How to Brew a Cup of Tea

Of course, the best way to brew a cup of tea is to read the instructions provided with the different tea blends. To follow is a basic guide to brewing that perfect cup of tea:

Water - You should always use cold water. Tap water is fine if you let it run for a while before using. Bottled water is the best as it will have no metals or chemicals that might be part of your tap water.

Kettle - To keep from adding a metal taste to your water never use an aluminum kettle to boil your water. A better choice would be a stainless steel kettle or heat resistant ceramic.

Interested in using an electric tea kettle? We use the Bodum 'Ibis' kettle in the shop. It was less than $30, is easy to use, is cool to the touch and - very important to us - has an automatic shut off feature.

I gave the Krups 'Aquastyle' Cordless Kettle to my mother for her birthday. At under $80, it is more expensive than the Bodum but has a more attractive look to it. It is stainless steel with a black handle and rotating base. It is also very easy to use.

If you are interested in finding a vendor for either electric tea kettle we have placed a Search box at the bottom of this page.

Temperature - This depends on the type of tea you are brewing.

Delicate Green or White Teas - 180 degrees - your water will just be starting to simmer.
Green or Black Oolong Tea - 195 degrees - your water will be starting to bubble and steam.
Heavy Herbal or Black Tea - use water that is in a full rolling boil.

Teapot - while you are waiting for your water in your kettle to reach the correct temperature swish hot water in your teapot and pour it out through the teapot spout. Always use a glass, stainless steel or ceramic teapot to keep from having a metal taste in your tea.

Then following the instructions that came with your tea, measure out the correct amount of tea per cup. This is usually one teaspoon per cup but it might vary per type of tea.

Place the tea into the teapot, infusing ball or into an infusing basket. An infusing basket that fits over a tea cup is shown in the picture above.

Pour the water over the tea and allow to steep for the recommended amount of time. Once again, your tea package will most likely have a suggested steeping time.

Depending on the type of tea your steeping time could be as little as 30 seconds (very delicate white tea) or 7 minutes for some of the very thick leafed fruit teas.

Strain - If you have used an infusing ball remove the ball and pour the tea into a teacup. Otherwise, use a strainer to to separate the liquid from the leaves. Of course, if you have used an infusing basket that fits over the cup just remove the basket from the cup.


				welcome to our informational site designed to nourish your spirit How to Brew a Cup of Tea



	Home \| Adornment \| Aromatherapy \| Rituals \| Natural Beauty \| Hand Milled Soap \| Chakra Crystals \| Search \| Read \| Natural Magic's Online Store \| Site Index