How long does it take to brew tea? How to brew green tea correctly: instructions

Let's talk about brewing black tea. You don't have to be English to brew a cup of aromatic and delicious tea. But if you neglect the basic rules for brewing tea, it loses all its beneficial properties.

Did you know that black tea prevents your cells and tissues from aging? Or that black tea is full of tannins, amino acids, alkaloids, pigments, essential oils and vitamins. From carotene, which is present in black tea, vitamin A appears in the body. The presence of thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and nicotinic acid (these are B vitamins) helps fight diseases such as diabetes, gout, stomach ulcers, skin problems and allergic rashes.

Its function is to strengthen your immune system. There is every reason to think about how to brew black tea correctly.

TOP 10 assistants for brewing tea

It is advisable to boil water over a fire. Do not boil water several times. Electric kettles and boilers are not the best helpers for this. The water heats up to 95°C.

Teapot (teapot)

To make tea, you should use teapots with a slightly curved neck. There is no need to add water to the top. Leave 1-3 cm, this allows the tea to brew evenly.

Warm kettle

Before pouring water, the kettle is preheated so as not to allow the water temperature to drop by 15-20 degrees. The teapot can be warmed up by lowering it into a bowl of hot water or pouring boiling water over it for 30 seconds. You can warm the kettle over an open fire, or put it in the oven.

Type of tea

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties and types of black tea. Large-leaf, loose, bagged or with additives and many others will satisfy the taste of any gourmet. Everyone has thought at least once about how many times you can brew tea leaves or a bag of tea. The answer is unequivocal, and there is no BUT! Only once, otherwise all the beneficial properties and taste will be lost.

Welding

Everything is individual and you can only rely on taste buds, but there are generally accepted dosages of tea leaves. For 150mm of water - 1 teaspoon of tea leaves. If you prefer bagged tea, then the manufacturers have decided the issue for you. It is worth paying attention at what temperature of the water you put the tea leaves into it.

Tea filter

For bagged tea, a filter is not needed. Loose leaf tea, after brewing, must be separated from the water. Use an empty tea bag, ball strainer, filter basket, or strainer.

Tea accessories

In many countries, drinking tea is accompanied by many rituals and traditions. The Japanese, for example, undergo special training in schools, they are taught how to brew black tea. This is the highest skill and the real art of receiving guests through the tea ceremony. Even if you are not a Japanese geisha, brew tea in a beautiful teapot, prepare your favorite cups, this will help you cope with the daily hustle and bustle, relax and enjoy the moment.

Sugar

Add a spoonful of sugar to your tea, or serve tea with a saucer of honey. And real sweet tooths always keep a jar of jam or preserves in stock.

Spices

Mint, vanilla, saffron or cinnamon. Create your favorite scent. This will not only enhance the taste of the tea, but also add an aesthetic appearance to any tea party.

Tea punch

Sore throat or runny nose? Tea punch will be a real panacea in the fight against the disease. Add 50 grams of whiskey to the teapot and drink with honey throughout the evening.

You don't have to be native Japanese or English to know how to brew black tea correctly. It is enough to follow a number of simple rules.

From time immemorial in China, the pouring brewing method has been the most popular among local residents. The tea ceremony with this brewing method looked unusual. A large amount of tea leaves was poured into a teapot or gaiwan, poured boiling water over it and immediately poured into bowls, but most often the tea was poured into an intermediate vessel. Thanks to this method, you can blissfully enjoy the light taste at the beginning of drinking tea, and watch how the taste gains strength by the third brewing, and also see how slowly and smoothly the tea dissipates. One of the most important advantages is the presence of warm tea throughout the entire tea party. If we want to drink tea, we can immediately pour a cup for ourselves and our friends. When we need to relax, retire or, on the contrary, actively conduct a conversation, tea, without losing its warmth and taste, waits in the teapot until we need to drink it. You won’t have to run and heat the water again, because you can continue your pleasant warming tea without interrupting the conversation.

Number of brews for different types of tea:

The second method of brewing tea is infusion, this method is different from the first. Firstly, the size of the dishes; a large teapot is used here for brewing. Secondly, the amount of brewing is much less than the first method and thirdly, for infusion you need to wait 5-15 minutes - then the tea will be infused only once, but this time it will give you a lot of pleasure, having given all its taste! Although, by adding more tea, you can brew it several times without losing its taste.

How long to brew tea?

Whether the tea will take a long time to brew depends on several factors.

The first factor is the type of tea. For example, pressed and rolled teas will take longer to brew than other types, but teas made from buds or tips will brew slightly faster. The second factor is the size of the tea grains. Large leaves can release their flavor for a long time, while finely divided tea particles are fully released in the first seconds of brewing. The third, very important factor is the age of the tree. Young trees give a pleasant taste, but do not have the strength of trees that are 30-100 years old; unlike the younger generation, they have a “powerful” tea leaf. Aged teas usually take a long time to develop their taste, the older they are, the longer.

Of course, the recipes and tips listed above are not the rule. Perhaps those who prefer a stronger drink will appreciate a third or fourth brew. If you like a milder taste, enjoy your tea for up to 20 brews. There can only be one rule - brew tea as many times as it pleases you. As practice shows, people who have been drinking tea for a long time, no matter what drinking habits they had at the beginning, come to the same preferences.

Today, there are a lot of traditional drinks that are consumed daily. Black tea in all its diversity is considered one of these. It would seem that the brewing process should not cause certain difficulties. However, the procedure includes a number of nuances, such as the temperature of the water, the material of the teapot for brewing, the duration of infusion, and the dosage of leaves. In order to fully comply with the technology, it is important to follow the step-by-step instructions that we will talk about today.

Stage No. 1. Boiling water

This step is rightfully considered the most important; the final result depends on it. To get delicious tea, you need to heat the water correctly.

Prepare a kettle for boiling and fill it with filtered water. The softer the liquid, the tastier the tea leaves will be. The water should not contain impurities or chlorine; you can purify it in any convenient way.
Fill the kettle, retreating 1-2 cm from the beginning of the neck. This move will help control the boiling process, since the free space between the surface of the water and the lid of the kettle will create a certain resonator.
According to all the rules, water should be boiled over an open fire or use a gas stove and a kettle adapted for it. However, not everyone can afford this, so we’ll make do with a modern electrical appliance.
The optimal water temperature is considered to be between 85-95 degrees. This means that the kettle needs to be turned off 3-5 seconds before it clicks on its own. You cannot boil water several times; water heated once is poured into the teapot.

Stage No. 2. Preparing the teapot

A prerequisite for brewing black tea is the preparation of the kettle, namely its heating. If you neglect this rule, when you pour boiling water, its temperature will drop by 20-30%. As a result, you will not be able to achieve an ideal result; the tea will turn out tasteless.
You can warm the teapot in several ways, everyone chooses an option “for themselves”. The first method is to pour boiling water into a pan, then lower the kettle into it. The exposure time is 3 minutes, during which time the glass will warm up.
The second method is the simplest and most popular. Boil water to the maximum mark, pour it into the teapot, leave for 5-10 minutes. Next, drain the liquid and immediately proceed to the next step.
Another method is more problematic. It is necessary to warm up the brewing container in the oven. To do this, place the teapot on a baking sheet and place it in a device heated to 50 degrees. Every 2 minutes the temperature increases by 10 degrees. Heating occurs within 10 minutes.

Stage No. 3. Compliance with tea dosage

The amount of dry tea sent for brewing depends on many factors. Traditionally, people add one teaspoon per serving (mug), but that's not all.
If you did not filter the water before boiling, as a result of which the liquid remained hard (with impurities, metals, chlorine, etc.), you need to take 1.5 teaspoons more tea leaves than usual.
If we are talking about a black drink in leaves, tea chopped into small pieces brews many times faster than large ones. Therefore, it is allowed to put a little less than a teaspoon per serving into the teapot. Regarding loose leaf tea, the proportions vary between 1-1.5 teaspoons per person.
Not many people know, but after smoking or eating, a person’s taste becomes dull. If you plan to drink tea during this period, you need to take 30% more tea leaves. However, many nutritionists do not advise drinking tea immediately after eating; you need to wait 1.5-2 hours.
To pour the tea leaves into the teapot, prepare a teaspoon. Scald it with boiling water in advance and dry it with a towel. Measure the required number of leaves, taking into account all the nuances and personal preferences.
Once you have poured the tea, shake the teapot to distribute the particles evenly. This move will allow all the flavors to be revealed, each particle will receive its own portion of boiling water and will warm up evenly.

Stage No. 4. Brewing black tea

The British are considered true professionals when it comes to the technology of brewing black tea. After you add the raw materials to the heated kettle, pour boiling water over it by 30%. Wait 3 minutes, then fill the teapot another 60-65%.
When all the boiling water has been added to the dishes, you need to wait 7-12 minutes. The smaller the leaves, the longer it will take to infuse. Large specimens reveal taste and aroma in just 5 minutes.
If you don't have time to divide the brewing process into 2 stages, do it differently. Pour the raw materials into the kettle and fill with boiling water to the brim. Cover with a lid and wrap in a towel. Wait 7-10 minutes and start tasting.
While pouring water, make circular movements with the kettle. This way you will raise the tea leaves for even heating. High-quality raw materials form a yellowish foam on the surface of the water. If the tea is of low grade, you will notice floating sticks.
Many people brew black tea 3-5 times in order to save money, but such actions are extremely erroneous. It is not allowed to scald raw materials with boiling water more than 2 times, and the interval between brewing should not exceed a quarter of an hour. Otherwise, the drink will be different and not beneficial.
When you prepare a delicious brew of black tea, store it in porcelain, glass or earthenware containers. The listed materials will help preserve the taste and aroma. Be sure to screw the lid on the teapot.

The main rule is that fresh filtered liquid is used to prepare a tasty drink. The water should not smell musty or hydrogen sulfide, or contain particles of rust, scale, or bleach.
To get a tasty drink, make sure you have soft water in advance. Otherwise, magnesium and calcium salts, as well as sulfuric acid compounds, will destroy the beneficial qualities of the drink. The tea will turn out cloudy and sour.
If you have hard running water in your region, take care of softening it in advance. To do this, pour 1-2 liters into a jug and leave for a day to settle. You can also freeze the liquid, then let it thaw at room temperature.
To get a tasty drink, you can increase the brewing proportions by 1 teaspoon. In this case, it is advisable to use finely chopped raw materials. You should resort to similar methods if you cannot soften the water.

Brewing black tea requires attention to detail and nuances. Soften the water in advance by settling or filtering it. Heat the liquid to 95 degrees, then scald the kettle with boiling water. Pour in the required amount of tea leaves, pour, shake. Let it brew for 7-10 minutes and start drinking. Remember that large-leaf raw materials are brewed faster, and less of it is also required.

Video: how to brew black tea

There are more than a hundred varieties of green tea and they all require special brewing technology. This is the choice of water temperature, dishware option, additional ingredients, and so on. But there are general brewing rules that can be applied to both Ceylon and Chinese green tea.

General requirements for brewing tea

Green tea is a delicate product; it has undergone an incomplete fermentation cycle, so it has not acquired the classic brown color. That is why the methods of brewing black and green tea are radically different from each other. How to brew green tea correctly to experience its proper taste and aroma?

There are several universal requirements that are observed by connoisseurs of this healing drink.

Water. You need to pay special attention to its choice. Ideally, this is spring water, which, unlike tap water, is very soft. In urban environments, such water is difficult to find, so bottled drinking water or even tap water that has been left in an open glass container for at least 5 hours is suitable.
Teapot. It can be thick-walled porcelain or clay. In the traditional Chinese sense, this vessel should be made of porous Yixing clay. This material allows the tea to breathe and absorb aromas. That is why, when one type of tea is brewed in it for a long time, each time it becomes more intense in taste and aroma.
Calculation of the amount of brewing. It all depends on the type of tea, but on average it is 5-6 g per 200 ml of water. In a simplified version, take 2 tsp per glass of water. product.
Brewing temperature. The universal water temperature for brewing green tea is 80°C. But there are especially delicate varieties of tea, consisting of a large number of tips and young leaves, that they can be brewed with water at a temperature of 65°C.

There are many types of tea ceremonies in the world, but true admirers of the drink always look up to the traditions of China. Here they really know how to competently brew green tea of the rarest variety. They approach each stage of this philosophical process slowly and meaningfully, which is perhaps why they are able to understand the true taste of the divine drink.

How to brew Chinese tea

It is customary to brew Chinese tea in batches several times. This is not just a whim, but a necessity due to the technological process of producing tea itself. Lightly fermented green teas and oolongs are popular in this country. They can be brewed up to 10 times, so pouring is considered the best option for preparing the drink. What is it?

Classic utensils for brewing green tea leaves

Its essence is that the tea leaves are filled with hot water for just a few seconds. The insistence that Europeans are accustomed to does not occur as such. This is why tea can withstand such a large number of brewings and each time gives new notes in taste.

Green tea is brewed for traditional tea drinking in a gaiwan, a container with a lid specially designed for this purpose. First, the gaiwan is warmed up. This is done with water that has just boiled in a kettle. Repeat the procedure 3-4 times. During this time, the water in the kettle has time to cool down to the required 80°C.

Pour the required amount of tea leaves into a warm and damp gaiwan and quickly fill ¾ of the water. Leave it in this form for only 2-3 seconds and quickly drain the water out. This first spill is necessary in order to soften the sheet and remove dust from its surface that may have covered it during production and storage.

The softened sheet is again filled with hot water to the full volume of the gaiwan. Exposure time – 5 seconds. After this, the brew is poured into chahai - the so-called cup of justice, in which the drink acquires a uniform taste, color and aroma. From the sap, the drink is poured into bowls or cups.
Then the second strait and subsequent ones are carried out. With each new spill, the soaking time of tea in water is extended by 5 seconds and can reach 2 minutes. This is the maximum time that takes place when brewing Chinese tea.

In this case, the answer to the question of how many times you can brew green tea will be 10. But this rule does not apply to all varieties of the product, so when purchasing, you need to clarify this point with the seller or study the information on the packaging.

Brewing Indian and Ceylon tea

The technology for producing green tea in India and Ceylon differs from that in China, which is why the product itself is coarser and less aromatic. To extract the maximum taste, smell and benefits from it, the infusion method is most often used.

At the rate of 1 tsp. 200 ml of water plus one more spoon is poured into the kettle with hot water, the temperature of which is not lower than 85 ° C. Infuse the drink for 2-3 minutes. This is the maximum time for green tea, since upon further contact with hot water, the infusion becomes bitter and components harmful to health may form in it.

Indian and Ceylon tea are not pre-diluted with water. This option for preparing and cleaning the sheet is not practiced. The infusion of this tea is always more intense in color than Chinese tea, but less aromatic and delicate in taste.

The Ceylon product can withstand one brew and gives a rich color and taste.

How long to brew green tea and can this be done several times? The Indian and Ceylon product does not require re-brewing. In this it is less economical than Chinese. However, most Europeans prefer to brew tea leaves instead of spilling them.

Porcelain, earthenware and even glass teapots are suitable for this method. It’s good if it comes with a strainer. While preparing the drink, the kettle is covered with a towel on top to maintain the maximum temperature of the water for the coming minutes. Later, the finished drink is poured into cups.

There is an option for brewing green tea in bags. For this purpose, special teapot sachets are used, which contain a larger volume of tea compared to a standard bag. This method is suitable when there is a shortage of time, therefore it is preferred by office workers.

How to drink green tea

Green tea must not only be brewed, but also consumed. How to drink green tea correctly and what causes some taboos? In China, this drink can be drunk up to 10 times, both during the day and at night, because their national culture includes night tea drinking. Europeans are not used to this regimen, so they tend to drink green tea in the first half of the day, as they classify the drink as a tonic.

It really invigorates, so it is better to drink green tea in the morning after waking up, before and after lunch, but no later than 18 hours. Experts recommend doing this every day to help the body cope with the lack of vitamins and other substances it needs.

In addition, the drink helps you lose weight, and this is proven by science. But to achieve the weight loss effect, it is drunk not after meals, but before. If you drink a cup of drink 30 minutes before lunch, you can reduce your appetite and prepare your body for active digestion of food, because green tea stimulates metabolism.

To get the maximum benefit from tea, you need to drink the drink freshly brewed. It should not be hot or cold, but optimal for a pleasant tea drinking experience. A good tea leaf contains many antioxidants, micro- and macroelements, so it is useful to consume it between meals. In this case, the components of the drink will not interact with food and will be better absorbed by the body.

Lemon juice adds value to any tea

Despite the fact that tea is very healthy, it is not drunk instead of water. Clean drinking water, juices and fruit drinks should still be included in the human diet. Why can't you drink green tea in the evening or at night? This is harmful to the nervous system. In the evening, the whole body prepares for sleep, and a portion of the tonic will be superfluous. You should not drink expired tea; it may contain pathogenic microbes, and most of the beneficial substances have already been lost.

If we talk about a drink with additional ingredients, then tea with lemon and honey will be the healthiest. When is the best time to drink green tea with lemon? In the intervals between meals, especially in winter, when the body more often experiences hypothermia and is exposed to viral diseases.

There are many opinions about whether green tea strengthens or weakens. Rather, it normalizes stool, as it promotes good digestion. You can drink it for intestinal disorders, as it relieves spasms and helps cleanse and soothe the mucous membrane.

Green tea is a drink with the longest and most colorful history. There are many ways to brew it, consume it, and use it in cooking. Its extracts are widely used in dietary supplements, in Japan they are added to food, but nothing can be more pleasant and interesting than the classic tea ceremony.

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Loose leaf tea can be steeped several times; this repeated steeping of tea leaves is generally referred to as “multiple infusions.” In the West, the terms “rebrewing” or “resteeping” are also sometimes used. Repeated steeping of tea leaves is the norm in the Chinese and Japanese tea traditions of oolong, pu-erh, green and some white teas.

Occasionally, multiple brewing is used with black varieties or herbal teas, thus trying to save money and get more drink from the same number of tea leaves. It's also one of tea connoisseurs' favorite approaches - each re-infusion is said to bring out subtle differences in flavor, revealing nuances of aroma and adding deeper levels of richness from cup to cup. Multiple brewing often uses the same criteria regarding water quality, quantity of tea leaves, temperature and steeping time.

For repeated brewing, herbal infusions and those tea varieties that have thick, whole leaves are best suited - these are almost all types of oolong and green tea. Varieties that require the tea leaves to be unrolled or unrolled, such as pressed pu-erh or tightly rolled green or oolong tea, are also often best brewed multiple times.

Fine-leaf teas of the Fannnings classification (finely cut, in which the structure of the tea leaf is still noticeable) and CTC (mechanically processed tea, most often used in the production of bagged varieties) brew very quickly and therefore, as a rule, are not suitable for multiple brewing. For the same reason, herbal teas or infusions with thin leaves and small particle sizes, such as rooibos or honeybush, are also rarely infused more than once.

Interesting to know!
Among black teas, there are fewer varieties suitable for repeated infusion, the whole point is that the fermentation process reduces the size of the leaf and it infuses faster, although whole-leaf varieties can most often be brewed at least twice.

There are also differences among flavored teas - traditionally flavored teas such as jasmine, whose aroma is achieved by adding fresh flowers to the tea leaves, tend to retain the aroma better when re-infused than varieties that are artificially flavored with oils or plant extracts.

These are all general cases, but like every rule, there are exceptions to the science of multiple brewing - some teas are better suited to re-infusion than others for various reasons. This, for example, applies to highly crushed mate; it can be brewed many times.

How many times can you re-brew tea?

In general, this question primarily depends on the specific type of tea leaf and personal taste preferences. However, there are established average standards for the number of brews for different types of tea:

Table: how many times can you brew tea

It should be understood that these numbers are not absolute and some varieties can be brewed more or less times. Ultimately, it's all about the sense of smell - if you can still smell the aroma of tea from the wet tea leaves, you can brew them again.

Another important point is the need to increase the time during which the tea leaves are in the water with each subsequent brew.

It is different for each type of tea, often different for individual varieties, but can be roughly summarized as follows.

Green tea

first brew - one minute,
second - one and a half minutes,
the third - three minutes.

White tea

first brew - three minutes,
second - four minutes,
third - six minutes,
fourth - nine.

Oolong

first brew - one minute,
second - 30 seconds,
third - 45 seconds,
fourth - one minute,
each subsequent one adds 15 seconds to the time of the previous one.

It is important to know!
It is not recommended to re-brew most varieties of black tea, as they quickly lose their aroma, but if you still decide to repeat the brew, you need to increase the time by two minutes

Pu'er(special care is required with pu-erh - too long a brewing process will give the drink excessive bitterness)

first brew - 30 seconds,
second - 30 seconds,
third - 45 seconds,
fourth - minute 15 seconds,
fifth - two minutes,
each subsequent one adds one minute to the time of the previous one.

Repeated brewing of tea bags

Although those who talk about the theory of multiple brewing are usually tea enthusiasts, the practice is quietly practiced every day around the world by humble tea bagged drinkers. Although most tea bags are filled with fine leaf tea, cut leaves or dust, which usually brew quickly, the fact that the contents are confined to the confines of the bag slows down the process. So sometimes, with some teas, multiple brewing can work well with tea bags, even those containing finely cut leaves.

Gongfu method

Gongfu is a tea leaf infusion method that originated in China and is part of the Chinese Gongfu tea ceremony. The term gongfu (功夫), also pronounced kung fu (yes, like the same kung fu that is widely known throughout as a martial art) means skill, art, can also mean work or effort, but in a deeper sense than in Western languages. This term means that the rather difficult method of brewing gong fu requires a lot of practice and a lot of experience.

Most often, the Gongfu method is used to prepare oolong or pu-erh, less often - green tea, but, in principle, any other tea or herbal infusion can also be brewed using this method. A small clay teapot is used, usually Yixing (宜兴), named after a city in Jiangsu province, although other types of teapots are not excluded. Yixing is much smaller than most teapots used in the West, and the amount of tea leaves used in the Gongfu method is usually much larger than what is used in the Western tradition or required to prepare one serving of tea. The brewing time is much shorter - the first infusion is usually poured out, this is called “rinsing” the tea leaves.

The advantage of the Gongfu method is that it allows you to more fully reveal new nuances of taste and aroma with each subsequent brew. With the standard brewing method, with a long soak, these nuances are not so noticeable, since the various compounds contained in the tea leaf and affecting the taste and aroma dissolve in water at different rates. Some people mistakenly call Gongfu any method of brewing tea with a short steeping time and a large amount of tea leaves, even without the use of special traditional utensils such as clay cups and a teapot.

Preparing a drink using the Gongfu method requires a lot of experience from the master, since only with long practice comes skill that allows you to correctly determine the optimal number of tea leaves, infusion time and the desired temperature for each specific type of tea. In addition, the choice of teapot and the individual taste preferences of those for whom this tea is intended also play an important role.

Multiple brewing can reveal to a tea lover those shades of taste and aroma of his favorite drink that until that moment remained in the shadows. The main thing to remember is that re-infusion should be carried out as soon as possible - the compounds in wet tea leaves are destroyed much faster.