Preparation Tips
Use good water.
Good water makes good tea. It is the next most important element after high-quality leaf. Bottled, filtered, or spring water are best. Avoid hard water, as the high percentage of minerals can make your tea taste “off”.
Store your tea properly.
To keep your tea fresh, store it in a sealed container away from light, heat, air, and moisture. Our resealable zip bags allow you to squeeze out most of the air before sealing, slowing down oxidation and ensuring great-tasting tea with every cup.
By the pot or the cup?
It's true! Most teas taste better when brewed by the pot instead of by the cup. The additional leaf required to brew a pot provides fuller flavor.
Photo by Christina Spoerer | Unsplash
Pre-warm your teapot or mug.
Use a splash of hot water to warm your teapot or mug before steeping your tea. Temperature is crucial to brewing an amazing cup of tea, and pouring hot water into a cold pot or cup can drop the temperature 10° (F) or more, possibly causing your tea to under-steep.
Some teas can be steeped more than once!
Many teas, especially oolongs and high-grade senchas, can be steeped more than once. However, the caffeine content may be diminished by the second steeping. The higher the grade of tea, the more steepings you can expect.
Rescue bitter, over-steeped tea with more water—or a few grains of salt.
Try diluting the liquor with more hot water. It can be pretty disappointing to realize you've over-steeped your tea, but adding water will bring balance to your astringent/bitter cup and help you through this difficult time.
Another trick is to add just a tiny pinch of salt. You shouldn't be able to taste the salt, but it should block the receptors that make tea taste bitter.
To avoid bitter tea, next time try less leaf, less steeping time, or cooler water. It helps to have a timer and thermometer when first experimenting with tea.
Iced tea
For iced tea, the secret is less water, not more leaf or longer steep time. By using less water you are creating the perfect concentrate to add to your glass full of ice. This combo of ice and concentrate will create the perfect glass of iced tea.
Over-steeping will simply cause your tea to taste bitter or astringent, whereas additional leaf may create an overly strong concentrate.
More information about brewing iced tea can be found here.
Experiment.
Some like their tea stout, some like it mellow. There is no truly right way to brew a cuppa—it's all about taste, and taste is relative.
