This was a question from a customer and since we generally provide a guide on packages for 200 ml, the customer wanted some guidance on steeping 12 oz. I wrote a lengthy reply, and I thought it would be a good idea to share.
There are four major factors in steeping green tea: tea amount, water amount, water temperature, and time (you can add water type as a fifth factor, but basically soft water is good for green tea, hard water is good for black tea).
Steeping itself takes some experimentation to find out what works for you. You are balancing flavor with convenience in many cases.
Time is the easiest to experiment with...longer time allows you to extract more flavor resulting in a stronger cup of tea. Interestingly, you can also steep it multiple times to get more tea and steeping a green tea for 2 minutes creates a different flavor profile than steeping it for 1 minute, then a second steep for 10 seconds.
Tea Amount: More tea means more flavor, but using more tea reduces your cost performance as well.
Water Temperature: A hotter temp gives you a more bitter tea in general for Japanese green teas.
Experiment or Recipe #1
- Steep 1: 5 grams of tea, 6 oz of water, at 150-160F degrees, for 1 minute. If you have a hot water pot set at 200F degrees for example, you can cool it down by warming up your mug cup and tea pot.
- Steep 2: The leaves are primed now, so pour water directly into the pot, and then directly out into your cup.
Experiment 2
5 grams of tea, 12 oz of water, 150-160F degrees, for 2 minutes
Experiment 3
7-8 grams of tea, 12 oz of water, 150-160F degrees, for 1 minute
Experiment 4
...this would allow you to save tea by using less.
- 3 grams of tea, 4 oz of water, 150 degrees, 1 minute
- 4 oz water, 200-210F degrees, pour out immediately
- 4 oz water, 200-210F degrees, 20-30 sec.
Once you find the method that you want (balancing convenience with flavor), then it can become your starting recipe for other teas.
