The age old question for tea lovers – how long should you steep your beloved leaves? The answer may not be as clear cut as you may think! At Steepwell Tea Co., we have our recommendations on our packages that suggest the average steep times for various teas. However, we know some of our loose leaf tea fans enjoy tea outside of our preferred times!

Our standard rule is 4-6 minutes of steeping at 212 Degree Fahrenheit water temperature for black teas. For green teas, we tone down the steep time and the temperature – 3-5 minutes of steeping for 195 degree Fahrenheit water. Now, most folks don’t have a tea kettle with temperature functionality. So, our recommendation is black teas should be steeped with freshly boiled water for 4-6 minutes. For Green teas we recommend waiting a minute or two after the water finishes boiling to begin steeping for 3-5 minutes.

What happens if you steep tea for too long? It has a stronger taste and likely a little more caffeine than normal if your tea is caffeinated. Conversely, if you don’t steep your tea as long as we recommend, your tea will have a lighter taste a little less caffeine if your tea is caffeinated. Personally, we like to steep our teas a little longer than normal for rich, bold tastes and full-bodied flavor – but that’s just us! We love our tea so much we want as strong of a taste as possible. Try out different steeping practices and let us know your favorite. Do you like steeping for longer? Do you prefer steeping a little shorter than recommended? Either way, we can all agree that we enjoy Steepwell Tea Company’s loose leaf tea.

May your tea exploration be full of joy and wonder.

Steepwell Tea Co.