So You Want to Make Some Tea: Part 3 Steeping

That last part on our introductory tea journey takes us to the nitty-gritty world of steeping tea. This is simple right? Boil some water, pour it into a mug and steep your tea. You must remember here that many people drink black tea and this is okay for that, but that what more delicate teas such as white tea? Following these instructions could result in you burning your tea (something I had no idea you could do until yesterday). Your teas would become bitter and you wouldn't know why. That's because black, oolong, pu erh, white, green, herbal, mate, and rooibos all have different times in which you need to steep your tea to get the best result and different temperatures at which they best perform at. Why? Because each type of tea, with the exception of herbal, mate, and rooibos teas, are harvested and processed differently.
Thankfully, most sellers provide you instructions for this. Teavana provides a handy list of temperatures on their tin for all tea types and includes directions for ice teas as well. At least Teavana tins are good for something. Now only if I could open it...
 And also the tin includes  the specific brewing time, temp, and amount on the label. If dealing with a blend such as chai, the brewing time and temp are that of the most delicate element.

Black Tea
Temp: 195-205
Time: 2-3 minutes
Amount: 1 tsp
Oolong:
Temp: 195
Time: 3 minutes
Amount 1 tsp
Herbal
Temp: 208
Time 1.5
Amount: 1.5

White
Temp: 175
Time: 4-5 minutes
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Green
Temp: 175
Time: 45 seconds - 1 minute
Amount: 1 tsp
Mate
Temp: 208
Time: 5-6 minutes
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Rooibos
Temp: 208
Time: 5-6 minutes
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Of course you can get technical and weigh your tea, but for the typical layman of tea using a measuring spoon is just fine; although, weighing your tea out may be helpful when you choose to steep larger leaf teas like some whites.