What types of Black Tea are suitable for brewing?

1. When brewing Tea, prioritize compressed teas and older black teas, as their compressed form and age better retain aroma and flavor, resulting in a more robust tea when brewed.

2. Lower-grade black teas, such as aged black bricks, are ideal for brewing due to their coarse leaves and high stalk content, which make them durable and easy to extract flavor from.

After aging, such as with aged black bricks and flower bricks, they become even better!

3. Higher-grade black teas, like Sky Tip (Tian Jian), should be aged for at least 3-5 years before brewing to achieve a richer flavor. New teas that haven't undergone transformation don't produce a smooth broth and lack the aged aroma, so we don't recommend brewing them.

How to adjust the tea-to-water ratio?

Based on tea enthusiasts' preferences, the general tea-to-water ratio for brewing black tea is around 1:50~60.

How to adjust water temperature?

1. Aged black teas have rich internal properties and are highly durable. You can first Brew aged black teas using a lidded bowl and then boil them. This approach maximizes the use of the black tea's abundant compounds, producing a full-bodied and layered broth.

2. If you're boiling tea directly, never place the tea in cold water.

Boiling tea in cold water does ensure thorough contact between tea and water, but it can lead to excessive extraction of compounds, making the broth overly bitter and astringent.

Tea boiled in cold water tends to have a very intense flavor and doesn't hold up well to prolonged boiling.

3. Boiling tea in boiling water is the correct method. Once the water boils, add the prepared tea leaves and let them boil together for one minute, then turn off the heat.

The tea can be heated by residual warmth for about two minutes before drinking. Tea brewed this way won't be overly bitter or astringent and will be more durable, making it enjoyable regularly.

How to refill after finishing a pot?

1. When pouring out the tea, don't empty the Teapot completely; leave some water behind. This technique is known as the “root retention method,” and the remaining tea broth is called the mother broth.

2. The purpose of the mother broth is to maintain the overall style and character of the tea broth, ensuring a consistent taste experience without sudden changes in the tea's quality, avoiding a rapid drop in flavor intensity.

If you pour out all the brewed tea from one pot, it might be wonderfully smooth, rich, and pleasant to drink, but the next pot won't taste the same, which could be disappointing.

3. The root retention method not only preserves the tea's flavor profile but also makes the tea leaves more durable for multiple infusions.