Fine teas are not just about investing in a good pack of tea from Tea People. In order to enjoy the precious and exotic flavours of fine tea, preparing it absolutely perfectly is all the more necessary. The intensity of flavour of the tea is up to you, but there are a few suggested hints for brewing the perfect cup. While the basic process for brewing is same for all teas, you may need to vary the temperature of the water and steeping time depending on the type of tea.
- Boil clean, filtered water in a tea kettle or pot.
- Measure about 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves or 1 pyramid teabag per cup and place it into an empty teapot. Alternately you can use tea nets, infusers or simply place the leaves or the pyramid teabag in a cup.
- Pour hot water over tea leaves, cover and allow to brew for two to five minutes (see below for a temperature and time chart).
In one to two minutes, the tea is fully brewed for flavour and caffeine extraction. After two minutes, the leaves start to produce tannin, which gives the tea a stronger taste, though has soothing (purported medical) effects on digestion. You could experiment with different brewing times until you reach a flavour that suits you.
- Strain the tea into cups or another tea pot to avoid over brewing. Your perfect cup is now ready to be sipped.
Fine tea is best enjoyed as it is but you may add sugar, sweetener, honey, lemon or even milk to suit your taste, but to the black teas only. We do not recommend adding sweetener or milk to green, white or even oolong teas. If you are going to add any sweetener or milk then you may like to infuse it for slightly longer .
Here’s a tea brewing chart, but do bear in mind that these are only guidelines. To get the taste that best suits your individual preferences, we would recommend experimenting with all the three variables, i.e. quantity, water temperature and infusion time until you get your perfect brew.
