For a full-flavored cup of tea, use one teaspoon of leaves for every cup. It is important to let the water that you boiled cool down for 30 seconds to a minute. Using water that is too hot, scorches the leaves and tends to make the tea bitter.
Five tips:
1. Use loose-leaf tea. This is the single best way to instantly improve your cuppa.
2. Understand the main types.
3. Care about your water (but don’t stress too much).
4. Brew thoughtfully.
5. Try not to overload it.
Fill a kettle with freshly drawn cold water. We recommend using filtered water because the quality of your water will directly affect the taste of your tea. Many towns have water that has too much chlorine and other minerals. When the water is near the boiling point, pour a little into the teapot, swirl around, and tip away. This leaves a hot, clean teapot.
Measure the tea carefully into your teapot, allowing one rounded teaspoon or one tea bag for each cup (8 fluid ounces) required. Many people prefer to use a tea ball or filter to keep the leaves from spreading throughout the teapot. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Do not allow it to boil too long, as it will boil away some of the flavour-releasing oxygen and result in a flat cup. Green and white tea should be made with water that has boiled and allowed to cool for just under a minute.
Pour the water onto the leaves or tea bags. This saturates the tea allowing the flavour to release naturally. Do not pour the water and then add the tea, this will only result in a poor cup of tea. Always cover your tea when steeping. The tea leaves will unfurl properly when covered.
The differing types of tea should be allowed to infuse for the required number of minutes at the appropriate water temperatures listed below. Make sure not to venture too far from your tea when it is brewing. Teas take from as little as 2 minutes to 3 minutes to achieve their ideal brewing time.
If you prefer your tea stronger or weaker, never vary the brewing time; simply increase or decrease the amount of tea. If allowed to sit in the teapot, the tea can over-brew and turn bitter. Some green, oolong and white teas are good for multiple infusions – just add new hot water to the pot and increase the steeping time a bit. .
