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Tea Brewing Strength Calculator

Work out tea brewing strength instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Tea Brewing Strength Calculator

Leaf weight is grams per litre times the water volume, and extraction follows a first-order curve, 1 - e raised to minus steep time over about 2.5 minutes. Extraction flattens out after four or five minutes, so pushing the steep longer mostly adds tannin bitterness rather than strength; more leaf is the better lever.

Formulas

Leaf quantity

grams = water litres x grams per litre

Extraction

extracted share = 1 - e ^ (-steep minutes / 2.5)

Worked example

With the default values below, Tea Brewing Strength Calculator returns Tea leaf needed of 6.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Waterminimum 50 ml
500 ml
Tea per litreminimum 1 g
12 g
Steeping timeminimum 0.5 min
4 min

Results

Tea leaf needed
6.00 g
Approximate teaspoons
2.4
Share of extractables released
79.8%
Estimated strength in the cup
0.335%

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Leaf quantity
  3. 3Extraction
  4. 4Tea leaf needed= 6.00 g
  5. 5Approximate teaspoons= 2.4
  6. 6Share of extractables released= 79.8
  7. 7Estimated strength in the cup= 0.335

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the Tea Brewing Strength figure worked out?

grams = water litres x grams per litre. Leaf weight is grams per litre times the water volume, and extraction follows a first-order curve, 1 - e raised to minus steep time over about 2.5 minutes.

Why does this matter?

Extraction flattens out after four or five minutes, so pushing the steep longer mostly adds tannin bitterness rather than strength; more leaf is the better lever.

What do I need to enter?

Enter water, tea per litre, steeping time. The defaults shown are a realistic worked example — swap in your own figures to get a result you can use.

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Tea Brewing Strength Calculator – Calculate Tea leaf needed