Article published by : Oh, How Civilized
Making a perfect pot of tea is all in the details. Learn the proper way to make tea with my step-by-step instructions.
A PROPER CUP OF TEA
As a certified Tea Sommelier, I’ve learned that when it comes to making a proper cup of tea, it’s all in the details. Of course you can just boil some water and grab a tea bag, but if you want to elevate the experience there are a few extra steps you can take.
FIVE TIPS TO MAKING A PROPER CUP
TIP #1: Use Filtered water. Use clean, purified water that won’t add any other taste to your tea. I always make my tea with filtered water since the better the water, the better the tea will taste.
TIP #2: Set the correct water temperature.
Water temperature is a little tricky. Some tea require just boiled water while other teas are a little more sensitive to hot water (especially green tea) so you’ll need to make sure the water temperature is correct.
TIP #3: Steep for the correct amount of time. Oversteeping tea leads to a bitter cup. This is the time to use the timer on your smartphone.
Follow the steep time recommendations on the tea package, but roughly it is: black tea for 4-5 minutes, green and oolong for 3 minutes, and white tea for 4 minutes.
Once the time is up, your tea is ready to drink. Don’t leave the tea leaves sitting in water since that just makes the tea way too strong and bitter.
If you’re making a big pot of tea, use a teapot with an infuser to take out the leaves after the steep time. You can add the infuser back in the teapot if you want to steep the tea again in hot water.
TIP #4: Use loose tea.
I rarely use tea bags since the tea is usually not as good as whole loose tea.
Tea in tea bags are the leftover broken bits, or “tea dust,” collected after tea has been processed. That doesn’t sound too appealing does it?
Good quality tea is a rolled whole tea leaf. As the tea steeps, it will unfurl in the hot water and you should be able to see the entire leaf. Loose tea is the best tea to steep.
TIP #5: Warm the teapot. Warming the teapot helps to brew the tea properly, keeping the water temperature hot.
Pour some hot water into a teapot and swirl it around a bit, warming it up from the hot water. Throw out the water.
Now your teapot is nice and warm, ready to brew tea!
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