I always admire gorgeous little teapot and cup sets. I've been on the verge of buying one several times... the only trouble is, I don't like tea. Ha!
So finding a love for tea has been a longstanding goal. It started with drinking red raspberry leaf tea at the end of pregnancy... (heavily laden with honey, and steeped with vanilla rooibos), and I also drank a nursing tea given to me from a friend. And once I love it, I will reward myself with an adorable teapot set. ;)
I've made a couple of breakthroughs lately. Some herbal tea at a breastfeeding group on Wednesday was delicious with a piece of carrot cake, and at a natural food shop yesterday I sampled some coconut chai tea and actually bought a tin! If you can find this locally, I totally recommend it, it smells heavenly! It's called "Zhena's Gypsy Tea". It's organic and fair trade black tea and it comes in a variety of flavours.
Does anyone have pointers on how to make a good pot/cup of tea? It seems to be an art that I know nothing about...
Adagio teas has some great tips on their website! They sell a little book that tells you exactly what temperature to serve which type of tea. It is chock full of information.
ReplyDeleteI had to take a tea serving course at work, which lasted 3 days. It was kind of obnoxious. The only must I believe is to warm the cup/teapot with boiling water before steeping the tea in it. That's good for western and eastern teas.
ReplyDeleteI am no good a making a good cup either... I started the red rasberry this monring.. lol it sure tastes great... but it wasn't as bad as i was expecting! the other ones smell really good but haven't tried them.
ReplyDeleteDepends on the kind of tea. Different teas should be steeped at different temps. Black teas can be steeped with boiling water. Oolongs should be steeped a little cooler, I think around 180-190F and green teas should be steeped around 160-180F. Seriously. It makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteI love love LOVE tea!!! So I thought I would poass on some info I got from a tea session one day last year!
ReplyDeleteBrewing Tea Properly:
BLACK TEA
Use boiling water; steep 3-4 min
GREEN TEA
Never use boiling water, bring kettle to steam 180 def. F(this is when there is just steam coming out of the kettle); steep 1-2 min
OOLONG TEA
Never use boiling water, bring kettle to steam 190 deg. F MAXIMUM; steep 1-2 min
WHITE TEA
Never use boiling water, bring kettle to steam 180 deg.F MAXIMUM; steep 4-7 min
ROOIBOS TEA
Use boiling water; steep 5-7 min
FRUIT, HERBAL TISANES & LAPACHO TEA
Use boiling water; steep 7-10 min
YERBA MATE
Never use boiling water, bring kettle to 150deg.F MAXIMUM; steep 4-5 min
The temp of water and the length of time is key. If the water is too hot then the tea won't steep properly. If you steep too long the tea will taste bitter.
These are just general guidelines. If you have specific tea questions you could email distinctlytea@rogers.com or visit the website www.distinctlytea.com
love Jenn