How to brew loose tea?!
How to brew loose tea?
1st question is how do you brew tea? I don't have a teacup and I have loose tea. Is there anyway to make a great cup of tea without teabags and without a teacup? Can you just boil the water in a regular pot with a top? Thanks to all serious answers!
The tea that I am trying to brew is fertilitea. Thank you in advance!
Answers: When you brew loose leaf tea, usually you get some sort of a tea strainer. If you don't have one don't worry. Just put the tea in a mug, usually one teaspoon to 8 ounces of water. Put water on the stove to boil, you want the water to be at a rolling boil when it hits the leaf (you can use any pan or tea kettle to boil the water). Pour the water in the mug and take a small plate and cover the top of the mug. Let it steep for about 5 - 6 minutes. Take another mug and a mesh strainer and pour the tea through the strainer, catching the liquid in the second mug.
Next refer to Republic of Tea, they sell a lot of loose leaf teas and have tips for brewing a good cup of tea. They also have tea strainers that fit in mugs, in small tea kettles and such. I like the wire mesh strainers but, a restaraunt I go to uses their plastic mesh strainers and they work just fine. You can use a coffee filter in a pinch, just put your tea in the filter the gather it up and tie with a string, just leave room for the leaves to expand. You could also use a paper towel in a pinch. You should really get a tea ball, you can get them for just a couple of bucks at the store. Brewing loose leaf tea is a simple process. Just know that the tea leaves have to soak in hot or boiling water (depending on which kind it is) for a certain amount of time.
Green teas and white teas for 1-2 minutes. Longer if you want more flavor. It's really trial and error here.
Next you need to either strain the leaves out or you can drink out of the glass or mug if you don't mind spitting out a few tea leaves. But most people strain it out with some kind of filter or they use a kettle with a built in filter.
Also know that the longer the tea leaves are in the hot water, the more bitter the taste. That's most important.
With loose leaf tea, lots of people "infuse" the tea leaves more than once. that means they use the leaves to make another cup or batch of tea. Below is a link that is pretty cool to watch. (3rd video from the top) All they use is a tall glass and hot water to make green tea.