Tea timer

Three minutes, and what it makes

Three minutes at just off the boil is where most black teas land: English breakfast, Assam, Ceylon, the everyday bag. Shorter and the cup is thin; longer and the tannins take over and it turns bitter, which no amount of milk fixes. This page counts the steep with a ring every 9 seconds and one clear double chime when the leaves come out, so you can pour, walk off, and come back at the sound.

Steeping guide

Method

1. Warm the pot or mug with a splash of hot water and tip it out.
2. Add the tea: one teaspoon of leaf, or one bag, per cup.
3. Pour the water and start the timer as it hits the leaves, not when the kettle clicks.
4. Leave it alone. Squeezing the bag or stirring pulls out bitterness early.
5. At the chime, take the leaves out. A steep that keeps going in the mug is the reason the last third of a cup is harsh.

More than one pot

Green tea for one person and black for another means two steeps of different lengths from the same kettle. Open a second timer beside this one and start each as its water goes in; every dial chimes on its own. Second and third infusions of a good oolong or green usually want a little longer than the first, so bump the next timer by 30 seconds each time.

The usual mistakes

Boiling water on green tea is the big one: it scalds the leaf and tastes like grass and pennies, and the fix is the water, not the time. Starting the timer late, after the pour is finished and the phone is found, adds a hidden minute. Steeping "until it looks right" fails in a dark mug. And re-using a black tea bag for a second cup gives a weak, flat brew; black tea mostly gives up its best in the first steep.

Elsewhere in the kitchen

Coffee in a French press wants four minutes, eggs six to ten; the cooking timer page covers the rest of the stove, and cooking and kitchen timing has a longer table.