How To: Make The Perfect Cup of Tea!

a caffeine-powered presentation by Greyson Thorne

SO, you want to be a tea connoisseur….

There lies a BOLD line between your average Lipton’s fix and a fine brew of English builder’s tea. If you want to step up your tea-drinking and/or brewing skills, follow this guide!

BLACK - Most common tea, high caffeine, naturally strong and

bitter, but hearty and welcoming.

GREEN - Earthy taste, low/medium caffeine, lots of health benefits

HERBAL - Medicinal taste, no caffeine, can have beneficial effects for

sleep, digestive system, or metabolism

STEP I: Identify your tea.

Tea is like music: everyone has their favourite(s), every tea suits a different scenario, and no two teas are alike. Find what suits you best

and why. Some may like all variants of tea, some may love one

kind and despise another, and some may only like tea prepared in

a certain way.

STEP II: Bagged vs. Loose Leaf.

Bagged tea is far more convenient and easier for novice consumers, but loose leaf typically is of a higher quality and allows for the interesting effect of cross-brewing teas. Choose wisely!

STEP III: Boil the water.Different teas require different boiling

temperatures. Too hot will bring out bitter flavours, and too cool will not

extract enough flavours. Black or rooibos tea needs boiling hot water,

exactly 100°C. White and green teas, however, are more delicate are

require a cooler temperature of 70°C. Oolong tea can be steeped at a

medium 80°C.

STEP IV: Pour the water.

It is vital that you NEVER pour the water and then insert the tea. Always pour the water OVER your tea, as this provides a more consistent and complex flavour.

STEP V: Steep the tea.Contrary to popular belief, you

should rarely ever leave the tea to steep as you drink. Especially with earthy teas like green or rooibos, steeping for TOO long results in a bitter, powerful flavour. Generally

speaking, 2-3 minutes is a good in-between to get enough flavour and

still make your tea drinkable.

STEP VI: Add a sweetener (or don’t, that’s cool too).To sweeten, or not to sweeten? That is the question. Different teas make the answer to this question vary, between the kind of sweetener and how much. Black tea is best consumed with two teaspoons of granulated sugar and a splash of milk. Green tea may be consumed with or without sugar or honey, just by preference. Herbal teas should always be sweetened with honey to complement its medicinal effects.

Enjoy your tea!

Next to water, tea is the most consumed beverage of all time - above beer, wine, or coffee. Additionally, tea provides excellent antioxidants, reduces probability of getting cancer, helps acne, improves digestion, and speeds up metabolism, amongst many other things. So go and

enjoy that hearty brew of tea, since you’re a master now.

https://www.twoleavestea.com

http://lifehacker.com

http://www.thefragrantleaf.com

http://www.thekitchn.com

http://www.octaviatea.com

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