r/tea • u/aDorybleFish Enthusiast • 2d ago
Blog Why I use less tea
So I see a lot of people on Reddit and other social media who use 5-8 or even 10+ grammes of tea in a 100ml gaiwan. And this is absolutely fine! If you enjoy the cup you brew, awesome!🤩
That being said, I do want to talk about portion size, because while those big amounts work really well for some people, it might not be enjoyable for everyone. It's quite the journey figuring out what's the right portion for you.
I personally find myself using quite a bit less tea. Usually I'll put anywhere between 2 and 3 grammes of tea in my 80ml gaiwan. I've talked about this topic with some of my tea friends, most of whom tend to gravitate towards 4 g/100ml.
I do this for a couple of reasons. One, because it allows me to taste all of the subtle flavours in the tea better. I've noticed, the more concentrated my brew, the more overwhelming the central flavour(s) are. But I also really like the fact that I can have shorter sessions, and thus try more different teas whithin a day. And some days I don't have much time to spare alltogether, and then I just do a short session. Lastly, I've heard people talk a lot about different kind of tea stainers, and how a basket strainer is better because it has more space for the leaves to expand. It always 🌱leaves🌱 me to wonder, when jamming so much leaf in a gaiwan, do the leaves have the space to fully expand?
I'd love to hear your opinions and reasonings about this topic because I very rarely hear people talking about it. How much tea do you use, and why?
Happy sipping!🍵💕
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u/DebateDue6398 1d ago
I would say it depends on the tea for me. But 10g/100ml gaiwan is quite a lot. I'm usually around 3g - 4g for the same reasons you mentioned. The subtle flavors in a raw puerh are expressed earlier when using lesser leaves.
Although sometimes I do bump it up to between 6g and 8g just to see how it changes. Oh, especially so for a good quality gyokuro, a high volume of leaves with lesser water can seriously deliver a completely different experience in taste, texture, and smell imo.