How do I brew green tea without it tasting bitter?

Water temperature, steeping time and leaf quantity for green tea — and why boiling water is the usual culprit.

Difficulty: beginner
Time: 5 min
Read: 3 min

Short answer

Use water at 70–80°C, not boiling, and steep for 1–2 minutes only. Boiling water scorches green tea leaves and extracts harsh tannins almost immediately, which is why green tea so often tastes bitter and astringent when brewed like black tea.

Green tea is minimally oxidised, which makes its leaves far more delicate than black tea's. The brewing parameters that make a good cup of English breakfast — boiling water, four minutes — will reliably ruin green tea. Lower the temperature and shorten the time and it becomes a completely different drink.

What you'll need

Green tea (loose leaf if possible)
Kettle, ideally variable temperature
Timer
Thermometer (optional)
Teapot or infuser with room for leaves to expand (optional)

Step by step

Boil the kettle, then let it stand 3–5 minutes to drop to 70–80°C.Or add a splash of cold water. Without a thermometer, 3–5 minutes off the boil in an open kettle is a reasonable approximation.
Use about 2g of leaf per 200ml — roughly a rounded teaspoon.More leaf brewed briefly is better than less leaf brewed long, which is where bitterness comes from.
Warm the pot or cup with hot water first and discard it.A cold vessel drops the water temperature immediately, which matters more at 75°C than at 100°C.
Pour the cooled water over the leaves and start a timer.1 minute for delicate Japanese greens like sencha, up to 2 for Chinese greens.
Taste at one minute and stop when it's right.Tea keeps extracting. The difference between 90 seconds and 3 minutes is dramatic with green tea.
Remove the leaves completely rather than leaving them in the pot.Leaves left in continue extracting and the second cup will be harsh.
Re-steep the same leaves for a second and third cup, adding 30 seconds each time.Good green tea gives two or three infusions, and the second is often the best.

Tips

If you have no temperature control, pour boiling water into the cup, wait a minute, then pour it onto the leaves in the pot — the transfer plus the wait drops it roughly into range.
Japanese greens (sencha, gyokuro) generally want cooler water and shorter steeps than Chinese greens (longjing, gunpowder).
Loose leaf makes a much bigger difference in green tea than in black — bagged green tea is usually broken leaf, which extracts fast and unevenly.
Green tea's flavour degrades faster than black. Buy small amounts, store airtight and away from light, and use within a few months.

Common mistakes

Using boiling water — It scorches the delicate leaves and extracts harsh tannins immediately. The single most common cause of bitter green tea.
Steeping for 3–5 minutes as you would black tea — Green tea is finished in 1–2. Longer just extracts bitterness.
Leaving the leaves in the pot — Extraction continues, so every subsequent cup is harsher.
Cramming leaves into a tiny infuser ball — Leaves need room to expand and circulate, or the extraction is uneven.

Questions people ask

What temperature should green tea be?

70–80°C for most green teas; some delicate Japanese ones prefer as low as 60°C. Boiling water is always too hot.

Can I re-use green tea leaves?

Yes, and you should — good loose leaf gives two or three infusions. Add about 30 seconds to each subsequent steep.

Why does my green tea taste like grass or seaweed?

That's characteristic of Japanese green tea, particularly sencha and gyokuro, and it's intended. If you don't enjoy it, Chinese green teas tend to be nuttier and toastier.