How to brew loose leaf tea (It doesn’t need to be difficult)
20 Nov
You’ve probably heard that loose leaf tea is superior to tea from a bag. How to brew loose leaf tea is tough to answer precisely. That’s not everything. It’s also a lot less expensive. You want to make a change. The issue is that brewing loose tea appears to be far too difficult. Everyone you ask and every website you visit will offer you different answers about how to brew loose leaf tea. One recipe calls for steeping the leaves in boiling water for two minutes, while the other calls for one minute in 80° water. And you only want a cup of tea. The reason for all the differences is that there is no such thing as a perfect tea brewing time. There are too many variables to consider, like the tea in question, your particular preferences, and so on.
What you can do is provide some decent beginning points that will work for any tea. Use these starting points for the first brew whenever you buy new tea and adjust from there. Unless your tea comes with instructions on how to prepare it. Then utilize those as a jumping-off point. Reduce the brewing time if you think your tea is too strong (or use fewer leaves). Increase the steeping time if it’s too weak (or increase the number of leaves).
How to brew loose leaf tea: Steeping times and temperatures
How to brew loose leaf tea: Steeping times and temperatures
For the number of leaves, use the indicated number of teaspoons for each cup of tea. So, if you’re using a pot that holds 4 cups, use 4 times the indicated number of teaspoons.
Note: For herbal teas, follow the black tea recommendations. Use the directions for the underlying tea leaves for flavored teas. If your flavored tea contains green tea leaves, for example, follow the green tea guidelines.
These instructions are, obviously, quite basic. Because I’m attempting to keep the brewing procedure as simple as possible, this is the case. That’s really all you need to make a delicious cup of tea, and there’s no convoluted process to keep you from drinking more tea this way.
Below, I’ll go over brewing in further depth, including advanced techniques and a slew of helpful hints. But first, let’s look at some of the greatest brewing pots for making tea.
What vessel is best for brewing loose leaf tea?
What vessel is best for brewing loose leaf tea?
Again, there is an excessive amount of information, most of which is useless. This is something I’m also guilty of.
You’ll find recommendations for brewing vessels like the gaiwan or the yixing if you read the specific tea pages on this site. Traditional brewing containers like these are attractive and enjoyable to use, but tea produced in one tastes no different than tea made in a conventional glass or ceramic teapot.
They also have disadvantages that simpler pots do not.
Cleaning the yixing (and other clay pots) is impossible. The more tea residue you brew, the more it seeps into the porcelain.
Many tea experts think this is a good thing, but it also means you should only ever brew one sort of tea in your teapot. If you’re going to use it for oolong tea, only brew oolong tea in it. You’ll need a new teapot if you wish to consume a different type of tea.
I own one of these teapots and use it exclusively for oolong tea. For any other type of tea, I have a conventional glass teapot.
Whether you have a traditional pot or not, I would recommend getting a simple brewing vessel like glass or ceramic pot or mug. Alternatively, you can purchase a whole tea service set, which will always contain a teapot or gaiwan.
Depending on your needs and what you already have, you have a few possibilities.
