Brew, rate, and get a little closer every cup.
Start from a recipe written for your style of tea, run the timer through every steep, then rate the cup. Steepdial remembers the session and suggests one change for next time, whether you brewed it hot, iced, or cold.
Every cup makes the next one better.
After each brew, tell Steepdial how it tasted. It suggests one adjustment for next time and remembers the result, so each cup of a tea gets you closer to the way you like it.
- Brew 01175°F · 5 g · 1:006.0 / 10
- Brew 02170°F · 5 g · 1:007.5 / 10
- Brew 03165°F · 5 g · 1:009.0 / 10
- Perfect165°F · 5 g · 150 ml · 1:00Saved
How it works
- 01
Score the cup
Give it an overall score from 1 to 10, in half steps.
- 02
Note what you tasted
Optionally mark bitterness, astringency, sweetness, umami, and aroma, from faint to very strong. Open More detail for strength (how intense), body (how thick), finish (how long it lingers), and words for flavor and texture, like stone fruit, mineral, or silky.
- 03
Say what you'd change
Less bitter, less drying, more flavor, lighter, less vegetal, less roast-forward, less smoky, more aromatic, less tart, and more. Only the options that make sense for that tea are shown. Or tell it the cup was great.
- 04
Get the next recipe
Steepdial saves the brew and shows the next recipe, what changed, and why. It's waiting on the tea the next time you brew it.
The details
Your tasting counts too
Marking bitterness or astringency as strong or very strong counts as a problem to fix, even if you didn't pick a change.
Clear progress
Each tea moves from New to Dialing in to Dialed in. The tea page charts your score across brews.
Knows when to stop
Score a cup 8.5 or higher, or say it was great, and Steepdial asks if you want to save it as a Perfect Brew instead of changing anything. You can save any brew, at any score.
Brew again right away
Tap Brew it now to load the suggested recipe straight into the timer.
Questions
What if I don't know tasting words?
You don't need them. The overall score and a tap on what you'd change is enough. The taste dots are optional.
Can I log a brew I already made?
Yes. Choose Already brewed? Rate it to skip the timer and go straight to rating.
What if my tea isn't one of the styles?
Make your own style, like Ya Bao or a Japanese black tea: pick its family, set the recipe you'd start from, and Steepdial builds sensible ranges around it so suggestions and the timer work as for any other tea.
A timer built for tea.
Run a single steep or a full gongfu session with every infusion lined up. The timer is big enough to read across the kitchen, chimes when it's time to pour, and keeps your phone awake while it counts.
- 135s
- 225s
- 325s
- 430s
- 540s
- 655s
How it works
- 01
Set the recipe
Start from a Perfect Brew or the latest suggestion, or adjust temperature, leaf, water, and each steep time yourself.
- 02
Build the session
Add or remove steeps, or use the style's own schedule, fitted to your first steep. Add a rinse if the tea wants one; it's timed but never counted as a steep.
- 03
Steep
A progress ring counts down. Pause, add 10 seconds, or finish early. When it hits zero it chimes and vibrates.
- 04
Next infusion
Start the next steep with one tap, or end the session whenever you like and rate it.
The details
Schedules written per style
Not one formula for every tea. Sencha's second steep is shorter than its first because the leaf is already open; rolled oolong starts longer while the leaf unfurls; young sheng starts with flash steeps and stretches late; dancong stays quick. Each style has its own.
Rinse, not steep one
Pu-erh and other pressed teas often start with a quick rinse to wake the leaf. The timer runs it first and labels it, so steep one is really steep one.
Stays awake
Where the browser allows it, the screen won't dim or lock while the timer runs.
Your vessel remembered
Each tea remembers the vessel you last used, so a gaiwan oolong opens with the gaiwan.
Pour time counts
Steep times run until you start pouring. A clay pot that takes 12 seconds to empty keeps steeping while it pours, so turn on the pour cue and the timer chimes early, by about half your pot's pour time.
Survives a refresh
The session in progress is saved as it runs. Close the tab or let your phone lock, and it picks up where you left off, with the steeps you actually ran.
Questions
Does the chime work on iPhone?
The chime plays after you tap Start, which phones require before a page can make sound. Keep your ringer on to hear it.
Can I save a multi-steep schedule?
Yes. Saving a Perfect Brew keeps its full schedule, every steep included.
Know which steep is the good one.
In a gongfu session every infusion tastes different. Give each one a quick rating and a word or two, and Steepdial charts where each tea peaks and how it fades.
Opening steeps 1–2 · Peak steeps 3–4 · Fade from 6. Usually peaks at steeps 3–4: “Thick, sweet”.
How it works
- 01
Start a multi-steep session
Use any recipe with more than one steep, gongfu or Western.
- 02
Rate each steep
When a steep finishes, tap from poor to superb and add a word or two if you like: 'roast settling', 'stone fruit'.
- 03
See the arc
The tea's page shows each session's arc: where it opens, where it peaks, and where it fades. After a few sessions it says something like “usually peaks at steeps 3–5”.
The details
Takes a second
The note sits under the timer while you pour, so it doesn't slow the session down. Skip it whenever you like.
Plan the session
If a tea peaks at steep three and fades after five, you'll know how many steeps are worth doing and when to push the time.
Notes travel with the brew
Steep notes are saved with the brew, next to your overall score and notes.
Questions
Do I have to fill them in?
No. Steep notes are optional. Leave them blank and the brew saves as usual.
Your favorite tea, iced.
Turn any Perfect Brew into a flash-chilled iced version, a cold brew, or, for delicate greens, an ice brew. Each is a starting conversion worked out for that style; taste it and save the one you like as its own Perfect Brew.
3 steeps 1:00 · 20s · 45s
Iced Pour over 75 g of ice straight after steeping.
A starting conversion: brewed hot and strong, then poured over ice. Adjust by taste.
Cold brewing generally produces less bitterness and astringency, and a softer, rounder cup. Keep it in the fridge and drink it within a day or two. Never steep it on the counter or in the sun.
Ice brew Leaf under ice at room temperature until it melts.
Leave the leaf under ice at room temperature until it melts. Slow and gentle: a small, sweet, savory cup.
How it works
- 01
Open a Perfect Brew
Under Make a version, choose Iced, Cold brew, or Ice brew.
- 02
Check the numbers
Steepdial shows the converted recipe next to the original.
- 03
Save it
Save it as a new Perfect Brew so it's one tap away all summer.
The details
Iced (flash-chilled)
A starting conversion: the same leaf, brewed in half the hot water with a slightly longer steep, then poured straight over the same weight of ice.
Cold brew (mizudashi)
Leaf in cold water in the fridge, with a ratio and time set per style: about 3 to 4 hours for sencha and gyokuro, 5 to 6 for genmaicha, bancha, and hojicha, 6 for most white tea, 8 for most oolongs and herbal teas, 10 to 12 for black and dark teas. Keep it in the fridge and drink it within a day or two; never steep it on the counter or in the sun.
Ice brew (kōridashi)
For gyokuro, sencha, and other delicate greens: a lot of leaf under ice at room temperature, steeping in the meltwater over two or three hours. A small, thick, sweet, savory cup.
Why it works
Cold brewing generally produces less bitterness and astringency, so it's forgiving. Matcha isn't cold brewed; it's whisked or shaken instead.
Questions
Does it change my saved recipe?
No. The iced or cold-brew version is worked out from the hot recipe. Save it as its own Perfect Brew if you want to keep it, and the hot one stays as it was.
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