Any good tea can be steeped innumerable ways. We always experiment with different temperatures, and any tea we sell (except for fragile green and yellow teas) can be steeped in boiling water. Indeed to test and compare two or more teas, boiling water is often the best way to uncover weaknesses in a tea's texture or bitterness in its flavor.

Our general advice on steeping is to relax. There is a lot of hype about how to brew different teas. Any of our teas you can brew just like you would any other tea. So start there. Then experiment as desired. Good tea can easily be both a favorite beverage and an art.

Many Chinese simply throw some leaves in a cup or thermos, pour in hot water, and drink. And a good tea in a thermos at work or on a hike is priceless, because you can drink it anywhere, and when it starts to get low you can top the water off and enjoy a never ending beverage. Incidentally this is also a good way to test a tea's quality - bad teas make water bitter and chalky after too long. Good teas go on and on forever.

We generally will wash any tea with less than boiling water, and then steep it in the Chinesegaiwan. Should you like detailed information concerning testing or steeping, let us know. We are happy to share techniques of traditional steeping and how we prefer to make each tea, but personal preference and daily prefence will affect how you steep a tea(contact us).