If you have brewed tea at home a handful of times, you might have already realized that sometimes a pot of tea just don’t taste like the aromatic pot you’ve had the other day.
You took the same steps as that “other” time. Yet the taste and flavor just don’t seem to match up.
What went wrong?
Welcome to the world of perpetual dilemma of tea lovers.
While there’s no way we can pinpoint what we did differently in-between brews unless we have a time machine, there are some steps that can be taken so that a teapot would have the same flavorful tea consistently going forward.
The solution is measurement. And here are things that you need to measure.
1) Tea leaves characteristics
Depending on what type of tea that is your pleasure of choice, they can have very different shelf lives.
Yellow tea for example, is known to have a long lifespan and when properly stored, can be kept for as long as 2 years.
Whereas, green tea might only last for a year. And you could probably tell a slight change in taste within 6 months.
Dust and fannings in tea bags however, can have a shelf life of as long as 3 years.
This is because loose leaves are more exposed to moisture and the wide surface areas play a part in absorbing moisture from the air as well.
The measurement here is how long since the tea has been manufactured, or how long it has until expiry.
The default time period for the best quality tea brew is within 6 months after getting out of the factory.
For example, if the tea manufacture date is stated as February, then you can expect the freshness of the tea to degrade at unnoticeable levels for 6 months. If all you have is the expiry date, then you have to work it backwards to the manufactured date depending on the type of tea leaves and determine the 6-month period.
This is why when you are not a heavy tea drinker, it is better to purchase loose leaves in small quantities.
Even if the distributor insist that it can be kept for 2 years, you will be able to consume all that you have bought within 6 months. The buy a new freshly processed pack of tea leaves.
2) Amount of tea leaves.
The standard amount of tea leaves to use in a brew is generally accepted to be approxiately 2.5 grams of leaves for every 6 ounces (180ml) of water.
But of course, every person’s taste preferences are different.
So use the above measurement as a benchmark to determine the amount of tea leaves to use.
While many people think that using a gram scale is excessive, I do advocate it for the small matter of consistency.
What’s the point of having a pot of tea that is not exactly how I want it?
With this in mind, the size of the tea pot and tea cup will play a primary role in how many grams of tea leaves to use for each brew.
What I practice is buying a lot of those tiny cylindrical containers and scoop the right amount of tea leaves into them, then seal them tight. This way, I just need to open up the prepared containers and dump them into the pot when the time comes.
3) Water temperature
Because most people used water from an automatic electric kettle when brewing tea, they almost always used boiling water.
Bringing water to a full boil removes most of the oxygen in it. This gives the tea that is eventually blended from it a flat taste.
I can tell you now from experience that boiling water don’t always make the best quality brew. This partly also depends on the type of tea.
Black tea for example, should use boiling water. However, Oolong should be slightly cooler than that. And green tea even cooler.
At the same time, I must acknowledge that some people do prefer boiling water as it dissipates more aroma into the surroundings, creating a more zen-like environment.
Tea sessions are after all, a lot about the experience. Probably more than what many would admit to.
Those who believe that tea brewing is more of an art form might reject what I’ve mentioned as all they need is to feel the heat from the water.
But if you want to use a more scientific approach, I recommend getting a special thermometer to measure the water temperature that makes the best brew which your taste buds crave.
4) Types of water
Some people refuse to acknowledge that different types of plain water taste differently.
Well… at least if they continue enjoying tea for a while, their taste buds would eventually be refined to be able to tell the differences between different types of water.
The problem is that our naked cannot determine water hardness and we would probably need to get a sample into a lab if we truly want to “measure” water.
So for simplicity, do acquaint yourself with at least the 3 most common types of water used for brewing tea.
- Filtered water
- Purified water
- Distilled water
They are probably also the most accessible for the regular household kitchen.
So trial and error with these tea waters and see which one catches your attention the most.
Note it down, and used that from now on.
5) Steeping time
Most of us leave the tea leaves in the pot for as long as we are still drinking from it.
I made this mistake when I first started as well.
The thing is that the longer tea leaves are left to steep, the more of the bitter taste gets infused into the beverage itself.
The “correct” way to infuse tea is to allow it to steep for only a few minutes. Then the leaves should be entirely removed with the filter. The only tea leaves left in the pot or cup should be the rouge leaves that has somehow escaped your filtering device.
The steeping time also depends on the type of tea and it’s grade.
Green tea for example, tends to have the shortest steep time. While black tea has a longer time.
Again, every individual would has his or her own tea preferences.
So test and measure the steep time that gives you your favorite brew.