Step One: Choose Your Tea and Tea Brewing items
Tea brews with the best flavor when the leaves have room to swell and expand, so my brewing preference is for teapots or a tea basket. In general, the best quality leaves are available in loose leaf form, but there are times when a tea bag can’t be beat for convenience. Teapots are a good choice for sharing tea with friends or for multiple cups of tea. For an individual serving there are lots of adorable tea strainers out there, but I’d stay away from anything plastic. My favorite for loose tea is a stainless steel tea basket with plenty of holes. There is slightly more work involved brewing tea in loose leaf form, but if you are after the best cup of tea I recommend it.
Step Two: Boil Water
Good tasting water makes for good tasting tea so use water that you would also enjoy drinking on it’s own. Bring water to no less than a rolling boil. The water must be boiling or you will not get the full flavor from your black tea leaves.
Step Three: Pre-heat Teapot or Teacup
Swirl warm water in the vessel in which you plan to steep. By pre-warming your teapot or teacup you’ll prevent the boiling water from immediately cooling down once it’s been added. Drain this water before you add the tea.
Step Four: Add Tea to Vessel
For each 8 oz serving of water, add one heaping teaspoon of loose leaf tea to tea pot or tea basket. An equivalent serving is one tea bag. Increase quantity of tea in accordance to desired servings. It’s also traditional, to add one extra scoop of tea beyond the required servings when making a pot of tea.
Step Five: Pour Hot Water Over Tea
Take the kettle off the stove and immediately pour the water from the kettle over the tea leaves. Again, the water must be boiling or you will not get the full flavor from your black tea leaves.
Step Six: Steep Your Tea
Place the cover on your teapot or place a plate on top of your teacup. Wait 3-5 minutes before drinking your tea to allow the full flavor of your tea to develop. Each variety of black tea will have a slightly different recommended steeping time, between three and five minutes. Each minute makes a difference, experiment and see what you prefer. Once steeping time is complete, remove your tea basket or tea bag, or if using a teapot, pour yourself a cup tea through a strainer into your cup.
Step Seven: Enjoy Your Tea
Add milk, lemon or sweetener to taste (watch for future articles regarding the merits and best uses of each). Sit someplace comfortable and drink your well-brewed tea.
