Tea Brewing Guide
One of the most commonly asked questions I get when we are set up at different farmer’s markets is how to make tea or more precisely, how to make loose leaf tea. I have decided to share with you a rough guide as to how to brew the best loose leaf tea for you.
The first thing to understand is that everyone likes their cup of loose leaf tea a certain way. Keeping that in mind, it is important to acknowledge that there is no one true and correct way to make loose leaf tea. It is important to try, test and taste according to your individual preference. Over time, through trial and error, you will figure out what works best for you.
There are four key things that go into brewing a good cup of tea:
- Water temperature
- Duration of brewing
- Amount of loose leaf tea to be added, and
- Quality loose leaf tea
Black tea
Let us begin with the most commonly drunk tea, black tea. Keeping in mind the key things required to brew your perfect cup of loose leaf tea let us begin.
Firstly, I would like to talk about the amount of tea to be added. For all of our One Eighty South loose leaf teas, we advise one heaped teaspoon of leaves per cup (250ml). To make this easier, we have a couple of different measuring teaspoons in our range of accessories so that you never get the measurement wrong.
Let us now hone in on water temperature. Though black tea can be brewed with boiling water, we do recommend letting the water sit for a minute before you pour it into your tea pot, say around 95 degrees centigrade. This ensures that the tea leaves don’t burn from the heat generated.
Now, let us look at the duration of brewing. This is where individual preferences come in. As a rough guide, for most black teas, 3-5 minutes of brewing time is ideal. However, feel free to experiment with this and see how strong you like your tea. The longer the tea leaves brew in the pot, the stronger the tea!
Finally, the ingredient itself, quality loose leaf tea. You can find a wide range of quality, hand plucked teas in our catalogue to choose from. One Eighty South specializes in Darjeeling tea which is arguably the finest in the world. Check out our wide range of loose leaf black teas today!
Green teas
For green teas we again recommend the same amount of loose leaf tea per cup (1 heaped teaspoon in a 250ml cup).
In terms of water temperature, we recommend the water being no more than 90 degrees centigrade, anywhere between 80-90 is good.
The duration of the brew should again be somewhere between 3-5 minutes, depending on how strong you like your cup of loose leaf green tea. Be bold, experiment and let us know what works well for you.
You can find our range of green teas on our catalogue and can be assured that when you purchase a One Eighty South tea, you are purchasing a tea of superior quality.
White teas
For our range of delicate white teas, we recommend the same amount of loose leaf tea per cup. (One heaped teaspoon per 250ml cup).
With regards to water temperature, we recommend using hot water between 80-90 degrees centigrade.
As white tea is more delicate and with a subtler taste compared to other varieties, we recommend brewing white tea for a longer duration. As a rule of thumb, anywhere between 3-7 minutes is good. However, do have a play around and experiment with this to see what strength of white tea works for you.
We have some beautiful white teas on offer for you, pick them out and share your thoughts with regards to how you like to drink your cup of loose leaf goodness.
We also recommend using the same leaves for 2 brews for all our teas. Just let the loose leaves brew for longer when you are doing a second brew. All of our teas come with brewing instructions.
Although Darjeeling tea is traditionally drunk black (no sugar or milk), some of the teas can accommodate condiments such as a dash of milk. The Darjeeling Second Flush and the Eccentric Earl can be tried with a dash of milk. We do encourage you to play around with the teas and the brewing methods to make the best cup of One Eighty South tea for you!