Always remember that great tea comes from high quality tea leaves and proper preparation.
After purchasing your tea, especially loose tea, make sure to store it in an airtight container away form heat, light, moisture and odors.
Water temperature is also very important. Use the following chart as a beginning temperature and steeping time guide and then experiment. You may find you need to steep your tea a little more or less depending on how you like it!
· Black Tea - 3-5 minutes at 212°F
· Green Tea - 2-5 minutes at 170°F
· Oolong Tea - 4-7 minutes at 195°F - 210°F
· Herbal Tea - 10 minutes at 212F
· White Tea - 2-5 minutes at 170F
Preferred Brewing Method:
Fill your kettle with cold, preferably filtered water and begin heating on your cook top.
Pre-heat your teapot or cup by filling it with hot water. This will keep your teapot or cup hot longer, yielding a better brew. Just remember to dump the hot water before brewing!
Use about 1 teaspoon of tea per 6-ounce cup. Like steeping, you may find you need a little more or less depending upon size and strength.
To achieve a great brew, we recommend that you steep your tea in an infuser basket (or an unbleached filter if you are making a single cup.) Another option would be to place the tea leaves directly into the teapot then strain your steeped tea into a pre-warmed "serving" teapot. For herbals, you can simply leave the tea in the pot and strain into cups. Though lovely, a tea ball does not allow tea leaves to properly hydrate and fully expand, thus making an inferior cup.
When your water reaches boiling, pour it directly over the tea leaves into your pre-heated pot or cup. Agitate the leaves occasionally and steep to the proper time.
Remove the leaves and pour into your pot or cup. Taste the tea before making additions such as milk, lemon, honey or sugar.
Words of Advice: Milk is generally not added to flavored, green or oolong teas. And cream is rarely used with any kind of tea since it tends to mask tea’s more delicate flavor.
Once you’ve made your perfect cup, you’re ready to relax and enjoy!
