Here at The Path of Tea, we pride ourselves on the quality of our organic teas. We steep countless pots of tea every day. Many comment on the fact that the tea just tastes better here. While we carry and serve high quality organic teas in our tea shop, how we brew our tea affects the flavor greatly.
How can you make the perfect pot of tea at home?
Here are our top tips for making the best loose leaf tea at home.
Tip #1 – Start with organic tea
First of all, organic tea tastes the best.
You buy organic vegetables because you want to be healthy and avoid pesticides, right? The same should be done for tea. You can’t wash your tea, like you can your fruit and vegetables. When you “wash” tea, you’re drinking it. So, start with organic loose leaf tea.
Every single tea we sell is organic, so you have a wide range of options right here on our website.
Our most popular organic teas are:
Organic Jasmine Dragon Pearl
Shop Organic Jasmine Dragon Pearl
Organic White Peach
Shop Organic White Peach
Organic Earl Grey
Shop Organic Earl Grey
Organic Sleepy Time
Organic Epstein Barr Rescue
Shop Organic Epstein Barr Rescue
Organic Coconut Oolong
Tip #2 – Use good water
We steep all of the tea in our shop with alkaline water. This is another reason it tastes so good!
If you can, use filtered alkaline water (ph 8 or higher) to steep your tea. If you don’t have access to alkaline water, then use the best filtered water you have available.
Tip #3 – Steep at the right temperature
Each type of tea should be steeped at a certain temperature.
When you purchase loose leaf tea from us, we print the temperature you should steep the tea at on the bag, so it’s always handy when you’re making a pot of tea at home.
Speaking in general terms, here are the estimated temperatures the water should be for steeping different types of tea:
- Black tea: 195º F / 90º C
- Green tea: 175º F / 79º C
- Pu-ehr tea: 185º F to 208º F / 85º C to 98º C
- Rooibos tea: 195º F / 90º C
- Oolong tea: 195º F / 90º C
- White tea: 175º F / 79º C
- Herbal Tisanes and Botanicals: 195º F to 208º F / 90º C to 98ºC
Tip #4 – Allow the tea leaves plenty of room to steep
To extract maximum flavor, use an infuser that allows the tea leaves plenty of room to move around while they steep.
Our Famous Mono Tea Pot has a large basket for the tea to move around while it’s steeping.
If you’re using single use paper bags, use the proper size so that your tea has plenty of room to move around.
Tip #5 – Don’t oversteep the tea
Don’t steep your tea longer than is recommended for that type of tea. Again, we print on our packages the length of time in minutes we recommend you steep that specific tea for. If you steep it longer than that, your tea may taste bitter or unpleasant.
If you want a stronger cup of tea, increase the amount of tea leaves you use, not the time you steep the tea.
Those are our 5 Top Tips for a better cup of tea. We hope that helps you enjoy your tea at home even more!