Making Good Tea Time after Time

by Bruce Richardson

Making tea is a serendipitous event. There is no manual that guarantees perfect tea if you follow five easy steps. Read ten books by “tea experts” and you will find ten different procedures and brewing times. The only constant is that your cup of tea will vary due to the freshness of the tea, the quality and temperature of the water, brewing time, and whether or not the phone rang while you steeped the tea.

All tea comes from either the shrub Camellia sinensis or Camellia assamica.  The method of processing the fresh green leaves and bud of the tea plant determines the tea family - white, green, black or oolong. After picking, green tea leaves begin to oxidize. The manufacturing process, amount of manufacture time, and length of oxidation will determine the tea family assignment.

White Tea undergoes a long wither and is naturally lightly-oxidized and dried, usually in the sun or in a warm drying room.

Green Tea has little oxidization as the leaves are steamed or wok fired, rolled, and dried soon after picking.

Black tea is made by bruising green tea leaves by hand, or machine, before they are allowed to oxidize for two to four hours and dried with heat.

Oolong tea falls somewhere between green and black teas because the leaves are only partially oxidized, rolled, and wok dried.

Herbals, tisanes, and infusions are not true “teas” because they contain no Camellia sinensis leaves. They are made from leaves, roots, bark, seeds or flowers of other plants. Most lack many of the unique characteristics of teas and contain no caffeine.

Water temperature is very important in the brewing ritual. The general rule to remember is: the more oxidized the tea, the hotter the water. Use the following chart as a beginning temperature guide and then experiment.

Black tea: 4-5 minutes at 212° F
Oolong tea: 4-7 minutes at 195° - 210° F
Green or white tea: 2-5 minutes at 165° - 175° F

Equipment:

Use fresh, whole leaf tea from a reputable tea merchant.

Keep your tea stored in an airtight tin away from heat, light, moisture and odors.

Invest in a good quality kettle (electric or stove top) to heat your water to the proper temperature.

Purchase a teapot that is heavy enough to hold heat. Porcelain is often best.

Use a basket infuser or disposable paper tea filter to hold your loose tea in the tea pot. (A tea ball does not allow the tea leaves to rehydrate and fully expand.)

Use a gram scale or measuring spoon. (A measuring spoon does not always work because some tea leaves are bigger than others.)

Install a water filter on your cold water source or use an inexpensive pitcher filter to remove chlorine and iron.

Procedure:

• Fill your kettle with cold filtered water and begin heating.
• 
  Warm the tea pot with hot water before it comes to a boil.
• 
  Discard the water in the teapot.
• 
  Using an infuser basket or tea filter, add 2 grams of tea per cup to the pot. (For an English style tea, simply place the loose leaves in the pot and pour the brewed tea through a strainer into a cup. Be warned: the second cup of tea may be over-brewed and bitter.)
• 
  Pour the hot or boiling water over the leaves in the pot. Agitate occasionally.
• 
  Remove the leaves from the liquor and pour into cups. Taste the tea before making additions such as milk, lemon or sugar. Milk is generally not added to white, green, oolong or flavored teas.