Brewing “your” perfect cup of tea – easily!
Many people want to enjoy the tremendous flavors of loose leaf tea but are put off because they believe it is too difficult – it is easy if you have a little knowledge and follow a procedure. Let me explain:
To make “your” perfect cup of tea you will need a good quality loose leaf tea, a suitable cup, a basket infuser, a measuring spoon, a timer and a source of hot water.
Place the infuser in the cup (say 8 oz capacity) and add the tea (let’s use English Breakfast), around one and a half teaspoons, using a measuring spoon. Then add the boiling water to the top of the mug and set the timer for 4 minutes.
When the 4 minutes is up, remove the infuser and let it drip in its tray. Wait until it is the correct temperature for your mouth and drink. Easy!
Always initially use the times suggested on the pouch of tea that will vary from one minute for the fine green teas up to 12 minutes for the herbals.
What is great about tea brewing is that you can adjust to your “perfect” taste by following different methods:
You can add more leaves to weaken or strengthen the taste – the best way is to use as little as you need so the tea gives more cups per pouch.
Change the brewing time to shorten or lengthen the infused time to get a different flavor without going too long and making it bitter.
For fine leaf teas drop the brewing temperature by adding 10 to 15% cold water over the leaves before adding the hot water – removes any bitterness and gives a lighter smoother taste.
In some areas the water is pretty bad so use bottle water to overcome this problem.
I hope you agree it is fairly simple and you can brew larger quantities in teapots with infusers and just multiply the amount of tea according to the size.
ENGLISH TEALEAVES 