How to Make a Great Cup of Tea
It does not seem very hard to make a cup of tea; just put a teabag into a cup and pour hot water on it. Sure, if all you want is a cup of hot brown, or tan, liquid, you could do that. The question is do you want just a cup of tea, a cup of good tea, or a cup of great tea. Which tea you use and what you do with it are big factors in how your tea will taste.
You need to start with the most important part of the formula, the tea itself. While it is true that many teabags contain inferior quality tea, there are some good ones. Both the quality of the original tealeaf and the size of the leaf pieces affect tea flavor. If you want to use teabags, select a brand that has extra large teabags or pyramid-shaped. Tealeaves need room to expand when they steep, so tea companies who use large pieces use bigger teabags.
Next, select a brewing vessel, preferably one with a lid that will keep your tea hot while it is steeping. Amongst the good choices would be a small personal teapot, a mug with a lid, or a gaiwan. A gaiwan is a small cup with no handle and a lid that fits on top. The lid keeps in the heat during steeping and is used to hold back the tealeaves during pouring. Commuter cups with tight lids and a steam hole are also good for brewing teabag tea.
However, if you want a great cup of tea, you need to steep it loose, even if you only want one cup. Though this sounds complicated, it does not have to be difficult at all with the right equipment. Many on-line tea companies sell reusable infusers that are designed to fit inside the mugs they sell. Simply put the infuser into the cup, steep according to package instructions, then remove the infuser with the tealeaves. You can even take the infuser to work with you in case you want a cup later.
That is the right way to make a great cup of tea, but there are many, many wrong ways to do it. Other than using bad tea, you could use hot water straight from the tap instead of heating fresh filtered water. Even if you have the right water, you could use the wrong temperature of the tea you want to steep. It’s easier to make a bad cup of tea than a good one, as in this video.
brewed on Mar 8th, 2010
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