How to make delicious tea

Brew tea properly to produce the best quality tea.

Everyone knows the basic steps to making tea : dry tea is steeped with boiling water in a kettle and poured into a cup to enjoy. Making tea isn't so complicated that you have to be an expert, but it's also not as simple as steeping tea in a pot.

The 3 most important factors in How to Make Delicious Tea

The secret to making delicious tea lies in three factors: water temperature, amount of tea and steeping time.

Water temperature when making tea

Of course, making tea must use hot water, but each type of tea is suitable for different temperatures. Just boiling water is only suitable for black tea or old oolong tea. It needs high heat to break down the texture and release the flavors. But you must use cooler water for teas with delicate flavors, such as green tea and oolong tea.

Water that is too hot will "burn" the tea, making it bitter and losing its delicate flavors. But water that is too cold will also weaken the tea flavor a lot because the compounds in the tea are not dissolved.

Amount of tea

Too much tea will make the tea too bitter. But too little tea and the flavor will be very weak and not enjoyable enough. Depending on the type of tea, the dosage will be different. A ratio that you can start with is 8g of tea for a 300ml pot. You can then increase or decrease the amount of tea to suit your taste.

Braking time

The biggest taboo in making tea is "soaking" the tea, but most people make this mistake. It will make the tea too bitter and smell bad. Like water temperature, each type of tea will be suitable for a certain steeping time. Black tea and oolong tea can be steeped longer, but green tea is much faster.

In general, tea steeping time is calculated in seconds, not minutes.

Steps to make delicious tea:

This is the 7-step way to make tea recommended by Tra Viet Anh . You need: tea, teapot and tea pot to get started

Boil water : Again make sure the water you have is filtered bottled water, not mineral water or tap water. Most types of tea are brewed under boiling temperature, in the range of 75°C - 98°C depending on the type.
Heat the kettle : When the kettle is almost boiling, pour water into the kettle and close the lid. When the teapot heats up, pour out all the water into the tea and cups.
Measure the tea : Put the tea into the pot, the amount of tea depends on the type. Usually 1/5 to 1/2 of a teapot.
Wake the tea : pour hot water over the tea and pour it away as quickly as possible.
- This is not water to drink. It has the effect of "awakening" so that the tea leaves begin to bloom.
- The hot water that awakens the tea is not boiling water.
Steep tea : Fill the pot with hot water, cover the pot and steep the tea for about 10-40 seconds depending on the type of tea. This is the most important step. Make sure the water temperature and steeping time are appropriate for the type of tea.
Pouring tea : after 10-40 seconds, pour all the water from the teapot into the pot. Then from the expert, pour out tea cups. Tea brewing at this time is very important, it helps you immediately stop the process of steeping tea in the pot. You should pour quickly and pour out all the water in the kettle.
- Make sure all the water in the kettle is poured out, do not leave excess water in the kettle.
- Open the lid of the pot after pouring the tea, so that the tea does not "go bad" because of the high temperature in the pot.

The following tea steeping times:

Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the next batches. The next brew usually takes longer than the previous brew.

If the first tea is too light or too strong, adjust the time in the next brew.
The tea is delicious and brewed well, you can repeat steeping the tea 5-8 times, before the flavor becomes too bland.

Some tips to help make delicious tea:

Start with small and thin-walled kettles, everything will be much easier. If you are just starting out, you should choose a glass or ceramic pot to make tea. These two types of teapots will faithfully reflect the taste of tea, and leave no odor, so you can brew many different types of tea.
Tap water cannot brew tea. The simplest way is to use bottled water (but not mineral water).
No thermometer is needed to measure temperature. You can reduce the water temperature by boiling and letting it cool gradually. Boil water in an electric kettle, after 5 minutes it will decrease to about 83°C
Tea fibers are small, thin, spongy and brewed at low temperature. Large, sturdy tea fibers brewed at high temperature. Green tea is brewed at a lower temperature. Oolong tea and black tea need higher temperatures.
If you want a stronger flavor, increase the amount of tea, not the temperature or steep it longer.
There is no completely accurate answer regarding water temperature, brewing time and tea dosage for each type of tea. Try increasing or decreasing those 3 factors to discover your own answer