brew teas in China. The most conveniet ways to blew tea is to put a small amount of tea into a cup or glass and pour certain amount of hot water to let it brew for a few minutes with cover on. Though the best and elegant way of brewing tea is using teapots, especially clay teapot. Also, there are various ways to add tea into water - upper adding, middle adding and bottom adding. Upper adding is to pour hot water into a teaware first, then add tea leaves. Spring Snail (“ Bi Luo Chun” in Chinese) is recommended to use this method. Middle adding is to pour hot wanter into a teaware to 1/3 full, then add tea leaves to brew for a few minute following with adding more water to fill up the teaware. It is popular to prepare Fur Peak ("Mao Feng" in Chinese) this way. Bottom adding is to put tea leaves into a teaware first, then add hot water. Bottom adding is most common brewing method. Most of the green teas can be prepared this way. Though good quality Chinese tea usually can be brewed 2-3 times or more, it is imperative that the tea leaves are not left in water to stew after the brewing is finish to prevent the tea from becoming bitter.

Amount of Tea

The amount of teas required in each brew is different by types of tea used. One could start with 1-2 teaspoons per 6 counce cup of water for green or black teas. Oolong usually more amount of tea in each brew. For better results, allow enough room for the tea leaves to expand.

Water Temperature

Water temperature is essential for preparing the perfect cup of tea. Water should not be too hot when prepare delicate green or white teas. Allow the boiling water to cool a bit (170-180 degrees) for brewing green and white teas. Oolong and black teas require hotter water. Use 200 degrees water for black tea, 190 degrees water for Oolong tea. since there are usually larger amount of teas are used and normally kept for a long time.

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