Brewing Tea

Brewing Tea

Brewing tea is really quite easy. Here are some instructions for brewing a perfect cup of tea.

First start with cold, great tasting, water. If your tap water does not taste good, then use filtered or bottled water. (I say to use cold water because a typical hot water heater will often add contaminants and reduce the amount of oxygen in the water, which is needed for flavor extraction).

Then bring the desired amount of water to a rolling boil. (Do not boil the water for a long period of time because this too will deplete the water of oxygen).

Put approximately 2 grams or 1 tsp. of tea leaves per 6-8 oz. of water into a pre-heated pot or cup (pre-heating will allow the tea to steep at the proper temperature).

Then add hot water according the chart below for the type of tea you are brewing. Please note that these are general guidelines. If your tea container has brewing instructions I would follow those as they are probably ideal for that specific tea.
About Water Temperature

The water temperature does not have to be exact. The main thing to remember is to not use boiling water for Green or White teas. They will burn and create bitter flavors.

A good way to guess at the water temperature without a thermometer is to bring the water to a boil, and wait about 30 seconds (for white tea) or 60 seconds (for green tea) before pouring over the leaves.