If you really want to get the most health benefits from tea, as well as the best quality flavor, you’ll need to know how to brew and store your tea.
First of all, you want to buy good quality tea for the best results. You can buy good tea loose or in a tea bag. Excellent tea comes in both forms, although tea purists tend to prefer loose tea.
You can purchase your tea in specialty tea shops, online or yes, even at the grocery store. Experiment with different flavors or brands.
Once you have your tea, you’ll want to store it properly. For best results, place it in an air tight container. Leaving it exposed to air, in the original cardboard box, for example, can make it go stale. Avoid storing your tea in plastic, as it may absorb some of the fumes that come off of plastic containers. keep your tea at room temperature.
When you are ready to brew, one of the most important things to do is to measure your tea carefully. The art of great tea is to start with this step. Use either one tea bag or one rounded teaspoon of loose tea for each cup. If you want to reduce the caffeine, you can pour hot water over the tea or tea bag, discard that water and then steep your tea. This may alter the flavor slightly, but it will greatly reduce the caffeine that will be present in your tea.
How long should I steep tea, you may be asking. Great tea has different steeping times, depending on the variety of tea. Most black tea should be steeped for about 3 to 4 minutes. Green tea only requires steeping for about two to four minutes. Oolong tea can be steeped for the longest time, five to seven minutes.
To learn about tea’s health benefits, click here.