Tea Education - Making the perfect cup of tea

Does the word "tea" bring to mind the brand names Lipton, or nestea? If so, chances are that you have never had a real, true, cup of tea. Since the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, most Americans have elected to drink other beverages. Most people in fact, have never really thought about the association of the tea boycott in 1773 and their general aversion to tea.

This aversion however, is starting to decline as old grudges die. People are starting to not only find that they like the taste of tea, but are pleasantly surprised at the many healthy, and beneficial properties that tea has.

When you start your adventure in discovering the fresh, delicious taste of tea, you will probably come across some unfamiliar terms. First and foremost, don't be frightened by them. For this article there are only a couple of important words or terms that will you need to know. To make things easier, I have listed these terms with easy to understand definitions.

• Kettle (or tea kettle) - This is NOT a tea pot! This is the metal pot that your water is heated in.
• Tea Pot - This is the pot that you use to steep (not brew) tea.
• Steep or steeping - Steep or steeping is when you immerse the tea leaves in your hot water. This starts the process of infusion. Most people unaccustomed to speaking tea lingo would call this brewing. The word brew or brewing should never be used in a conversation regarding tea. Brewing is also used inappropriately with coffee. You steep and infuse coffee when you start your coffee pot. Brewing is a process of fermentation, and is primarily used as a process in making beer.
• Infuse or infusion - After you have placed your tea into your hot water, the oils, tannins, caffeine, and other natural, delicious, flavored particles seep into your water. This process is called infusion.
• Loose leaf tea - This is usually premium tea. It is called loose leaf because it usually does not come in little packets like you see in a package of Lipton.

In order to make tea you will need (or for convenience possibly want) the following items:

• Tea Kettle - If you do not have one of these, you can find a good deal for one at the bottom of this article.
• Kitchen thermometer - A candy thermometer works great. For ease of future steeping, I would time the length of time it takes for your water to get to the appropriate temperature and just use the time. It's kind of a pain to measure the temperature of your water every time you want to make tea.
• Tea Pot - If you do not have one of these, you could simply steep your tea in your cup. It is more convenient to steep multiple cups in a pot however. For a great deal on tea pots, see the bottom of this article. I personally recommend using an ingenuitea pot. These are great for quick, perfect, tea!
• Tea filters - These come in both paper form and other forms. The paper forms seem to be the most convenient because the cleanup is to simply throw the used filter into your compost. Some people say that the paper filters add an unpleasant flavor to your tea. Instead of filters, I use an ingenuitea pot. It is easy to use, makes FRESH tea one mug at a time, and it cleans up easy.
• Loose leaf tea - This one is hopefully self explanatory. There are so many different places to find premium loose leaf tea. My suggestion is to find a good tea shop in your area, or look online.
• Timer - A tea timer works great, and there are even some nifty tea timer apps for iphone and droid. Another option is a kitchen timer, but it needs to be able to track time in minutes.

Your first step is to heat your water. If possible, it is best to use bottled water or any kind of purified or filtered water. I suggest staying away from distilled water unless you are used to drinking it. Distilled water can affect people in adverse ways if you are not used to drinking it. For this step you will want to use a tea kettle. DO NOT USE A MICROWAVE! A microwave over excites the water molecules, and the temperature of your water can actually be hotter than boiling point. If you do not have a tea kettle, you can check out some nice ones on amazon.com at the bottom of this article.

Steps in using your kettle:

1. If you have an electric kettle, read the directions.
2. Rinse your kettle before using. Do not use water that is older than a couple of hours.
3. For non electric kettles, use a medium heat on a small burner. The handle of your kettle can get too hot if you use too much heat.
4. When your kettle whistles, turn off the burner underneath it, and let the kettle sit until it reaches the optimum temperature.
5. If you are using an electric kettle, you will follow step 1 and 2, and then turn it off when it is boiling (if it doesn't do so automatically). Remember to allow the kettle to cool to the optimum temperature.

For this part of the process, you will need to know the water capacity of either your tea pot or your favorite mug.

The amount of tea to use is generally one to two teaspoon(s) per eight ounces of water. (Funny how that spoon is named a teaspoon right?) How much you use is really up to you. Some delicate teas, as well as white teas, and tisanes, may require more or less than the general one to two teaspoon(s) per eight ounces of water.

If you are at a loss as to where to start it is best to use the recommended amount suggested by the tea blender that you purchased your tea from. If you don't have a suggested amount, simply use the slightly heaping teaspoon for every eight ounces, and adjust as you see fit after tasting your first cup.

Using too much tea can make your tea taste too bitter or acidic. Likewise, steeping your tea for too long or in too hot of water will result in the same.

A good cup of tea should have a fruity and/or nutty taste, but leave no unpleasant after taste.

After you have measured your tea, if you haven't already figured it out, put the loose leaf tea into your filter or pot.

Water temperature is one of the most critical elements in making the best cup of tea. In this article we are only working with tea and as such it is beyond the scope of this article to give the specifics on the various tisane water temperatures. Review the table below for your type of tea, and use that temperature.

As a note, you can usually get two to three extra steeps out of your tea (if you save the leaves of course). You will want to adjust the temperature of your water about 5 degrees hotter for each successive steep, but keep the steeping time the same. If you are working with black tea, you will just steep it an extra minute more.

The length of time your tea should steep is often personal taste, but there are a couple of stern rules you should follow.

1. Do NOT stir your tea leaves! Let them set still in your pot. (This will release extra tannins which will make your tea taste bitter.)
2. After steeping, Do NOT compress or press your leaves back into your pot. (This will release extra tannins which will make your tea taste bitter and possibly leave residue.)

The general average time of steeping is from one to three minutes. A high quality tea will not need more than five minutes in general unless you are steeping some kind of tisane. A general guideline is as follows:

• For green tea, steep two minutes. The tea should be green, not brown in shade.
• For oolong tea, start at one minute, and increase as you desire. (This tea is supposed to be light in flavor.)
• For black tea, steep for three minutes. If you are using the black tea leaves two to three times, increase to four minutes, and then five minutes respectively.

• If you are brewing milk tea, use MILK. Do not use cream as cream curdles in tea.
• A teaspoon of honey is much healthier and tastier than sugar. If you have to use sugar, use raw sugar.
• A drop or two of lemon in your green tea with honey is very delicious!

As a reminder, you should never use prepackaged (teabags) tea! The tea in these bags are usually the left over crumbs from the rotorvane/pizzy roller. There is no real quality control in what goes into those bags!

I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this article. I would love to hear your questions, & comments.

This article is the first article in a series of articles I will be publishing about all the things you've ever wanted to know about tea! Please make sure to visit often, or subscribe/like my facebook page to receive updates on new tea articles!

My next article will discuss the variety of tea types, and how they are processed/made.