Getting started
Beginners
New to tea? Start here. The first kit, the first cup, the first steps.
Aged Sheng Puerh: How to Buy, Brew, and Judge It
A beginner-friendly guide to aged sheng puerh: what clean ageing tastes like, buying checks, brewing adjustments, and storage red flags.
Beginner Tea Kit: What You Actually Need
A small, affordable loose-leaf tea setup: the essential gear, useful upgrades, and what to skip at the start.
Best Tea for Sleep & Winding Down
Caffeine-free teas people sip to wind down at night — chamomile, rooibos, peppermint and more — plus how to build a calm, no-hype evening cup.
Best Water for Brewing Tea
Water is most of your cup. A plain-language guide to filtered vs hard vs bottled water, why it changes the taste, and a simple checklist.
Caffeine-Free Teas for the Evening
Rooibos, herbal and fruit tisanes with no caffeine — what they taste like, which to pick for evening, and how 'caffeine-free' differs from 'decaf'.
Caffeine in Tea (by Type)
A clear, non-medical look at caffeine by tea type, and the brewing choices that change it more than the label on the packet does.
Ceremonial vs Culinary Matcha
Ceremonial vs culinary matcha: what the grades really mean, which to drink straight, which to use for lattes and baking, and how to buy well.
Does Tea Expire? Shelf Life & When to Toss It
Tea rarely 'expires' but it does fade. How long green, black, oolong and puerh really last, how to tell when tea is past its best, and when to bin it.
Does Tea Keep You Awake?
Whether tea keeps you awake comes down to caffeine and L-theanine. How the two interact, which teas have the least, and when to switch to caffeine-free.
Fix Bad Tea: Weak, Flat, Watery or Too Strong
A calm troubleshooting guide for tea that tastes weak, flat, watery, or too strong — adjust leaf, water, time, and temperature.
How Gaiwan Shape Changes Your Tea
Wide vs tall gaiwans, size and lid gap: how a gaiwan's shape changes aroma, temperature and how leaves open — and which shape suits which tea.
How Long to Steep Tea (Chart by Type)
A simple steeping-time chart for green, white, oolong, black, puerh, and herbal tea — for both a Western mug and short gongfu steeps — plus a timer.
How Much Tea per Cup?
Simple loose-leaf tea ratios for mugs, teapots, and gongfu vessels, plus a calculator for any vessel size.
How to Buy Good Tea (Without Getting Ripped Off)
A practical, no-snobbery guide to buying fresh, honestly-sourced loose-leaf tea: what labels to look for, how to store it, and how to shop with confidence.
How to Choose Clean, Safe Tea
A practical, non-alarmist guide to sourcing cleaner tea: what organic and lab-testing really mean, what to ask a seller, and sensible everyday habits.
How to Store Tea (So It Stays Fresh)
Keep loose-leaf tea fresh longer: the four enemies (air, light, heat, odour), how long different teas last, and whether puerh is the exception.
How to Use a Gaiwan (and How Its Shape Changes the Tea)
A calm, step-by-step guide to brewing in a gaiwan without burning your fingers — plus how bowl shape changes aroma, heat, and which teas suit it.
Puerh Cake Storage: Keep It Clean Without Sealing It
Store a puerh cake without flattening its aroma: airflow, stable room conditions, odour control, wrapping, shelves, and label notes.
How Many Times Can You Re-Steep Tea?
A re-steeping chart by tea type for both Western and gongfu brewing, the signs your leaf is spent, and how to lengthen each steep — wired to the timer.
Does the Cup Change the Tea? (Materials Guide)
How cup and teaware material — porcelain, glass, clay, cast iron — changes tea through heat retention and neutrality, plus a simple A/B taste test you can log.
Tea for Beginners at Home
The shortest practical path from tea bags to good loose-leaf tea at home, without jargon or an expensive setup.
Tea Glossary for Beginners
Plain-language tea terms for beginners: steep, infusion, gongfu, gaiwan, oxidation, astringency, body, rinse, tisanes, and leaf ratio.
Water Temperature for Tea (Chart by Type)
The right water temperature for green, white, oolong, black, puerh, and herbal tea — in °C and °F — and how to hit it without a thermometer.
Why Is My Tea Bitter?
Bitter tea is usually over-extracted. Diagnose hot water, long steeps, too much leaf, broken dust, and fix the next cup with one-variable tests.
Yixing Clay Teapots: What They Do
What a Yixing clay teapot actually does, which teas it suits, why you dedicate one pot to one tea, and whether a beginner needs one yet (usually not).