Start here · 7 min read
A beginner’s path: four weeks, eight teas
You don’t need a cupboard of teaware to start. Here is a gentle route through the main families of tea, one week at a time.
The world of tea is huge, and that is exactly why it can feel hard to start. The good news: almost every tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis, and once you have tasted each of the main families you have a map for everything else.
What you need to begin
- A mug or small teapot with a strainer or basket that lets the leaves open fully.
- A kettle. One that lets you choose the temperature makes the biggest difference of any tool.
- A small scale, or a teaspoon to start with. Leaf weight is the number beginners most often get wrong.
- A notebook. Write down what you brewed and what you liked. In a month you will be surprised how much you have learned.
Week 1: green tea
Start with a Chinese green such as Dragon Well and a Japanese one such as sencha. Brew both below boiling (75–80 °C) and notice how different they are: one nutty and toasty, the other grassy and savoury. That difference is mostly how the leaf was heated: pan-fired in China, steamed in Japan.
Week 2: white and oolong
White tea is the least processed of all: just withered and dried. Then try an oolong, which sits between green and black. A rolled high-mountain oolong from Taiwan is floral and creamy; a roasted rock oolong from Wuyi is deep and mineral. Same family, completely different cups.
Week 3: black tea
Compare a Darjeeling, light and flowery, with an Assam, strong and malty, and a Yunnan black, which is round and chocolatey. Try the Assam with a splash of milk and the Darjeeling without.
Week 4: pu-erh and matcha
Finish with the two most unusual teas. Ripe pu-erh is dark, earthy and velvety: rinse it first, then steep briefly. Matcha isn’t steeped at all; you whisk the powdered leaf into water and drink it whole.
Then: try gongfu
Once you know what you like, buy a gaiwan and brew one oolong the gongfu way: more leaf, a small vessel and many short infusions. It is the best way to see how a single tea changes from cup to cup, and it is where many people fall for tea for good.
Don’t worry about doing it “right”. Change one thing at a time (leaf, temperature or time) and taste the difference. That is how everyone learns.
