The Ultimate Guide to How to Make Tea

There are many ways to brew tea.

Nearly in every country where this drink is popular, a simple tea drinking turns into a special ritual. In China, Japan and other Asian countries, England and Russia, tea has become a cult. Accordingly, various tea traditions have formed: the charming Chinese ceremony, the philosophical Japanese one, the measured English one.

It is perfectly possible to follow all these principles, to live each moment ‘here and now’, or, setting aside centuries of experience, to brew tea ‘quickly’. There are, however, some classic brewing rules that must be followed in order to obtain the best quality tea and enjoyment of life.

• Remember to always pour only fresh water into the teapot, spring or filtered water is best, in the worst case, the water should be settled. You should remember that mineralised, ‘hard’ water when brewing tea not only inhibits extraction, but also spoils the taste and aroma. Taking this fact into account, certain tea companies create special varieties of tea that are ideally suited to hard, highly mineralised water. For example, Rich Pioneer and Beautiful Ceylon black tea blends, as well as Ruhunu plantation tea.
• It is essential to remember that boiling water is a very important moment in the tea ceremony and goes through three clearly distinguishable phases.
  1. The first starts with small bubbles rising from the bottom of the kettle – the ‘crayfish eye’.
  2. The second stage – ‘fish eye’, is characterised by an increase and rapid rise of bubbles, the water boils ‘white key’.
  3. The third stage is an intensive bubbling of water with the appearance of large bursting bubbles on the surface, and then splashes, the tone of boiling water changes – ‘the noise of the wind in the pines’.
• Boiling water should be stopped before this ‘wind noise’ is heard, as rapid boiling means ‘the death of water’. A good brewing of tea requires a high oxygen content in the water, and this quickly escapes with the onset of vigorous boiling. Do not boil the water a second time, as this water is no longer able to bring out the fullness of the tea.
• Do not drink old brew. In the East, fresh tea is called medicine, and old tea is poison. Do not wrap the kettle with cotton wool dolls or other insulation: the tea will get stale and ‘smell like broom’.
• Do not dilute strong brew with boiling water.
• Do not boil the tea! Do not put it on the fire even for a second, otherwise you risk poisoning yourself with too much tannins and tannins.
• To brew tea properly, first of all, the empty porcelain teapot must be well heated and dried. Then a portion of dry tea is put into the teapot. The teapot is poured with boiling water by 2/3, covered with a linen napkin and infused for a few minutes, the time for each type of tea is individual and is usually indicated on the package. When the tea is infused, add boiling water up to 3/4 of the volume. An indicator of quality brewing is the presence of foam.
• It is acceptable to refill the teapot with hot water several times during the tea drinking process, but it is important not to drain more than half of the brew. And not to bare the moulding. But this applies only to green and white tea, black tea is not to be refilled with water.
• The freshly prepared drink should be consumed within a quarter of an hour, without hurry or fuss, without jam or sugar. And you will truly enjoy this splendid beverage.

Have a nice tea time!