Anyone can microwave a cup of hot water and throw in a tea bag, but do you have any idea of the difference between a cup of tea made that way and a "properly" made cup of tea? It is quite remarkable. Once you taste the difference, you will never want to go back. This was brought home to me in a unique way. I was hosting an Afternoon Tea and giving a lecture on the "Fine Art of Afternoon Tea." Naturally as this was all about experiencing a real English Afternoon Tea, I had done my best to offer exactly that. While the loose tea I used to make the tea was not the most expensive imported tea in the world, it was still a good quality loose tea. During and after the Tea it was not the food that was being remarked on, but the quality of the tea they were drinking. Some had never tasted tea of this quality before. Now over a year later, someone just remarked to me the other day that they still remember those cups of tea that they had at my party. Truly there is nothing quite so good as a properly made cup of tea.
So, how do you make a proper cup of tea? It really is not that hard. The first thing you need to do is purchase some loose tea. Buying tea straight from a distributor of estate tea is obviously the best you can get, but it is expensive. For beginners I would recommend seeing if your local supermarket has some. I know that Lipton puts out a loose tea and Walmarts carries it.
Next you will need an infuser. Some teapots come with one, and sometimes you can find one in stores. You will not want one of the tiny one cup ones for teapot sized amounts of tea though. Paper ones (a large version of an empty tea bag) can be purchased online if you cannot find a tea store in your area. If you do not have an infuser you will need two teapots and a strainer. Once you have the tea, teapot(s), (and infuser) the rest is simple.
1) Fill a tea kettle with cold tap water. Bottled water is not necessary unless your water is not good.
2) While waiting for the water to come to a gentle rolling boil, fill the teapot(s) with hot water and swirl it around to warm the teapot, then empty it. Do not do this too long before the water boils or the teapot(s) will cool off.
3) Put loose tea leaves in infuser (1 tsp. of tea per cup of water or 1 oz. of tea to 1 1/4 cups of water) and place infuser into the teapot, or if using two teapots put loose tea in one of the teapots.
4) Just as the water comes to a boil, remove it from the heat and pour it into the teapot. Do not let the water continue to boil, as it will become flat (de-oxygenated). If using Green or White teas, remove the water from the heat just before the boiling point.
5) Allow the tea to steep for the appropriate length of time. Black tea steeps 3-5 minutes. Oolong tea gets 7 minutes. Green tea 1 minute and White tea 2-3 minutes. The leaves of green tea can be re-used many times. Do not let tea steep longer than recommended or it will becomes bitter.
6) Remove the infuser or if using two teapots, pour off the tea into the other pre-warmed teapot using a strainer to filter the tea leaves and stop the steeping process.
7) Pour yourself a cup. Add milk (never cream), sugar, lemon, or if you prefer, honey to the tea (but only Black or Oolong, not Green or White - they are taken straight). Enjoy.
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