How Steepdial understands tea
Every suggestion in Steepdial comes from fixed brewing rules, written per style of tea. Here they all are: temperatures, leaf ratios, steep schedules, rinses, and why each style starts where it does. Nothing hidden, and no AI.
How to read these
- TemperatureThe range the style usually brews well in, and where Steepdial starts. In °F, with °C alongside.
- LeafGrams of leaf per 100 ml of water, so the same recipe scales to any pot. A 150 ml pot at 4 g per 100 ml takes 6 g.
- Steep timesFrom the water going in until you start pouring. A slow-pouring pot keeps steeping while it empties, which matters in short gongfu steeps.
- SessionThe whole schedule, first steep to last. Later steeps can be shorter or longer than the first; it depends on how the leaf opens.
- RinseA quick pour that wakes the leaf and is thrown away. Never counted as a steep, and never required.
- Starting pointsNot rules for your cup. When you brew and say what you'd change, Steepdial adjusts one thing at a time, using these ranges as guide rails.
Green
Unoxidized. Mostly cooler water and short second steeps, because the leaf gives up bitterness easily.
Gyokuro
Shaded Japanese green: Yame, Uji, Okabe
104–149°F (40–65°C) · 5–17 g per 100 ml→GreenKabusecha
Lightly shaded Japanese green
131–158°F (55–70°C) · 3–8 g per 100 ml→GreenSencha
Steamed Japanese green, including shincha
149–185°F (65–85°C) · 2.5–6 g per 100 ml→GreenFukamushi sencha
Deep-steamed sencha
149–176°F (65–80°C) · 2.5–6 g per 100 ml→GreenBancha
Later-harvest everyday Japanese green
185–212°F (85–100°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→GreenHojicha
Roasted Japanese green
194–212°F (90–100°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→GreenGenmaicha
Green tea with toasted rice
176–203°F (80–95°C) · 2–3.5 g per 100 ml→GreenMatcha
Powdered shaded green, whisked
158–185°F (70–85°C) · 2–14 g per 100 ml→GreenFlat pan-fired green
Longjing (Dragon Well), Taiping Houkui
167–185°F (75–85°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→GreenFine, downy green
Biluochun, Mao Jian, Mao Feng, Anji Bai Cha
158–176°F (70–80°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→GreenOther green
Any green that isn't listed
158–185°F (70–85°C) · 1–3 g per 100 ml→White
Withered and dried with little handling. Gentle, forgiving, and happy with longer steeps than you'd expect.
Yellow
Like a green tea with an extra slow 'sealed yellowing' step that softens it.
Oolong
Partly oxidized, from barely to heavily, often rolled or twisted. Hot water and many short steeps.
High mountain oolong
Taiwanese gaoshan: Alishan, Lishan, Shan Lin Xi
190–212°F (88–100°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→OolongTieguanyin
Anxi Tieguanyin, light and modern style
185–212°F (85–100°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→OolongBaozhong
Wenshan Baozhong, open twisted leaf
185–203°F (85–95°C) · 1.2–2.5 g per 100 ml→OolongRoasted rolled oolong
Dong Ding, traditional Tieguanyin, roasted high mountain
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→OolongWuyi rock oolong (yancha)
Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, Shui Xian
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1.2–2.5 g per 100 ml→OolongPhoenix oolong (dancong)
Mi Lan Xiang, Ya Shi Xiang, Huang Zhi Xiang
190–212°F (88–100°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→OolongOriental beauty
Dong Fang Mei Ren, bug-bitten Taiwanese oolong
176–194°F (80–90°C) · 1.2–2.5 g per 100 ml→OolongOther oolong
Any oolong that isn't listed, including GABA oolong
185–212°F (85–100°C) · 1.2–3 g per 100 ml→Black / red
Fully oxidized. Hot water; broken leaf is quick and strong, whole leaf takes its time.
Malty or broken-leaf black
Assam, Ceylon, Kenyan CTC, breakfast blends
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 0.8–1.6 g per 100 ml→Black / redWhole-leaf black / red
Keemun, Dian Hong, Jin Jun Mei, Taiwanese Ruby #18
185–212°F (85–100°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→Black / redDarjeeling first flush
Spring Darjeeling, lightly oxidized
176–194°F (80–90°C) · 0.8–1.6 g per 100 ml→Black / redDarjeeling and Nepal (later flushes)
Second flush, autumnal, Nepal
190–205°F (88–96°C) · 0.8–1.6 g per 100 ml→Black / redOther black
Including smoked (Lapsang Souchong) and flavored blacks
190–212°F (88–100°C) · 0.8–2 g per 100 ml→Dark / post-fermented
Fermented by microbes after processing, the only truly fermented teas, and many change with time and storage. Usually very hot water, often a rinse for compressed leaf, and long multi-infusion sessions.
Sheng / raw pu-erh (young)
Raw pu-erh under about 10 years
185–212°F (85–100°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→Dark / post-fermentedSheng / raw pu-erh (aged)
Raw pu-erh with years of storage
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→Dark / post-fermentedShou / ripe pu-erh
Ripe pu-erh, cakes, bricks and tuos
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2.5 g per 100 ml→Dark / post-fermentedLiu Bao
Guangxi dark tea, often basket-aged
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2.5 g per 100 ml→Dark / post-fermentedFu brick and Anhua dark tea
Fu Zhuan (with 'golden flowers'), Hunan hei cha
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2 g per 100 ml→Dark / post-fermentedOther dark tea
Tibetan brick, Liu An and other hei cha
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2.5 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisane
Not from the tea plant. Mostly boiling water and long steeps; roots and barks get simmered.
Flowers
Chamomile, lavender, rose, linden
199–212°F (93–100°C) · 0.6–2 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneLeaves and mints
Peppermint, spearmint, lemon verbena, nettle
199–212°F (93–100°C) · 0.6–2 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneRooibos and honeybush
Red or green rooibos, honeybush
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2.5 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneHibiscus and fruit
Hibiscus, rosehip, dried fruit blends
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–2.5 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneRoots and barks
Ginger, cinnamon, licorice, turmeric
203–212°F (95–100°C) · 1–4 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneYerba mate
Yerba mate from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay (it has caffeine)
149–180°F (65–82°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneGuayusa and yaupon
Guayusa from Ecuador, yaupon holly from the southeastern US (they have caffeine)
176–212°F (80–100°C) · 1.5–3 g per 100 ml→Herbal / tisaneOther herbal / tisane
Any herbal blend that isn't listed
199–212°F (93–100°C) · 0.8–2.5 g per 100 ml→