New to tea

How to start with Chinese tea

No ceremony, no gatekeeping. Chinese tea is simpler than it looks — here's the short version to get you pouring today.

01 — Pick a forgiving tea

Begin with something hard to brew badly: a ripe (shou) Pu-erh or a red tea. Sweet, warm and unfussy about temperature.

A gaiwan or a small teapot, one cup, and water just off the boil. That's genuinely all you need to start.

More leaf, less water, short steeps, many rounds. Rinse once, then pour 5–10 seconds and add a few seconds each round.

Notice how the tea changes from steep to steep. There's no wrong way — the point is to slow down and pay attention.

Pick your tea and teapot — we'll do the maths: leaf, water temperature, and a gongfu timing schedule.

Your tea

Teapot volume · 120 ml

50 ml500 ml

Leaf

7.2 g

Water

100°C

Brews

9×

Timing (gongfu)

Rinse · 10sBrew 1 · 20sBrew 2 · 30sBrew 3 · 40sBrew 4 · 50sBrew 5 · 60sBrew 6 · 70sBrew 7 · 80sBrew 8 · 90sBrew 9 · 100s

Starter sets