Many people encounter the same problem the first time they brew spring tea: why does it taste bitter?
It should be clean, fragrant, and delicate — yet the liquor comes out yellowish, astringent, even harsh.
The problem is almost never the tea itself. It's the brewing method.
We asked Chen Yu-ting — founding president of the Chinese Tea Arts Research Association and founder of the International Daguan Humanistic Tea Institute — to walk us through everything: water temperature, steeping time, tea-to-water ratios, and teaware selection. Here is how to brew spring tea correctly.
Why Is Spring Tea So Easy to Over-Brew?
Spring tea's most celebrated quality is also what makes it unforgiving.
The reason is straightforward: spring tea leaves are tender, lightly oxidized, and structurally delicate.
As Teacher Chen explains: "Spring tea is harvested at a very young stage — Biluochun, for instance, must be picked with the white downy tips still intact. Wenshan Pouchong is the same. Because the oxidation level is so light, these teas are extremely sensitive to both temperature and time."
This creates three compounding vulnerabilities: tender leaves scald easily at high temperatures; low oxidation means bitter compounds release more readily; and the delicate structure falls apart quickly if steeped too long.
In other words, spring tea isn't difficult to brew — but it has a lower margin for error than teas from other seasons.
Teacher Chen adds an important point that is easy to overlook: "Brewing Taiwanese tea is fundamentally different from brewing black tea. Black tea is fully oxidized, so temperature and time have a much wider tolerance. But in Taiwan, there are so many tea varieties, each with different oxidation levels and harvest tenderness — so the brewing approach really does vary significantly." This is precisely why spring tea deserves its own guide.
The Right Water Temperature: 80–85°C Is the Key
If you remember only one thing, make it this: don't use boiling water.
For Sanxia Biluochun (green tea) and Wenshan Pouchong (lightly oxidized tea), Teacher Chen is unequivocal: "Keep the water temperature between 80 and 85 degrees Celsius. Too high, and the leaves effectively get cooked — the astringency becomes much more pronounced."
Too hot (above 90°C) and bitterness releases rapidly. Too cool (below 70°C) and the fragrance never fully opens. The 80–85°C window allows the aroma to fully bloom without damaging the tea's delicate structure.
Teacher Chen explains the underlying science: "To prevent the polyphenols from breaking down or producing astringency, a slightly lower temperature is necessary — it both protects the polyphenols and prevents that harsh finish." Controlling water temperature, in other words, is an act of preservation.
No thermometer? After bringing water to a boil, remove the lid and let it rest for about one to two minutes before pouring in a thin, gentle stream. The temperature will naturally fall into the right range.
Tea-to-Water Ratio and Steeping Time: The 1:20 Formula
After water temperature, the two most important variables are the ratio of tea to water and how long you steep.
For beginners, Teacher Chen recommends starting with a simple formula: a 1:20 ratio.
"The general recommendation is around 1:20 — one gram of tea leaves to twenty millilitres of water. If your teapot holds 200 millilitres, you'll want approximately ten grams of tea."
For steeping time, each infusion should run approximately 50 seconds to one minute: "We're using that window to extract the compounds in the tea — because the time is short, not everything is extracted at once, which is why you can go back for a second or third infusion."
Multiple Infusions or a Single Brew?
Teacher Chen says the answer depends on your context.
For exploring the tea's layers: Use the 1:20 ratio with 50-second to one-minute infusions, repeated up to three times. Each infusion will express slightly different qualities — this is the approach that best honours the nuance of spring tea.
When time or setting doesn't allow for multiple rounds: Adjust the ratio to 1:50 and extend the steeping time to approximately five minutes. As Teacher Chen explains: "The tea-to-water ratio isn't just about the relationship between leaves and water — it also has to account for your time. 1:20 is calibrated to a 50-second steep. If you only want to brew once without returning to it, extend the steeping time and shift to 1:50, which takes about five minutes."
The core principle: never leave a light, aromatic tea to steep for too long.
The Two Most Common Mistakes Beginners Make
If your spring tea tastes bitter, it almost certainly comes down to one of these.
Water that is too hot. Many people default to boiling water for all tea — but for spring tea, it is the most damaging thing you can do. Teacher Chen notes: "The most common mistake really is misjudging water temperature. People assume that brewing tea means using 100-degree boiling water. In reality, you have to consider the tea's oxidation level and the tenderness of the harvest to determine the right temperature."
Steeping too long. Spring tea releases its compounds quickly; over-steeping throws the whole balance off. Teacher Chen acknowledges that timing is a genuine challenge: "Sometimes you start talking and completely forget about the steeping time." For beginners, she recommends setting a timer until the rhythm becomes intuitive.
Does the Teapot Really Affect the Taste?
Many people treat teapot selection as an aesthetic decision. It is actually a flavour decision.
Teacher Chen puts it plainly: "The same tea brewed in different teapots will taste completely different."
The reason comes down to three factors: how quickly the vessel conducts and dissipates heat, the internal volume and shape, and how the teapot concentrates or disperses aroma.
Some teapots intensify fragrance. Others let the tea breathe and feel lighter. The teapot, in other words, amplifies a particular quality of the tea.
Why Spring Tea Needs a Wide-Bodied, Fast-Cooling Teapot
Spring tea is clean, aromatic, and structurally fine. For this reason, Teacher Chen has specific preferences.
"I generally recommend materials that conduct and dissipate heat relatively quickly," she says. Fast heat conduction brings the fragrance out quickly; fast heat dissipation prevents the aroma from being trapped inside. "Once it gets trapped, the fragrance becomes heavy and low — not that bright, uplifting quality. That would be a shame."
For shape, Teacher Chen recommends round, wide-bellied designs: "A rounder body with more width at the belly allows the leaves to fully unfurl — they shouldn't be compressed." She adds: "With twisted-leaf teas like Biluochun or Pouchong, if the space inside the teapot is too tight, the leaves simply can't open."
Teacher Chen's Teaware Recommendations for Spring Tea
In practice, Teacher Chen regularly turns to several specific pieces from NewChi for spring tea.
"When I'm working with Pouchong or green tea, the teapot I reach for most often is Spring Mist. It has a wide, round form that develops horizontally — and both of those teas are twisted-leaf styles, so they can fully unfurl and release inside it."
She describes the overall feeling Spring Mist evokes: "The arched handle design and the overall aesthetic have a quality that feels like Pouchong and Biluochun — that vitality of spring, that sense of being alive and fresh. But within that vitality there's also a softness, because the form itself is energetic, yet the petal details at the sides feel gentle."
Simple Love is Teacher Chen's other choice for Pouchong, owing to its unusual open design: "Simple Love has no lid — the back is open. What I appreciate about this is that when you add hot water, the fragrance comes out very quickly, but the tea is also cooling down at the same time. So for Pouchong, Simple Love works beautifully."
For tea practitioners who frequently set up tea tables outdoors or on the move, Teacher Chen recommends Drifting Clouds: "In my experience, if someone wants to bring one of Master Wang's pieces out to set up a tea table or share tea with others — something portable, practical, and that brews well — I always recommend Drifting Clouds."
She adds: "It's more practical to carry than Spring Mist with its arched handle, and safer too. And with no lid, it's equally well-suited to Biluochun and Wenshan Pouchong."
For anyone looking for their first entry point into NewChi teaware, Teacher Chen is direct: "Simple Love and Drifting Clouds — for a beginner working with Master Wang's pieces, these two are the best place to start."
Design with Intent, Use Without Limits
Once you begin to understand water temperature and time, you'll discover something else: the flavour of tea is something you can shape.
As Teacher Chen says, it's not about finding the best teapot. It's about deciding what you want the tea to become.
Design with intent, use without limits — every piece of teaware is waiting for the right tea to find it.
This spring, we've selected a few pieces particularly well-suited to brewing spring tea — so that both the fragrance and the liquor can open, steadily and fully, the way they were meant to.
