When brewing tea, the amount of tea leaves used should be appropriate—better too little than too much. Generally, after the second infusion, the tea leaves will have expanded to over 90% of their full size. Therefore, control the amount of tea leaves so that they do not overflow and require pressing down the lid.

Take Oolong, Tieguanyin, and Jinxuan for comparison. Jinxuan expands the most, followed by Tieguanyin. In terms of raw versus ripe tea, ripe tea expands less. For Baozhong tea, since it is in strip form regardless of the variety used, the leaves are fluffy and require a larger amount. Generally, fill the pot completely. If you find the brew too weak (because Baozhong has a low fermentation and roasting degree, so the first four infusions should not exceed 40 seconds), increase the amount of tea leaves. There are two methods: when placing the tea, use a small tea stick (I forgot the name) to loosen the leaves, then add more tea. This allows you to fit more leaves.

Another method is to slightly crush the tea leaves by hand before placing them, which allows more leaves to fit. Although convenient, the uneven size of the crushed leaves may affect the flavor of the brew!

There are two ways to brew Baihao Oolong: one is similar to the method for Baozhong tea, where the water temperature should be lowered to avoid astringency.

The other method uses a smaller amount of tea leaves and allows for high-temperature water, as the high temperature extracts more types of compounds. This method is often used for high-quality Baihao Oolong, brewed in a porcelain covered cup or teapot, but the flavor is less thick.

The difference in tea amount between the two methods is about 20 to 30 times.

Green tea, such as Longjing, should not use too much tea. Generally, when brewing in a covered cup, the tea amount ranges from one to four layers. The brewing temperature is low, and a double-cooling method can be used: first pour hot water into a cup (or a tea pitcher), then pour it into the covered cup.

Even for the same type of Oolong or Baozhong, different batches of tea expand differently. Nowadays, hand-picked tea is harvested a few days earlier than before, so the tea material is more tender. You can tell by chewing the leaves after brewing—they expand more.