> The pot should be white porcelain or glazed earthenware and have a partly serrated edge. It should have a lid that fits loosely inside the pot.

> If a large pot is used, it should hold a maximum of 310 ml (±8 ml) and must weigh 200 g (±10 g).

looks at cast iron teapot

what?

> Freshly boiling water is poured into the pot to within 4–6 mm of the brim. Allow 20 seconds for water to cool.

looks at bag of loose-leaf green tea

the?

> Brewing time is six minutes.

looks at green tea again

fuck?

> 2 grams of tea (measured to ±2% accuracy) per 100 ml boiling water is placed into the pot.

looks at gaiwan

This is obviously a colonial document written by limey tea-monsters.

> This standard is not meant to define the proper method for brewing tea intended for general consumption, but rather to document a tea brewing procedure where meaningful sensory comparisons can be made. An example of such a test would be a taste-test to establish which blend of teas to choose for a particular brand or basic label in order to maintain a consistent tasting brewed drink from harvest to harvest.

> a tea brewing procedure where meaningful sensory comparisons can be made

As noted elsewhere, there is no way to meaningfully compare teas that require lower temperatures or longer seeping time with this procedure.

> or longer seeping time with this procedure

Or more generally shorter seeping time, I've never seen a tea which wanted 6mn seep time, and most somewhat fragile tea want way less (with the possible exclusion of summing the consecutive infusions of an oolong, I guess you do get into the 6mn range total at the end of the session).

Err, yes, shorter, thank you. I mixed that up.

(I guess there is still the option of cold brewed tea though)

"meaningful sensory comparison" can not be made when you literally destroy your tea.

Which is exactly what you're going to do if you steep white or green tea in boiling water for 6mn. You might as well throw the tea into a half-full kitchen bin, wait 6 weeks and lick the bin-juice.

"It was originally laid down in 1980 as BS 6008:1980 by the British Standards Institution"

I'll take limey but colonial you can stuff up your arse 8)

> If a large pot is used, it should hold a maximum of 310 ml (±8 ml) and must weigh 200 g (±10 g).

Large holds only just over 1 cup of water? This seems tiny.

> The protocol has been criticized for omitting any mention of prewarming the pot.[6] Ireland was the only country to object, and objected on technical grounds.[7]

It is a good point.

Prewarming is something my Mum (Irish) is very insistent on and which I (British) studiously ignore...

As a fellow brit, my understanding has always been that the tea needs to go into water as close to boiling as possible, and putting the water into a cold pot makes that much harder. Unless in a rush I tend to use the water from pre-heating the pot to also pre-heat the cup so my brew stays hotter longer.

> the tea needs to go into water as close to boiling as possible

Many teas go bad when put in too hot water, green tea comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others as well. These kinds of teas should never be in water that is anywhere near boiling.

As a British expat living in Asia, I was heavily amused to read this passage in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age:

There was lengthy discourse between the two men on which of them was more honored to be in the company of the other, followed by exhaustive discussion of the relative merits of the different teas offered by the proprietors, whether the leaves were best picked in early or late April, whether the brewing water should be violently boiling as the pathetic gwailos always did it, or limited to eighty degrees Celsius.

I rarely make tea, but I vaguely remember when I did long ago, that on rare occasions it was bitter and I kind of attributed that to having the water too hot. I assumed it wasn't a problem usually because I wasn't brewing it in a large teapot but after pouring into a mug during which the temperature drops substantially.

While this is cool and funny, the standard claims not to prescribe for general consumption, but to offer a standardised way to brew tea for sensory comparison. Which is great, but the procedure is way too limited:

> 2 grams of tea (measured to ±2% accuracy) per 100 ml boiling water is placed into the pot.

This means 20 grams per liter. That's ridiculously strong tea. 4-8 grams per liter is much more reasonable.

> Freshly boiling water is poured into the pot to within 4–6 mm of the brim. Allow 20 seconds for water to cool.

This is after putting the tea in the pot. But for green tea, you should let the water cool (in the pot or the kettle) before adding it to the tea.

> Brewing time is six minutes.

Again, some teas are better with a different brewing time.

Obligatory Tom Scott https://youtu.be/nAsrsMPftOI

from the standard [1]:

>Freshly boiling water is poured into the pot

vs preparing green tea [2]

>Steeping temperatures range from 61 °C (142 °F) to 87 °C (189 °F) and steeping times from 30 seconds to three minutes.

Of course he doesn't like tea if he brews green tea with too hot water.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea

Making this a fine example of systemic exclusion

OMG, I didn't know about this one :-)