HOME BREWING FOR THE BEST

For Soothing Hot Tea:

The Four Golden Rules for a delicious cup of hot tea: (1) use a teapot, (2) bring fresh, cold tap water to a full boil (Note: If your water is heavily chlorinated or contains other objectionable odors, filter before boiling for best tasting tea); (3) use one teaspoon or one tea bag per cup; (4) pour boiling water over tea and brew by the clock 3 to 5 minutes and serve!

For the best flavor, preheat the teapot with a little hot water prior to use and cover your teapot with a cozy to retain heat during the brewing process.

Refreshing Iced Tea:

For small quantities, proceed as for hot tea and pour over ice. For large quantities, prepare concentrate as follows:
Bring one quart of cold water to a boil. Remove from heat and add 8-10 teabags per quart of brewed tea as desired. Steep 3-5 minutes and pour over remaining cold water or ice cubes. To serve, pour into tall glasses filled with ice, garnish or sweeten as desired.

Whole Loose Leaf:

Try to avoid using small tea balls, as the leaves have less room to unfurl and develop their full flavor. Depending upon the tea type, use one teaspoons or one tablespoon per 6 ounces or cup of water. Many of our teas are good for multiple infusions such as the oolongs. Simply add more hot water to the leaves and increase infusion times.

Special Guidelines for Green Tea:

When water comes to a boil, remove from the source of heat and allow to sit for ten minutes. Pour this hot water over the Green Tea and allow to brew for approximately one minute and serve. (Note: The brewing times may be shortened or lengthened according to your taste)

Special Guidelines for Oolongs & White Teas:

The best thing to say when dealing with any tea is – the larger and more delicate looking the leaf, the lower the water temperature. Usually, you will want to use between 180-190 degree water for big oolongs and white teas. Black teas need much hotter water for proper extraction. Boiling water will scorch a bold leaf like white tea.

Time is a little different since oolongs will need to steep a bit longer than white tea – oolongs 5-7 minutes, white tea 3-4 minutes. Of course, all of this may be modified according to your own personal taste. These instructions are only to be used as a starting point.

Everyone should adjust time, temperature and amount of tea up and down until they find their perfect pot.

Loose tea vs. Bagged tea:

High quality loose teas are made from the Camellia sinensis plant’s finest hand-picked buds, whole tea leaves, large pieces of leaves or a combination of these parts. The time of year and growing conditions greatly affect the quality of tea. When all of these factors are taken into account, much like a fine wine, the tea retains its distinctive flavors and characteristics.

For those that like the convenience of a tea bag, there are Perfect Paper Tea Filters are available in the market for use with loose tea leaves. Like a tea bag, the paper tea filter can contain your tea while steeping eliminating the need for an infuser or strainer. These tea filters allow plenty of room for the loose leaf teas to expand as necessary to release their characteristic flavors and aromas into your tea cup. Better yet, you start by filling them with the whole tea leaf for a richer flavor.

Finally, we really love tea so we’ve made it our goal to bring you the finest and best loose leaf teas. Our loose leaf teas are always made with larger tea leaves so you can easily see the quality of your final tea blend. Try one of our loose leaf green teas or other types of loose tea and you may never use a tea bag again! Loose leaf teas also allow you to blend flavors and different types of tea easily.

Tips and Recommendations:
The best way to make tea usually depends on both the sort of tea being used and whether it is one cup or full pot. Different leaves have different temperatures and steep times, and the best techniques for tea bags don’t always work for loose tea. In general though good results are more with fresh filtered water. Hot water should be poured over leaves, in a clean pre-warmed cup or pot then steeped only as long as necessary anywhere from three to five minutes. Green and white tea leaves are delicate and often done in one to two minutes and black tea leaves can be done for three to five minutes. Most teas can be steeped multiple times within few hours of initial infusion. The science of tea tasting is to do what tastes right.

Below is a guidelines to get you on the right track.

Tea Type Water Temperature Steeping Time

White Tea 175 – 185 F 1-3 min
Green Tea 185 F 3 min
Black Tea 206 F 3-5 min
Darjeeling Tea 185 F 3 min
Herbal Tea 185 F 3 min