Tea, Leaf by Leaf

Green, black, white, oolong, and pu-erh are all made from Camellia sinensis. The differences between them are differences of processing: how long the leaf is allowed to oxidise, whether it is heated to stop that process, and how it is dried, rolled, or aged.

That matters at home because processing is what sets a tea's brewing tolerance. A delicate green tea will turn harsh in water that a robust black tea shrugs off. So the useful questions are what each style actually is, how hot to brew it, and what to change when a cup comes out bitter or thin.

Two numbers decide most cups, and they are the two nobody measures.

Water temperature and steeping time account for nearly every complaint about a tea being bitter, thin or flat.

Leaf grade decides how much room those numbers leave you. Broken leaf and dust extract several times faster than whole leaf, so the three minutes printed on a box of teabags is usually a minute too long for what is inside it.

Origin sets where the safe window sits before you touch the kettle. Chinese greens are pan-fired and comparatively forgiving; Japanese greens are steamed and want water lower again.

Storage is the quiet variable. Tea does not spoil in a way that makes it unsafe, it goes flat, and light, air, moisture, heat and neighbouring smells are what flatten it.

The pages below split three ways. Some name a style and say what it is, some work through a brewing decision, and a few handle the faults that send people looking in the first place.