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.
Water temperature
92–98 °C
Typically 95 °C
Leaf for 250 ml
8.8–15 g
Typically 11.3 g
Ratio
3.5–6 g /100 ml
No rinse
Infusion schedule
This style is authored as a single infusion. A second steep from the same leaf will be thinner rather than merely weaker.
- Infusion 1600sTen minutes, slightly shorter and cooler than the Indian concentrate. Keemun's aromatic character is worth some care even in a preparation that will be diluted.
Equipment
- Samovar
- Podstakannik (glass holder)
- Tea glass
- Vacuum flask
- Zavarnik (concentrate pot) — The small pot on the crown holds a concentrate that is not meant to be drinkable as poured; it is diluted in the glass from the tap below.
- Copper and brass teaware — Samovars, urns and trays were historically made in copper and brass, with the interior tinned because copper reacts with an acidic drink.
Vessel: A small pot held warm above or beside the water vessel, diluted in the glass.
Note: Chinese leaf reached Russia overland long before Indian leaf reached it by sea, and the Russian Caravan style the catalogue already holds is built on this material. Recorded slightly cooler and slightly shorter than the Indian concentrate because the tea has a smoky-floral top that a hard, long extraction flattens — the only samovar set here where the concentrate is worth tasting before it is diluted.
What this does not tell you
These parameters are a synthesis of common practice rather than recorded practice for this specific tea.
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) · Mug infuser brewing · Flash-chilled iced tea · Cold brew tea
Methods TeaHQ describes but cannot give numbers for
1 of 28 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.