Why does my tea taste weak?
Weak tea is nearly always an under-leafing problem, and the instinctive fix — steeping longer — makes it worse rather than better.
tea
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | English Breakfast | Tie Guan Yin |
|---|---|---|
| The usual cause | Not enough leaf. One bag in a large mug is a lot of water for a small amount of tea. | Rolled oolong under-weighed because the dry pellets look like a lot. |
| Why steeping longer fails | It extracts bitterness and astringency without adding body, because no amount of time extracts more than the leaf contains. | Same, and rolled leaf needs time to open before it gives anything at all. |
| The fix | More leaf. Around 1.2 g per 100 ml is a starting point. | 5–7 g per 100 ml for gongfu, or 2 g per 100 ml western with room to expand. |
| Vessel | A cramped ball infuser holds the leaf compressed and extracts unevenly. | The same problem, worse — rolled oolong cannot open in a small infuser. |
| Water temperature | Too cool under-extracts black tea. It should be boiling. | Too cool under-extracts oolong; 90–95 °C is the range. |
The short answer
Weak tea is an ingredient problem, not a timing problem. Weigh the leaf once and the guessing stops.
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