tea.ceo

Tea, brewed properly and taken on time

How to brew each kind of tea, and when to put the kettle on. Temperatures and times come from the people who grow and sell the leaf; the clock below counts down to the next respectable excuse for a pot.

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A painting of a brown teapot, a cup of tea and a milk jug on a round mahogany table, between a fire burning in the grate and an oxblood leather chesterfield

Guide

How to make a proper cup of tea

The British cup of tea, made properly: freshly drawn water at a full boil, three to five minutes for a strong black blend, and the milk question settled — or at least explained. With the Royal Society of Chemistry's method and the ISO standard for comparison.

A painting of a firelit country-house table laid with two tiered stands of small cakes, a large round bake, a silver teapot and china cups, a clock and candles on the chimneypiece behind

Guide

Afternoon tea or high tea?

Afternoon tea is sandwiches, scones and cake at about four, invented by a duchess with time on her hands. High tea is a working family's evening meal at six. Hotels have spent decades muddling the two; here is which is which, and when each one is taken.

A painting of a glass cup of pale gold jasmine tea with green tea pearls floating in it, on a saucer, white jasmine blossoms on the table and a brass teapot behind

Guide

How to brew jasmine tea

Jasmine tea is green tea scented with jasmine flowers, and it brews like a green tea: water at 85°C, two teaspoons of leaf to 240 ml, two to three minutes, then again. The Tao of Tea's Jasmine Pearls, hand-rolled spring buds from Hunan, give two or three good infusions.

A painting of a timber smokehouse lined with racks of dark tea leaves, a pine-log fire glowing beneath them, smoke drifting up past a teapot and a cup of amber tea

Guide

How to brew lapsang souchong

Lapsang souchong is the smoked black tea of Fujian, its leaves dried over pine fires. Brew about 3 g in 240–300 ml of water just off the boil, 90–95°C, for two to five minutes; or brew it gongfu style in a small pot kept for this tea alone, and steep it again and again.

A painting of a small grey kyusu teapot and two tiny cups of deep green tea on a dark oak table by a window, a brass thermometer beside them

Guide

How to brew gyokuro

Gyokuro is brewed almost nothing like other green tea: ten grams of leaf to eighty millilitres of water at 60°C for ninety seconds, undisturbed, and every drop poured out. Ippodo's standard recipe, how to hit 60°C without a thermometer, and what the second cup does.

A painting of a brown earthenware teapot and a wide cup of amber tea on a scrubbed kitchen table, a kettle steaming on the range behind

Guide

How to brew hojicha

Hojicha is roasted green tea and the one Japanese tea that wants boiling water: ten grams to 240 millilitres at a full boil for thirty seconds, poured straight off. Ippodo's standard recipe, why the roast changes everything, and why it is the evening tea.

A painting of a white porcelain teapot and a cup of pale yellow-green tea on a linen cloth, a small dish of toasted rice grains beside it

Guide

How to brew genmaicha

Genmaicha is green tea with toasted brown rice in it, and it brews like hojicha rather than sencha: ten grams to 240 millilitres of boiling water for thirty seconds. Ippodo's standard recipe, what the rice is doing there, and why the popped grains are not a mistake.

A painting of a silver teapot and a bone china cup of bright copper tea on a veranda table, green hills in the window behind

Guide

How to brew Ceylon tea

Ceylon is the bright, brisk black tea of Sri Lanka, and it is brewed plainly: two and a half grams of leaf to a 220 ml cup, water at a full boil, two to three minutes. A Sri Lankan exporter's guide to the method, the Tea Board's seven regions, and why the high-grown ones take no milk.

A painting of a steel saucepan of milky tea on a gas ring, cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick on the counter, two small glasses waiting

Guide

How to make masala chai

Masala chai is tea boiled with spices, milk and sugar, not tea with a spiced syrup stirred in. Dishoom's recipe as published: a litre of water, ginger, peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves simmered ten minutes with Assam leaf, then half a litre of milk and sugar boiled in for ten more.

A painting of a brown teapot, a white cup of amber tea on a saucer of loose black leaf and a second cup on a brass saucer, on a mahogany table by an open window over green hills planted with rows of tea bushes, an oxblood leather chair beside it

Guide

How to brew Assam

Assam is the malty, full-bodied black tea at the heart of most breakfast blends, and it wants freshly boiled water and four or five minutes. How much leaf, why the golden tips cost more, and how to keep a strong cup from turning bitter.

A painting of a white porcelain cup of pale golden tea on a saucer scattered with dark leaf, a small white lidded pot beside it, on a mahogany table by a tall window that looks out on misty green hills planted with rows of tea bushes, an oxblood leather wing chair at the table

Guide

How to brew Georgian green tea

Georgian green tea, most of it from the revived gardens of Guria, is grassy, soft and forgiving — provided the water is kept to about 80°C. How to brew it in a cup or a gaiwan, what it tastes like, and whether it deserves a place in the caddy.

A painting of a cup of black tea, a silver teapot and a little dish of dark tea leaves on a mahogany table, an oxblood leather wing chair and a fire behind

Guide

How to brew black tea

Black tea wants water at or near a full boil and three to five minutes. How much leaf, how long for which tea, and when to reach for the milk — from Assam and Ceylon to Darjeeling and Earl Grey.