Frequently asked questions

A kettle and a basket infuser. If you drink black or herbal tea, the kettle you already own is correct, because those want water at or near boiling. That is about ten dollars and you can start tonight.

Only if you drink green or white tea, which Art of Tea publishes at 160-185F. Black and herbal want 200-212F, which any kettle produces. A fifteen-dollar instant-read thermometer is the cheap alternative to a temperature-controlled kettle.

Almost always under-dosing. The published starting point is about one tablespoon of leaf per 8 ounces of water, so a 15 oz mug wants close to two tablespoons. People dose a large mug like a teacup.

Water too hot for the type, or too long a steep. Tannins come out late in the steep and taste bitter and drying. If a cup is harsh, drop the temperature before you shorten the time - that keeps the body.

Yes, for a structural reason rather than a snobbish one. Leaves expand to roughly three times their dry volume and a ball cannot hold a full dose while giving it that room. A basket costs the same and does not have this problem.

Measure the inside diameter at the rim and the depth, then buy a basket that clears the first without exceeding the second. Nearly every infuser complaint is really a fit problem.

Only if you are brewing more than one cup at a time. For a single mug a basket infuser is the correct tool rather than a compromise, and it is one fewer thing to wash.

Usually not. Hario states its ChaCha Kyusu is not safe for the oven, an induction hob or an open flame, which is typical. Treat any stovetop-safe claim as something to verify on that specific product page.

Art of Tea publishes one to three minutes for green and white, three to five for black, three to seven for oolong depending on leaf style, and five to seven for herbal tisanes. Then take the leaves out.

Often, and it is one of the real advantages over bags. Whole-leaf oolong and pu-erh give several infusions that taste genuinely different from each other. Add a little time to each successive round.

Airtight, opaque and away from heat. Air, light, heat and moisture all degrade it, which is why a clear jar on a sunny shelf is the worst common choice and the cupboard above the hob is the second worst.

Generally, per gram at the same quality, because you are not paying for the packaging. Re-steeping widens the gap further, since one dose of good oolong gives several cups.

No, and we say so on every page that recommends anything. There is no test kitchen and no shelf of kettles. We compile published specifications, name the page each figure came from, and explain what those figures mean.

Because the maker publishes nothing we could confirm from a primary source. A lot of tea gear ships with no spec sheet at all, and showing that gap is more useful than filling it with a figure copied from a retail listing.

Because there is no live price for that product, or the last check is more than 48 hours old. A stale price is worse than no price, because it looks like information.

Affiliate commission on purchases made through our links, at no extra cost to you. Amazon is currently the only retailer we earn from. The full arrangement, including what it does not change, is on the affiliate disclosure page.

No. We do not review products in the hands-on sense at all, so there would be nothing to do with one, and accepting them would create exactly the pressure the method is designed to avoid.

One person, Scooter M., who is an enthusiast rather than a credentialed expert. There is no editorial team and no expert panel, because inventing one would be the same kind of borrowed authority as inventing a lab.

We check the claim against the original source, fix it if it is wrong, update the page date, and say so in the text if the error changed a recommendation. Silent fixes to a pick are the thing we criticize other sites for.

What you actually need, if you are starting from nothing. If you already make pour-over coffee, read the coffee gear crossover instead - you own most of a tea setup already.