Brewing
How to brew Chinese tea: a practical beginner’s guide
Start with a mug or a small gaiwan, then adjust leaf, heat, and time to suit the tea in front of you.
Read the guide: How to brew Chinese tea: a practical beginner’s guideA clearer path
from leaf to cup.
Begin with the brewing guide, or follow the question that brought you here.
Start brewing
Small changes in leaf, water and time can make a useful difference.
Brewing
Water temperature and quality for Chinese tea
Use clean, pleasant-tasting water and choose a starting temperature for the particular leaf, then refine the cup by taste.
Read the guide: Water temperature and quality for Chinese tea
Tea equipment
Teaware for Chinese tea: choose, use and care for the basics
Choose a cup, roomy infuser, teapot or gaiwan for loose leaf Chinese tea, then clean and store the equipment well.
Read the guide: Teaware for Chinese tea: choose, use and care for the basicsKnow your tea
Understand the names and the processing behind the leaves.
Tea varieties
Jasmine Pearls: rolled green tea scented with flowers
Understand what jasmine pearls contain, how the leaves take on jasmine aroma, and how to brew and compare them.
Read the guide: Jasmine Pearls: rolled green tea scented with flowers
Tea varieties
Silver Needle white tea: buds, brewing and storage
Understand what Silver Needle is, how white tea is made, and how to brew and store a delicate bud tea without relying on one fixed recipe.
Read the guide: Silver Needle white tea: buds, brewing and storage
Tea varieties
What is oolong tea? Processing and styles explained
A practical explanation of partial oxidation, leaf handling, roasting, and why oolong teas can differ so much.
Read the guide: What is oolong tea? Processing and styles explainedTea making
Step-by-step guide to making jasmine tea
Follow the flowers and tea through picking, opening, scenting, separation and drying in the Fuzhou jasmine tea tradition.
Read the guide: Step-by-step guide to making jasmine teaTea making
How Tieguanyin tea is made
Follow the main steps in Tieguanyin production, from picked leaf to shaped and finished oolong.
Read the guide: How Tieguanyin tea is madeTaste and compare
Build a small tasting around teas that show you something different.
Tea tasting
A three-tea tasting flight: Tieguanyin, Da Hong Pao and Jasmine Pearls
Compare a light oolong, a Wuyi rock oolong and jasmine-scented green tea with a simple tasting flight and notes you can use later.
Read the guide: A three-tea tasting flight: Tieguanyin, Da Hong Pao and Jasmine PearlsPlaces and tea care
Learn where tea comes from and how to look after it at home. The green-tea guide is in Italian.
Tea places
Fujian tea regions: a guide to four places
Find your bearings among Wuyi, Anxi, Fuding and Fuzhou, and the tea traditions associated with each.
Read the guide: Fujian tea regions: a guide to four placesTea care
What’s the best way to store your tea?
A practical storage guide for fresh teas, scented leaves, roasted oolongs, and teas kept to age.
Read the guide: What’s the best way to store your tea?Tè verdi
Tè verdi cinesi: stili, sapori e preparazione
Una guida ai tè verdi cinesi: come vengono lavorati, cinque stili da conoscere e un metodo semplice per prepararli e conservarli.
Read the guide: Tè verdi cinesi: stili, sapori e preparazionePhoto credits
- Tieguanyin2.jpg — Quelcrime, Public domain
- Longjing tea steeping in gaiwan.jpg — Difference engine, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Chinese tea set and three gaiwan.jpg — Gary Stevens, CC BY 2.0
- Jasmine tea2 close-up.jpg — Daqve Dahl, Public domain
- 2010 FirstFlush Yunnan Baihao Yinzhen.jpg — Kaminix, Public domain
- China Wuyishan Tea Plantation.jpg — Lennartbj, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photos resized and compressed; some views are cropped for display.