tea.ceo

How to brew green tea

Green tea: leaf heated soon after picking so it never oxidises — steamed in Japan, pan-fired in China. The general method first, then the named teas, each with its own temperature and time.

A painting of a tall glass of pale tea with a sprig of tea leaves in it and a cup beside it on a small mahogany table, candles and a fireplace behind, birds and branches painted on the walls

Guide

How to brew Dragon Well

China's most celebrated green tea, from the hills around West Lake in Hangzhou, brewed the way the grower Mrs Li brews it at home: 4 to 5 grams in an open glass at 85 to 90°C, sipped and topped up all day. And why the tea picked before Qingming costs so much more.

A painting of a white teapot and a cup of pale golden tea on a wooden tray with a sprig of tea leaves, on a green baize table beside an oxblood leather wing chair

Guide

How to brew green tea

Green tea goes bitter for one reason above all: water that is too hot. Sixty-five to eighty degrees, a minute or three, and more leaf than you think — with the difference between Japanese and Chinese green teas.

A painting of a pale green teapot and three small cups on a black lacquer tray, a folding screen painted with cranes and a fire behind

Guide

How to brew sencha

Ippodo's method for sencha, Japan's everyday green tea: 10 grams of leaf, 210 ml of water at 80°C, one minute, and every last drop poured out. How to cool the water without a thermometer, and what shincha is.

A painting of a black bowl of bright green matcha with a bamboo whisk standing in it, on a dark table before a fire and two leather chesterfields

Guide

How to make matcha

Matcha is green tea that is whisked rather than steeped. Ippodo's method for a bowl of usucha: 2 grams sifted, 60 ml of water at 80°C, fifteen seconds' brisk whisking. Thick koicha, a matcha latte, and the mistakes that make it lumpy or bitter.