Hello everyone,
I am completely new to the world of tea. I first came into contact with it at the beginning of this year when I began to explore green tea in more depth during my trip to Japan. Of course, I couldn't resist bringing a few varieties of green tea home with me.
When I stood in the kitchen to prepare my first cup of tea, I thought to myself: there must be an app that can tell me the right temperature and brewing time for my new teas. Unfortunately, I only found a few very old apps, most of which were extremely unclear and often impractical.
And then I had an idea: I've been interested in programming and app development for a long time. As luck would have it, I wasn't very busy at the time. So I saw it as a challenge: I wanted to program a good tea timer app. What started as a simple pastime quickly turned into a very intensive hobby. During development, I realized that I lacked in-depth knowledge about teas. So I went to the local tea merchants here in Lucerne (Switzerland). I showed them a beta version, which was met with great interest.
During our conversations, the strengths, and weaknesses of the beta version immediately became apparent, and I received valuable feedback for the now completed version. Along with the feedback, I also brought home my first high-quality oolong and pu-erh teas.
I enjoy my morning teas and am excited to see where my journey will take me next. I am also looking forward to further feedback on my new app. It is now available in the iOS App Store under the name “Steep Timer”. I am happy to provide promo codes. Just get in touch with me.
Best regards from Lucerne
Martin
Introduce Yourself
-
Léon
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:00 am
- Location: South East of the Netherlands, in between Belgium and Germany
Hi Martin,
You could also just prepare the tea and drink it when you feel like it. You could also prepare the tea without any technology.
For me tea is freedom. No clock, no thermometer.
Nothing at all to worry about. (Exception: the quality of the tea).
You could also just prepare the tea and drink it when you feel like it. You could also prepare the tea without any technology.
For me tea is freedom. No clock, no thermometer.
Nothing at all to worry about. (Exception: the quality of the tea).
Hello,
I am excited to have found this forum. I've enjoyed tea, specifically green, for a long time. I have recently begun to research the interactions of clay pots with tea and found this site during my research. Perhaps some of you with some experience in this may like to suggest your favorite potter/kiln or clay and the tea you enjoy it with.
Looking forward to learning more
I am excited to have found this forum. I've enjoyed tea, specifically green, for a long time. I have recently begun to research the interactions of clay pots with tea and found this site during my research. Perhaps some of you with some experience in this may like to suggest your favorite potter/kiln or clay and the tea you enjoy it with.
Looking forward to learning more
steeping parameters could have many variables which are hard to convey in some app as a preset thing. Apart of they type of the tea , there is a factor like size of the leaves ( you would have to make some optical recognition feature ) , depth of fermentation / oxidation ( not always visible by optics ) , in puerh tea also the storage ( that one can very vary and hard to determine / set in some analogical scale ) and last but not least, the quality of the leaf it self ( higher quality leave , in many cases, can hold longer times without getting astringent..etc. ) which I'm not sure how to put this in some app like a scaled variable to calculate with.martinl wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 12:30 pmHello everyone,
I am completely new to the world of tea. I first came into contact with it at the beginning of this year when I began to explore green tea in more depth during my trip to Japan. Of course, I couldn't resist bringing a few varieties of green tea home with me.
When I stood in the kitchen to prepare my first cup of tea, I thought to myself: there must be an app that can tell me the right temperature and brewing time for my new teas. Unfortunately, I only found a few very old apps, most of which were extremely unclear and often impractical.
And then I had an idea: I've been interested in programming and app development for a long time. As luck would have it, I wasn't very busy at the time. So I saw it as a challenge: I wanted to program a good tea timer app. What started as a simple pastime quickly turned into a very intensive hobby. During development, I realized that I lacked in-depth knowledge about teas. So I went to the local tea merchants here in Lucerne (Switzerland). I showed them a beta version, which was met with great interest.
During our conversations, the strengths, and weaknesses of the beta version immediately became apparent, and I received valuable feedback for the now completed version. Along with the feedback, I also brought home my first high-quality oolong and pu-erh teas.
I enjoy my morning teas and am excited to see where my journey will take me next. I am also looking forward to further feedback on my new app. It is now available in the iOS App Store under the name “Steep Timer”. I am happy to provide promo codes. Just get in touch with me.
Best regards from Lucerne
Martin
Let alone the fact , that your preset parameters don't have to resonate with other tea drinkers preference. Like some people like very dark coffee like shu puerh some people not.
So it might be working for some specific tea like JP green, I don't know. For sure not on Chinese tea though.
I believe there are many apps, the Tea Pal comes into mi mind ( not sure if they have steeping function there ) .
The scales, stop watch and thermometer you are going to use probably first year, maybe less , then just will brew the tea without any thinking like you did before with tea bags and such.
-
Philologus
- New user
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2025 9:25 pm
- Location: North Florida
Hello,
Thank you for allowing me to join you. I humbly seek your guidance to learn as much as possible about the world of tea. I submit these answers to your questions.
How long have you been drinking tea?
about 50 years
What kind of tea do you drink?
traditional tea (Camellia sinensis) in most any form except flavored teas with a few notable exceptions
How do you prepare your tea?
it depends on what kind but I have,
cast iron pots
gaiwan
fine bone china
glazed porcelein
glassware
What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
no specific topic but I am always looking for more knowledge and recommendations for methods and sources
What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
My grandmother had traveled to England and talked about their tea rituals. About the same time as a teen I began reading The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings. In the Hobbit particularly having tea was a prominent topic which appealed to me. I mostly always drank loose tea and black tea with milk and sugar was where I started. Along the way I discovered high mountain tea, Darjeeling at first, then almost by accident I came across some fine tea from Nepal, specifically Antu Valley and Sri Antu. I was of course shocked by the price at first but once I had tasted it I would gladly pay even more IF it was available. That was the real beginning to my tea journey. After that I was all about the high mountain teas for a long time. Then I discovered oolong, Ti quan yin at first and then branched out to more varieties. Republic of Tea helped with my learning as they had more information about the different varieties, recommendations, water temps etc. I had now been seeking knowledge about tea for several years and thought I knew a lot about it. But after reading through ROT's book Tea-Chings I decided to try green tea again. I had not liked it before but found that I had been brewing it with water that was too hot for too long. After that I added one more thing to my like list, This was when I decided to let go of what I thought I knew and really listen. Since then I have discovered more varieties, among them, keemun, bohea, matcha and other Japanese greens, Hojicha, pu erh, etc. I have indeed learned much over the years but the more I learn (about this and many other pursuits) the less I feel I know. As Socrates said, "The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing." Probably largely due to geography tea means iced, normally sweet, pretty well exclusively. I am normally alone in my interest and pretty well always the "tea guy," in every room. This all brings me here. I come holding nothing in my hand and humbly seek to learn everything I can.
What is your location?
North Florida
Thank you for allowing me to join you. I humbly seek your guidance to learn as much as possible about the world of tea. I submit these answers to your questions.
How long have you been drinking tea?
about 50 years
What kind of tea do you drink?
traditional tea (Camellia sinensis) in most any form except flavored teas with a few notable exceptions
How do you prepare your tea?
it depends on what kind but I have,
cast iron pots
gaiwan
fine bone china
glazed porcelein
glassware
What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
no specific topic but I am always looking for more knowledge and recommendations for methods and sources
What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
My grandmother had traveled to England and talked about their tea rituals. About the same time as a teen I began reading The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings. In the Hobbit particularly having tea was a prominent topic which appealed to me. I mostly always drank loose tea and black tea with milk and sugar was where I started. Along the way I discovered high mountain tea, Darjeeling at first, then almost by accident I came across some fine tea from Nepal, specifically Antu Valley and Sri Antu. I was of course shocked by the price at first but once I had tasted it I would gladly pay even more IF it was available. That was the real beginning to my tea journey. After that I was all about the high mountain teas for a long time. Then I discovered oolong, Ti quan yin at first and then branched out to more varieties. Republic of Tea helped with my learning as they had more information about the different varieties, recommendations, water temps etc. I had now been seeking knowledge about tea for several years and thought I knew a lot about it. But after reading through ROT's book Tea-Chings I decided to try green tea again. I had not liked it before but found that I had been brewing it with water that was too hot for too long. After that I added one more thing to my like list, This was when I decided to let go of what I thought I knew and really listen. Since then I have discovered more varieties, among them, keemun, bohea, matcha and other Japanese greens, Hojicha, pu erh, etc. I have indeed learned much over the years but the more I learn (about this and many other pursuits) the less I feel I know. As Socrates said, "The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing." Probably largely due to geography tea means iced, normally sweet, pretty well exclusively. I am normally alone in my interest and pretty well always the "tea guy," in every room. This all brings me here. I come holding nothing in my hand and humbly seek to learn everything I can.
What is your location?
North Florida