Boiling water for all kinds of tea? Longer steeping for stronger flavour? Why is my tea so bitter? There are many traps you can fall into when making tea, so we thought we could share tips with you. We share our tea and knowledge with passion, hence we would like to make sure everyone has the best possible tea-drinking experience. Below you will find six tips that will hopefully help to clarify few things and help you make great cups of tea.
1. Make sure you use good quality tea.
Mass produced teabags will usually contain tea dust which is basically a waste left after processing tea leaves. It is very cheap but is very unlikely it will be 'delightful' or 'exciting'. High quality loose tea will offer a great variety of flavours, it will make you want to close your eyes and enjoy that moment for a bit longer. We all have different preferences and expectations, so you might not like all of the teas you try, but that's exactly what makes our tea journey so fascinating. It is all about experimentation, expanding our horizons, being adventurous and open minded. The reward is fantastic and makes paying more all worth it.
2.Storage and time
When sealed and stored correctly, your tea will be absolutely fine even after sell-by date. However, if the container is not air tight, if tea is exposed to light or it's been left forgotten for way too long, it will gradually lose its aroma and flavour, it might turn stale and unpleasant. We don't want that so please store your tea the way it wants to be stored (dry environment, no light exposure, air tight container) and once opened, try to remember it's there and it wants to be enjoyed and offer you its full flavour potential.
3. Read the brewing guidelines. 100º and 3 minutes for all kinds of teas? Not really.
For our sencha, kukicha and hojicha we recommend 70º and just one minute steeping, for our white teas it is still 70º but the steeping time is longer, 3 minutes. The infusions such as chamomile, peppermint, Cloud Catcher or Apple and Cinnamon enjoy their 100º bath and want to take it for 3 minutes, while rooibos can be steeped for longer, 3-5 minutes. You will always find the brewing instructions on the back of our caddies, boxes and pouches. The guidelines are there for a reason, though of course you can try different steeping times and temperatures at home to see how these two factors affect the flavour.
4. Give your tea some space.
You know loose tea is better than tea dust, you store your tea correctly, you read the brewing instructions. What else could go wrong? Well, sometimes the strainers are so small that when packed with loose tea, there is no space for the leaves to fully open up and release their goodness. Remember not to put too much tea (if you like jasmine dragon pearl tea, you only need 3 pearls, not more) into your strainer and don't use strainers that are too small. Let the leaves open, dance and reveal their full flavour profile.
5. Golden rule
If you like your tea strong then simply add more tea into your teapot. Don't steep it longer, it's not how it works. You need more food colouring for richer colour, you need more salt if you're meal is lacking it. Waiting will not at all and in case of tea it will even make thing worse. Your tea won't be stronger or more delicious, longer steeping will simply make it bitter. If you like bitter tea, that's fine, though if you are after more intense flavour then... add more tea!
6. No rush!
Now that you've put so much effort into making a great cup of tea, make sure you it gives you a long-lasting pleasure. Work can wait, chores can wait, you can catch the next bus. Just close your eyes and enjoy your delicious tea.
If you have any questions, please remember we are here. Send an email to myself at ewa@pekoetea.co.uk or Sam (sam@pekoetea.co.uk) and we will be more than happy to help.
