Should I leave the leaves in the cup?

For delicate teas, no — they keep extracting and turn bitter. Use an infuser you can lift out, or decant into a second cup.

How long can re-steeped leaves sit out?

Use them within a few hours the same day. Wet leaves left overnight are a food-safety risk, not a flavor one.

Tea Brewing

Steeping Time Guide: How Long to Brew Each Tea

Timing charts for every major tea type, plus how to re-steep leaves so one scoop makes three good cups.

6 min read Updated 2026-05-30

Kitchen timer beside a steeping glass teapot of oolong

Key takeaways

Most beginners under-leaf and over-steep. Try the opposite.
Good loose leaf is worth re-steeping two or three times.
Taste at the halfway point rather than trusting the clock blindly.

Gear that makes these times easy to hit

Research-based picks, not hands-on tested. Links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. How this works.

Timing made simple

Wide-basket infuser you can lift out

Pulling the leaf out on time is the whole trick — a lift-out basket stops oversteeping.

$10–$18See Current Options on Amazon

Temperature control

Variable-temperature electric kettle

Preset temperatures mean green tea never gets boiling water by accident.

$45–$90See Current Options on Amazon

Baseline steeping times

Western style, roughly 2g of leaf per 7 oz (200 ml) of water. Time and temperature work as a pair — pair these times with the tea water temperature guide so a long steep doesn't also mean a too-hot one.

White tea: 2-4 minutes
Green tea: 1-2 minutes
Oolong: 2-3 minutes
Black tea: 3-4 minutes
Pu-erh: 3-4 minutes
Herbal: 5-8 minutes

Re-steeping loose leaf

Whole leaves have barely opened after one brew. Add roughly 30 seconds to each subsequent steep and keep the leaves damp, not sitting in water.

A quality oolong can give four distinct cups. Tea bags cannot do this, which is a large part of why loose leaf works out cheaper per cup.

Also worth having

Tea timers

Digital tea timer with presets

Magnetic kitchen timer with multiple channels and preset steep times.

Why we recommend it: Thirty seconds too long turns a good green tea bitter — a timer fixes most beginner mistakes.

$10–$18

Check Price on Amazon

Tea Brewing: Kitchen timer beside a steeping glass teapot of oolong — Kitchen timer beside a steeping glass teapot of oolong

Taste, don't just time

Set a timer, but sip at the halfway mark. Your palate is a better instrument than any chart, and this is how you learn what you actually like.

Frequently asked questions

Should I leave the leaves in the cup?: For delicate teas, no — they keep extracting and turn bitter. Use an infuser you can lift out, or decant into a second cup.
How long can re-steeped leaves sit out?: Use them within a few hours the same day. Wet leaves left overnight are a food-safety risk, not a flavor one.

Newsletter

Free Tea Brewing Cheat Sheet: Temps, Times & Ratios

Keep the numbers from this guide on one printable page — water temperatures, steep times and leaf-to-water ratios for 10 kinds of tea.

About the author

Written by the Leaf & Steep editorial team. We brew, weigh and re-taste the tea and methods we write about at home with ordinary kitchen equipment. Product recommendations are chosen by research rather than hands-on testing, and no sponsorship influences a verdict. How we research and test.

Steeping Time Guide: How Long to Brew Each Tea

Key takeaways