Notes on Making Tea at Home

For years I made every kind of tea the same way: boiling water, whatever mug was clean, and a teabag left in for as long as I forgot about it. A friend finally convinced me to try doing it properly.

Water temperature

This was the biggest surprise. Green tea made with water just off the boil tastes bitter; let the kettle rest for a few minutes and it becomes sweet and mild. Black tea, on the other hand, is happy with boiling water.

Steeping time

Shorter than I thought. Two to three minutes for most leaves, and you can steep good loose-leaf tea several times. The second cup is often the best one.

Equipment

Nothing fancy. A small pot with a strainer, a kettle, and a timer on my phone. The timer matters more than the pot.

Make the tea slowly, drink it slowly. That is most of the trick.

I still drink teabags at work. But on weekends, the ten minutes it takes to make a proper pot have become one of my favourite small rituals.