Chinese Tea Brewing Parameters

McDonald's coffee comes out pretty much the same every time you order. But when you brew Chinese tea, it's a different story. A couple of degrees' change in temperature or a sneeze (kidding) during the brewing process can give you a different cup of tea. Here we look at a few important parameters. (see more data on specific kinds of Chinese tea in brewing table)   Sneezing?  Just kidding. Or unless if you sneeze directly into the teapot. That certainly would give you, and fellow tea drinkers a very different cup of tea. Quality of tea? This is in fact not a "brewing" parameter. Good tea leaves has a much better chance of delivering a good cup of tea, but if you make a mistake in brewing, you can end up with a bad cup of tea. So don't be careless because it CAN go wrong brewing Chinese tea.    Brewing method  There is no "the best way" to brew tea but there is definitely "the wrong ways". For example, if someone gives me green tea brewed with YiXing teapot and Kung Fu brewing (likely overbrewed and gets Se), I would rather have a cup of warm coke instead (yuck!). Please DO check out different brewing methods and pick an appropriate one for your tea. (brewing  table)   Tea quantity Not enough tea leaves makes a cup flavorless; too much makes it bitter. Different tea classes have very different TEA : WATER ratios. Please refer to brewing table for suggested quantity. Be prepared that the ratio will look quite different from what you are using with your Lipton tea bags. (brewing  table)    Water temperature Too low a temperature can't extract enough flavor from Chinese tea leaves and too high a temperature kills the freshness and nutrients of tea, or even overbrews the tea. Ancient Chinese saying goes, "warming wine, boiling tea, crab's eye." It means we should stop at crab-eye size bubbles when heating wine and brewing Chinese tea. But that was before the invention of thermometers. We shouldn't generalize though and crab-eye this, crab-eye that. Different classes of Chinese tea have different optimal water temperatures. For example, best temperature for green tea is around 80C/176F, flower, red, Oolong etc. are at boiling point 100C/212F. (brewing  table)    Brewing time & Number of infusions With other parameters held constant, a fifteen second difference in brewing time could turn a cup of top grade tea into bitter water for some demanding teas. Although this is not true to all kinds of tea but it happens often with nice teas. Another note is that brewing time has to increase with the number of infusions to maintain the color and flavor of tea. (brewing  table)   Experimenting  With these parameters in mind, you can start experimenting to find out your own combination of brewing a certain kind of Chinese tea.  Remember Chinese tea changes from batch to batch and from season to season. When you have become an experienced tea drinker, you will be able to fine out the right combination, if not the best combination, in a couple of trails. But what is a good cup of Chinese tea then? Good question. Here is what to look for. Don't forget to go over the brewing table.