How To Brew Tea: Gadsden's 14 Points

Tea is a simple pleasure. Here are some simple, authoritative tips on how to make a cup of tea.

1. Buy good tea, and keep it well

A good cup of tea begins with your tea merchant. You can ruin a good tea with bad brewing, but no amount of good brewing can improve a bad tea. Use a tea merchant that you trust. A good tea blender will be able to provide you with a good cup of tea no matter what the growing conditions and the state of the tea market.

Keep your tea well. Tea hates moisture and strong flavours. Keep your tea in a cool, dark and above all dry place. Store it in a tin or other airtight container, away from strong kitchen odours. You cannot blame your tea merchant if your tea tastes of last night's curry, or if it has been left open to the air all night and therefore tastes of cardboard.

2. Use fresh water

Tea is mostly water. So the quality of the water you use makes a great difference. Run the tap for a short time, so that you are not using water that has been stood in the pipes. Empty the kettle and put fresh water in. If you live in a hard water area, such as London or the South-East coast, then consider (if you own a cafe) using a water softener, filtering the water, or even, if you want an especially good cup, using bottled water. The Queen is said to use Malvern Water for her afternoon Earl Grey. Boiling water makes it flat. So never boil the same water more than once.

3. Warm the tea pot (and choose a good one)

It is said that the original reason for warming the pot was to prevent it cracking with the heat. But it does affect the flavour. It is of the first importance that the water be boiling on contact with the tea.

Tea pot choice is important. There is no reason to have one that dribbles. A round, stoneware one is very practical. Bone china will make a better cup but a tea cosy is even more important because the thin material will not keep the heat so well (see below). Integral filters are extremely useful and save mess. But your tea tastes best in an old-fashioned teapot with no filter. Tea is best when it has the most space to brew fully. Use a sieve or colander in the sink to save time cleaning up tea leaves.

4. Use one well-rounded teaspoon of loose tea (or one tea bag) per person

You may sometimes hear that you should add "one for the pot". This should not be necessary if you use quality tea and add the correct amount of water. If you fill the pot right up, then of course you need to add enough tea. Know how many cups your teapot makes when full. Know how far up you need to fill the pot to make your usual amount, say two cups. Then try to be accurate when you add the tea and the water. Then you can learn how to adjust the strength for your personal taste.

5. Take the teapot to the kettle, not the other way around

This advice dates back to the days before electric kettles, but it is still sound. Carrying the kettle to the pot allows the water to cool, and is asking for a spillage to occur.

6. Stir the tea

It is important that the tea leaves should circulate as freely as possible within the teapot. Stirring after adding the water ensures that the tea leaves get a good start. And it is an established part of the ritual.

7. Use a tea cosy or tea towel to keep the teapot hot.

Every teapot should have a tea cosy. If you don't have one, put a tea towel over the top. Try it. It makes a difference.

8. Leave to brew for 5 minutes

Good tea needs time to brew properly. Tea is complex. It has colour, strength and flavour. Most teas are carefully blended by expert tea tasters. They contain teas that release their characteristics into the water at different times. Usually, the colour comes out first, then the strength, and finally the tea flavour. If you do not leave it long enough to brew, you will only be tasting some of the teas that the blender has carefully included. If it is too strong for you, slightly reduce the amount of tea next time. Only reduce the time if it seems "stewed" to you - and consider changing your tea. It is a sign of quality in tea that you can over-brew it and it will still taste sweet and refreshing, albeit possibly too strong. If you are using teabags, a shorter time will suffice (2 mins) because they are made with fine grades of tea specially designed for quick brewing.

9. Pour out through a strainer

If using loose tea, you will need to use a strainer, unless you have a tea pot with a built-in strainer. A few specks of tea are usual in the bottom of the cup. This is not a fault. Pour each cup half full from left to right. Then top them up from right to left. That way, each cup will be the same temperature and strength. If you don't do this, the last cup will be very strong and not so hot.

The cup you use makes a difference. A cup and saucer are good. Bone china is best. A thin mug is better than a thick one.

10. Add milk last, if desired

If you know exactly how much milk you want, then you will get a better cup if you put the milk in first. Since virtually no-one can judge this correctly, it is better to add the milk last. If you have guests, you should certainly add the milk last, because then they can tell you how much they want.

11. Add sugar or lemon if desired

There seems to be a modern fad that sugar is somehow wrong in tea. If you visit a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, you will probably be given sugar with your tea. There is nothing in the least bit wrong about it. In fact, it sometimes improves the flavour. Some teas (especially Ceylon, eg Nuwara Eliya) benefit from the addition of lemon or even orange.

12. A note on teabags

When using teabags, the milk should never be added until the teabag has been removed.

13. Oolong, green and white teas

These require cooler water. The more delicate the tea, the cooler the water. Boil it first, and allow it to stand for one minute for green tea and two minutes for white tea. See specific instructions for each tea on the website. Do not add milk.

14. Herbal Teas

Herbal Teas are not really teas at all but tisanes or infusions. They are not from the plant Camellia Sinensis. They behave quite differently. In general, brew in exactly the same way, but you can leave to brew for more or less time if you prefer. It is purely a matter of taste. In some cases, for example if used medicinally, you may want to infuse them for much longer. Refer to individual product notes, or consult your herbalist.