I’ll reveal my bias here and say that I don’t believe you can make a good cup of tea using teabags. Sure, the teabags are better than they were 30 years ago but they do have an inferior taste compared to loose leaf tea.

So, how do you brew that perfect cup of tea?

  1. Buy the best quality tea you can afford. If you start with poor quality tea it doesn’t matter what else you do the tea will not be enjoyable.
  2. Use fresh cold water – hot water or previously boiled water contains less dissolved air and tastes flat. Ideally you should use purified water as that will remove chlorine and other contaminants that could affect the taste of the water.
  3. Use a clean glazed earthenware or porcelain teapot. Never use aluminium or chipped enamel teapots.
  4. Warm the teapot by pouring some hot water into the pot the pour it out.
  5. When determining how much tea to put in the pot, use 1 teaspoon of tea for each person plus 1 for the pot.
  6. When the water is boiling, take the teapot to the kettle and pour the water onto the tea as soon as it boils. Don’t allow the water to boil too long before pouring it into the teapot.
  7. Put the lid on the teapot and allow it to stand for at least 3 minutes. Larger leaf teas need 5-7 minutes. Tea releases colour first so although it may look “brewed” after a minute due to the colour, the flavour will not be there for another 2 or 3 minutes.
  8. If the tea is not strong enough for you, use more tea rather than increasing the brewing time. Tea that stands too long will taste “stewed”. If the tea is too strong , use less tea.
  9. Do not use a tea cosy as this will cause the tea to stew unless you have removed the tea leaves, (eg, if they are in one of those perforated tea balls) or decanted the tea into a warm pot.

Even though you can buy specific blends of tea, you should not be afraid to create your own blends. It doesn’t mean you have to blend the teas before adding them to the pot. You could simply put, say, 1 teaspoon of Earl Grey and 2 teaspoons of English Breakfast into the pot.

Brewing a pot of tea takes a little time and can provide a very pleasant and relaxing break from the fast pace of today’s world. While the tea is brewing you can be sitting down and “unwinding” so that by the time the tea is ready you are in a more relaxed mood and better able to enjoy it.