How hot should the water be?
Boiling water makes green tea bitter. A kettle, a little patience and these numbers fix it (sample note).
A tea house for loose-leaf tea
Taste it at the table, then take home what you like by the gram. Sixty teas from small gardens, brewed properly, in a quiet room on Willow Lane (sample).
On the tasting table today
Free to taste with any tea by weight, 11:00–18:00 (sample)
Silver needle
Fuding, China
80°C, 4 min
Sencha
Shizuoka, Japan
75°C, 1 min
Iron goddess
Anxi, China
90°C, 2 min
Rock oolong
Wuyi, China
95°C, 1 min
Assam second flush
Assam, India
95°C, 3 min
Ripe pu-erh
Yunnan, China
100°C, 30 s
Palest first, darkest last: the further the leaf was oxidised, the darker the cup. Water temperature and steeping time under each cup.
The tea shelf
A few teas from each part of the shelf. Every tea is sold by the gram, in a paper bag or your own tin; the price is per 50 g.
Silver needle
Fuding, China. Spring 2026 (sample)
Downy buds, honeydew and hay. Gentle; hard to over-brew.
50 g $14
100 g $26
Sencha
Shizuoka, Japan. First flush (sample)
Steamed, grassy and sweet with a sea-air finish. Keep the water cool.
50 g $11
100 g $20
Iron goddess
Anxi, China
Rolled leaves that open slowly; orchid, butter and cream.
50 g $12
100 g $22
Rock oolong
Wuyi, China
Charcoal-roasted; dark cherry, stone and toasted bread.
50 g $14
100 g $26
Assam second flush
Assam, India
Malty and brisk; takes milk well. Our breakfast tea.
50 g $7
100 g $12
Ripe pu-erh
Yunnan, China
Earthy, smooth and dark; forest floor and dates. Brews many times.
50 g $8
100 g $14
Example prices. Harvests change through the year.
How to brew loose-leaf tea
No special kit needed: a pot, a scale and a kettle you can let cool. Start with these numbers and adjust to your taste.
1
Warm the pot
Swirl a little hot water in the pot and the cups, then pour it away. Cold porcelain takes the heat out of the first steep.
2
Weigh the leaf
Three grams for a 200 ml pot is a good start. A spoon of rolled oolong weighs twice as much as a spoon of white tea.
3
Cool the water
Boil fresh water, then let it rest: about two minutes for 90°C, five for 75°C.
4
Steep and taste
Use a timer. Taste a few seconds early; you can always steep longer, never shorter.
5
Pour it all off
Empty the pot into the cups so the leaf stops brewing. Good leaf gives a second and third pot.
The brewing card
Tea
Leaf
Water
Steep
Pots
White
4 g
80°C
4 min
3
Green
3 g
75°C
1 min
3
Light oolong
5 g
90°C
2 min
5
Roasted oolong
5 g
95°C
1 min
5
Black
3 g
95°C
3 min
2
Ripe pu-erh
5 g
100°C
30 s
8
For a 200 ml pot. Pots: how many times the same leaf can be steeped.
Sit down for a pot
Twenty-four seats, no music, and every tea on the shelf can be brewed for you at the table.
Pot of tea for one
Any tea from the shelf, refilled with hot water as often as you like
$6
Pot of tea for two
$10
Gongfu tray for two
Oolong or pu-erh, small pot, about 45 minutes
$18
Matcha, whisked at the counter
$5.50
Cake of the day
From the bakery next door
$4.50
Example prices.
Tastings and classes
Small groups around one table. Book a place online or ask at the counter; tea to take home is 10% off on the day (sample).
Saturdays, 10:00
Cupping morning
Six teas side by side, tasted the way buyers do. 60 minutes, up to 8 people, $12 (example prices).
Thursdays, 18:30
Gongfu session
Small pot, short steeps, many rounds. Learn to brew oolong and pu-erh at home. 90 minutes, $25.
Last Sunday, 16:00
Tea and food pairing
Five teas with five small plates from the bakery next door. 2 hours, $35.
Every open day
The tasting table
Six teas of the day, free to taste with any tea by weight. No booking.
Just come in
Where our tea comes from
We buy from a handful of gardens we know by name, taste every lot before it reaches the shelf and buy again only when the new harvest is as good.
Shizuoka, Japan
Sencha from a family farm that steams its leaf the same morning it is picked.
Anxi and Wuyi, China
Oolongs from two cooperatives; the rock oolong is roasted over charcoal in autumn.
Darjeeling, India
First and second flush from one estate, bought by the lot after tasting samples.
Yunnan, China
Raw and ripe pu-erh pressed into cakes by a small factory we have visited twice.
Gift tins and tasting sets
Packed at the counter while you wait, with a brewing card for every tea in the box.
Tasting set, six teas of 10 g
$24
Tin with 100 g of one tea
From $16
Gongfu starter: pot, two cups, 50 g oolong
$58
Example prices.
Tea notes
A spring visit to the tea gardens
Two weeks, three gardens and one very steep hillside (sample note).
Keeping loose-leaf tea fresh at home
Air, light, heat and smells are what spoil tea. A tin in a cupboard solves most of it (sample note).
Visit the tea house
Willow Lane Tea House (sample)
12 Willow Lane, Springfield
Monday
Closed
Tuesday to Friday
10:00–19:00
Saturday
9:00–19:00
Sunday
11:00–17:00
Tasting table
From 11:00, every open day
Opening times (sample).
