The Perfect Pot of Tea

There is, in fact, an art form and a science to bringing the brew to perfection. The perfect pot of tea is far more than just pouring boiling water over some leaves.
The first step is to fill your tea kettle with cold water. Always use fresh water, and don't rely on old water that has stayed in the kettle from the last time. Turn the kettle on to boil. Make sure your kettle is a stainless steel, non-reactive vessel.
While the kettle is heating, fill your clean teapot with hot water. (Since the polyphenols in tea can go rancid if they are left in the pot, making your tea taste bitter, it's important to wash your teapot thoroughly after each use….unless, of course, you're using a Yixing teapot!)
Essentially, you are pre-heating the teapot, a process which helps keep the tea warm and allows the leaves to open fully. Dry the teapot out after it has been warmed with the hot water.
Pick your pleasure and select the tea leaves you are going to use. In general, use 1 teaspoon of loose tea for each cup, placing the leaves into your infuser. If you're making tea for more than six people, add one extra teaspoon of leaves for the pot.
Bring the teapot to the kettle so that heat is not lost, and then pour the boiling water over the tea leaves in the pot. Use the teapot's lid to hold in the steam and properly steep the tea. For black teas, the proper steeping is three to five minutes.
Allowing the tea leaves to steep for more than five minutes, or pressing or squeezing the wet tea leaves can result in a bitter taste because too many of the polyphenols are released. Stick to the time-honored formula of a teaspoon per cup. You can't make a perfect pot of tea by using poor quality leaves and increasing the amount of time it steeps, or by using more tea and steeping it less time.
Herbal tisanes and green teas require five to ten minutes of steeping.
In England, and for many tea lovers, making tea by the cup instead of in the pot - is improper and taboo.
While you may never earn a perfect 10.0 at the Olympics, or find the absolute perfect match-made-in-heaven, it's easy to make the perfect pot of tea.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lady Dawnya Sasse, is author of the world's first online tea business programs entitled "Start a Tea Business" and "Start A Children's Tea Party Business." To learn more about her online classes and to sign up for her FREE Tea Radio Broadcasts visit her site at
http://www.TeaEvents.com
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Copyright 2005 Dawnya Sasse All Rights Reserved. Tea Events

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