Brew assistant

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 1300sFive minutes. Bud-heavy yellow tea is slow to sink and slower to give, and the first mouthful taken too early is mostly hot water.

Equipment

• Travel infuser bottle
• Vacuum flask
• Chinese lidded mug — The lid holds heat through a long slow drink and, tilted, holds the leaf back while you sip — which is why the inner basket is optional.
• Double-walled glass — An air gap keeps the outer skin holdable while leaf sits in near-boiling water all morning.
• Hot water boiler — Topping up all day needs hot water available all day, which is what the insulated boiler is for.

Vessel: A tall straight-sided glass, which is the traditional vessel and not merely a convenient one: the buds stand upright, rise and sink as they wet, and watching that is part of why yellow tea is drunk this way rather than from a pot.

Note: Warmer than the same treatment applied to green tea, and the yellowing step is why. Smothering the leaf while it is still warm removes much of the grassy, sharp character that cool water protects in a green tea, so there is less to protect and the extra heat buys body instead. Yellow tea is under-brewed far more often than over-brewed.

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)