Brew assistant

Pick a tea and a brewing style. Everything below is transcribed from that tea's own authored parameters — nothing is scaled from another style, because a ratio and a steep time do not transfer between styles.

Meng Ding Gan Lu

Grandpa styleSynthesised parameters

Water temperature

7585 °C

Typically 80 °C

Leaf for 250 ml

1.32.5 g

Typically 1.9 g

Ratio

0.51 g /100 ml

No rinse

Infusion schedule

This is a multi-infusion style. The schedule below is authored to 1 infusions; beyond that, extend each steep noticeably rather than repeating the last time.

  1. Infusion 1180sThere is no strainer and no end point. Drink when it tastes right, top up when the glass is half empty, and stop when the leaf gives nothing.

Vessel: A tall glass. Leaf that has sunk stays at the bottom and is drunk around rather than removed.

Note: The low ratio is what makes this work: at gongfu leaf weights an unstrained glass would be undrinkable within a minute.

What this does not tell you

  • These parameters are a synthesis of common practice rather than recorded practice for this specific tea.

  • How many infusions this tea will give beyond the schedule below is not recorded.

  • No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea, so the assistant cannot tell you how strong the cup will be in that sense.

  • Leaf weight is a weight. A teaspoon is not — a fluffy white tea and a tightly rolled oolong differ several-fold by volume, so scales beat spoons here.

Other authored styles for this tea: Western brewing (teapot or mug) · Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)

Methods TeaHQ describes but cannot give numbers for

1 of 15 brewing methods have no authored parameters on any tea. They are listed rather than hidden: the method exists and is described, the numbers are simply not written yet. Nothing here is estimated from a neighbouring style.

  • Herbal infusion (tisane)

Herbal infusion is on that list for a second reason as well: the herbal catalogue is two records held in review, so there is nothing to brew even once parameters exist.