Empty the teakettle and refill it with freshly drawn cold water. Put the kettle on a boil. While the kettle is heating, pour hot water into the teapot to warm it. Ceramic (china, porcelain, stoneware) or glass teapots are ideal. Tea brewed in a metal teapot such as from silver tea service may give a slight metallic taste, but are fine to use.
Pour the hot water out of the teapot. Using a Perfect Cup of Tea spoon, measure the loose tea using one teaspoon for each cup desired, plus one extra teaspoonful "for the pot," if desired. If you are using a tea infuser, be sure you do not fill the infuser too full or the water won't have enough room to swirl around the tea to brew properly or to expand. If you are using teabags, use one bag less than the desired number of cups.
As soon as the kettle comes to a rolling boil, remove from the heat. Overboiling can cause the water to lose oxygen, and the result will be tea that tastes flat. If brewing green or white tea, do not allow water to come to the full boil. For more exact temperatures, use a tea thermometer.
Pour boiling water into the teapot and let the tea brew from three to four minutes. Small tea leaves will take less time to brew than large ones. Some varieties of tea may take less than three minutes, but we find that a good rule is three minutes brewing time. If you prefer stronger tea, increase the amount of tea used, not the brewing time.
Gently stir the tea and then pour it through a tea strainer into the teacups. Always remove infuser or teabags before serving the tea. For green tea, do not allow tea to sit in the pot as it will turn bitter very quickly.
If you made your tea with tea leaves and you need to stretch the contents of the pot a bit, you can add more boiling water, but don't try to make a full pot for a second time around with the original leaves.
Varieties of Tea
Historical Background
