Wondering how to brew tea? To achieve the perfect cup of tea you need fresh water, tea leaves and something to infuse the leaves in.
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How To Brew Tea
Learning how to brew tea involves mastering these three simple steps: 1) boil fresh water 2) infuse leaves & 3) enjoy drinking the tea!
Water
The quality of the water that you use will affect the taste of the tea. It is important to use fresh water, not water that has been sitting for days in the tea kettle on your range. Some people may prefer to use spring water or bottled water. Tap water is also fine to use. The water should be brought to a rolling boil on the range. While is it is not necessarily wrong to use the microwave to heat the water, the use of the microwave does affect the end result. A microwave allows the water to heat up fast, but the water will then cool down rapidly.
After the water has been brought to a boil, swirl some of the hot water around in your tea pot in order to warm the pot. A pottery, ceramic or glass tea pot should be used for brewing the tea. You can then decant the tea into a warmed silver or other type of tea pot for serving.
**When working with a hot tea kettle or tea pot, remember to use a hot pad or oven mitt to protect yourself from hot handles!**
The Infusion Process
You don’t need a fancy glass teapot in order to make an infusion. A saucepan of boiling water will work also. You can put your herbs in a metal tea infuser, a muslin bag, a piece of cheesecloth or place them loose in the water and then strain when finished steeping.
When using an infuser, you need to remember that the tea will swell to twice its original size so be sure to use a large enough infuser.
When brewing black tea, pour the boiling water over the tea and allow to steep for exactly five minutes. Longer brewing time results in a bitter tasting tea. If you prefer a weaker tea, additional hot water can be added to your cup to dilute the tea. Use one teaspoon black tea to one cup water to make one cup of tea. To brew 4 cups of tea, you would use 4 teaspoons of tea and 4 cups of water.
When brewing green tea, herb teas or tisanes allow the boiling water to cool down a few degrees before pouring it over the leaves. You want to do this so that the water doesn’t scald the green tea or herb leaves. The brewing time for herb teas and green tea can be between 5 and 10 minutes.
Once you have the hot water in the tea pot with the tea leaves, cover the tea pot with a tea cozy or a towel to help keep the pot warm while the tea is brewing.
When making an infusion to use in a recipe, you are basically preparing a strong tea. An infusion is prepared by heating the liquid and letting the herbs steep for a least 30 minutes. Longer steeping will produce a stronger infusion, experiment to find out the strength you prefer. After steeping for the desired time, strain the liquid to remove the herbs and then add the liquid to the recipe.
Enjoy Drinking the Tea
Once the tea is finished brewing, you are ready to pour the tea into a cup, relax and enjoy the tea!
Tea Sweeteners
If you like to sweeten your tea, I share my tips on how to make herbal honeys
and herbal sugars
in my Herbal Condiment post
Caffeine Free Herbal Blends
If you would like to try your hand at blending your own herbal teas, this post has a few great tips and a recipe!
How to Craft a Caffeine Free Herbal Tea
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