How to Make a Perfect and Proper Cup of Tea

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.