How to get the most out of your Tea.

Tea is the second most popular drink consumed in the world, the same as coffee, chocolate and soft drinks combined, second only to water. However here in the west we still fail to make the most of our tea.

Tea bags Vs Loose Leaf Tea.

By far the most common way to drink tea here in the west is tea bag, boiling water, milk, sugar. There is nothing wrong with this. However, you can get so much more out of your tea. Step One. Loose the tea bag. While there is nothing wrong with a Tea bag they are filled with tea dust, this is tea that has been broken down into a fine dust after processing the full leave tea. This gives a fast, strong brew but why swap the dust for full leaf tea? This tea will give you much more diversity of flavour and it will brew slower making it much easier to get the brew you want and, as we will get to later, you will be able to get several brews instead of just one.

Second Brews.

So many people throw away perfectly good tea which is a bad habit. Unlike traditional tea bags loose leaf tea can be brewed several times. With a good high quality tea you can brew up to eight times but the best tea is in the first three brews. Each time the tea will take on a slightly different taste letting you experience all the tea has to offer over several brews. You will also get much more value from being able to extend the lifetime of your tea.

Boiling Water.

When water boils the oxygen in the water is freed as it turns from a liquid to a gas. This then leaves the boiled water lacking in oxygen. This lack of oxygen can lead to your tea tasting more acidic, dry and draws out much more of the bitter notes. We recommend stopping your water just before it starts to simmer as not only will this keep much more of the oxygen but the lower temperature will also let the tea brew slightly slower letting you be more precise and letting the flavour extract for a longer time. This is critically important for White and Green Teas as these Teas are very subtle and be will ruined by drawing out too much flavour too fast with hot water.