How do I make tea from straight leaves?
My boss gave me some imported green tea that a foreign student had given her because she does not drink green tea. She gave me a box containing Vietnamese green tea and a sealed can containing Chinese green tea. When i got home I opened the box of Vietnamese tea to see nothing but dried and crumpled tea leaves. I have only made tea in tea bags and am unsure how to prepare tea from straight leaves. Thanks in advance.
I love green tea! With the proper preparation techniques, I’m sure you’ll love it as well.
If you have a teapot, this paragraph explains how to brew tea with it: First, heat enough water that you think you will use plus a little extra until boiling (not in the actual teapot). Pour a little of the hot water into the teapot (without leaves in it) and swish it around for a while to warm it. Pour this water out and then measure out about one teaspoon of leaves for each cup of water and put it in the teapot. Wait until the water has cooled to about 170-180 degrees and pour the water in the pot until full. Cover it and wait about 2 minutes. While waiting, make sure you have your cup(s) ready as well as some sort of strainer to place over your cup while pouring the tea to block the leaves. When the time is up, make sure to pour all of the tea out of the pot, even if you aren’t going to drink it right away. This will assure that all of the tea is the same in strength. Green tea can always be steeped again, usually about 3 times, depending on the quality of the leaf.
If you don’t have a teapot, you could use a simple tea ball infuser which you could get at most general supermarkets (although I don’t recommend them as they don’t allow the proper movement and unfurling of the leaf and I encourage you to invest in a teapot). Simply use about 1 teaspoon of leaves and put them in the ball. Heat water to the above temperature and pour it in the cup. Put the tea ball in the water and then wait 2 minutes. Remove the ball and enjoy.
I encourage you to become familiar with the tea world and try other types of green tea (there are more than you’d think) or the other types of tea such as white, yellow, oolong, black, and pu-erh.
Here’ a good website to start with: http://www.cooksshophere.com/products/tea.htm
you gotta boil about 2 cups of water and when it starts boiling, turn the stove off and add a small handful of the leaves to the water. let it brew about 5 minutes, then strain the leaves an pour intoa pitcher with half a gallon of water and some ice in it. add sugar to taste.
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The basic idea is to separate the leaves from the tea once you’re done brewing it. There have been many, many devices for this purpose invented over the years, but the cheapest is the tea ball. You should be able to pick one up at the supermarket for under $3. Or, if you already own a coffee press, they make wonderful teapots (that’s what I use mine for). If you own a permanent coffee filter, pour the tea through that and it’ll filter out the leaves. A fine-mesh strainer will do too.
Now, for actually brewing the tea. Once you have your leaf-separation system in place the actual brewing of the tea is similar to teabags. In other words, use boiling water on the delicate green tea and steep five minutes and you’ll have a bitter, undrinkable disaster. Try 1 (heaping) teaspoon per cup, water at 160-170 F (depending on your equipment, ~5 minutes off the boil), and steeping the tea for 2 minutes.
References :
I love green tea! With the proper preparation techniques, I’m sure you’ll love it as well.
If you have a teapot, this paragraph explains how to brew tea with it: First, heat enough water that you think you will use plus a little extra until boiling (not in the actual teapot). Pour a little of the hot water into the teapot (without leaves in it) and swish it around for a while to warm it. Pour this water out and then measure out about one teaspoon of leaves for each cup of water and put it in the teapot. Wait until the water has cooled to about 170-180 degrees and pour the water in the pot until full. Cover it and wait about 2 minutes. While waiting, make sure you have your cup(s) ready as well as some sort of strainer to place over your cup while pouring the tea to block the leaves. When the time is up, make sure to pour all of the tea out of the pot, even if you aren’t going to drink it right away. This will assure that all of the tea is the same in strength. Green tea can always be steeped again, usually about 3 times, depending on the quality of the leaf.
If you don’t have a teapot, you could use a simple tea ball infuser which you could get at most general supermarkets (although I don’t recommend them as they don’t allow the proper movement and unfurling of the leaf and I encourage you to invest in a teapot). Simply use about 1 teaspoon of leaves and put them in the ball. Heat water to the above temperature and pour it in the cup. Put the tea ball in the water and then wait 2 minutes. Remove the ball and enjoy.
I encourage you to become familiar with the tea world and try other types of green tea (there are more than you’d think) or the other types of tea such as white, yellow, oolong, black, and pu-erh.
Here’ a good website to start with: http://www.cooksshophere.com/products/tea.htm
References :
Tea aficionado