The Essentials of Loose Leaf Tea Brewing
For those who are used to brewing tea in bags, the idea of brewing loose leaf tea can seem a little intimidating. Brewing loose leaf tea is actually a simple process, and one that is not that time consuming, either. Here are our essentialls for how to brew a great cup of loose leaf tea.
1. High quality tea: It is important to start off with high quality tea—not only for taste and health purposes, but also because it is much easier to brew without all the astringency and bitterness. Make sure that you trust your tea sources and those who are selling you tea.
2. High quality water: The second ingredient for good tea is good water. Make sure that you at least run your water through a filter of some kind. If possible, look into getting water from a reverse osmosis system if you want clean water without heavy mineralization and strong tastes that can negatively effect your tea.
3. Space: The third key to brewing great tea is to use a teapot or filter that gives the leaves lots of room to expand. If the tea leaves are constrained, then water cannot flow through them correctly and the leaves cannot get bigger as the water soaks into them.
4. Water temperature and time: In our opinion, almost all high quality teas (with very few exceptions) can be brewed with 195-208 degree Fahrenheit water (just under boiling). In addition, high quality tea will be full of flavor, so unless you are looking for a really strong tea, the leaves will not need to brew for very long—typically we will brew tea for 1-2 minutes during the first couple of steepings.
5. Amount of tea: This doesn't have to be an exact science, but typically for leafy teas such as our White Peony King tea, we use about 1 tbsp of leaves per 8-10 oz cup and brew the leaves 3-4 times on average. For heavier and more dense teas, we use about 1-1.5 teaspoons per 8-10 oz cup and steep 3-4 times on average.
These are the essentials of brewing great tea! Simply follow these steps and you will be brewing an amazing cup of tea in no time.