Tea Brewing Tips

Fill a kettle with freshly drawn cold water. We recommend using filtered water because the quality of your water will directly affect the taste of your tea. Many towns have water that has too much chlorine and other minerals. When the water is near the boiling point, pour a little into the teapot, swirl around, and tip away. This leaves a hot, clean teapot. If you need a teapot, we offer several styles and designs that will fit your needs here. 

Measure the tea carefully into your teapot, allowing one rounded teaspoon or one tea bag for each cup (8 fluid ounces) required. Many people prefer to use a tea ball or filter to keep the leaves from spreading throughout the teapot. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Do not allow it to boil too long, as it will boil away some of the flavor-releasing oxygen and result in a flat cup. Green and white tea should be made with water that has boiled and allowed to cool for just under a minute.

Pour the water onto the leaves or tea bags. This saturates the tea allowing the flavor to release naturally. Do not pour the water and then add the tea, this will only result in a poor cup of tea. Always cover your tea when steeping. The tea leaves will unfurl properly when covered.

The differing types of tea should be allowed to infuse for the required number of minutes at the appropriate water temperatures listed below. Make sure not to venture too far from your tea when it is brewing. Teas take from as little as 1½ minutes to 5 minutes to achieve their ideal brewing time.

If you prefer your tea stronger or weaker, never vary the brewing time; simply increase or decrease the amount of tea. If allowed to sit in the teapot, the tea can over-brew and turn bitter. Some green, oolong and white teas are good for multiple infusions – just add new hot water to the pot and increase the steeping time a bit. Repeat until the flavor fades.

Customers of ours oftentimes tend to enquire about the proper way to store their loose leaf teas. The freshness of loose teas can be maintained for up to two years when they are stored in their own canisters or other tightly closed containers in a cool, dry place away from spices and other aromatics.

How To Brew Iced Tea

Visit Our Wholesale Iced Tea Offerings

Brew your loose leaf tea in the traditional manner by filling a kettle with freshly drawn cold water. We recommend using filtered water because the quality of your water will directly affect the taste of your tea. 4 ounces of loose tea makes about 14 quarts of iced tea 8 ounces of loose tea makes about 28 quarts of iced tea.

Measure 1/4 cup of tea leaves (to make 2 quarts or 8 cups) into your infuser. For this quantity of leaves, you will need a large infuser for the leaves to have room to expand and brew properly. A paper tea filter or basket infuser will work perfectly. Use a teapot to house the infuser and brew the tea.

Heat 4 cups of water until it reaches the correct temperature: generally, steaming for green and almost a full boil for black teas, oolongs, herbal infusions and fruit blends. Pour it over the leaves immediately and cover your teapot.

Brew the tea for 5 minutes for black teas, 2-3 minutes for green and 10 minutes for Rooibos or herbal teas. Over brewing can cause the tea to taste bitter so use the appropriate time according to the specific tea. After brewing, remove the leaves immediately.

Fill a 2-quart pitcher with ice. If you prefer Sweet Iced Tea, add rock sugar while steeping for the best taste, rather than adding white sugar to the finished tea.  The rock sugar will enhance the natural sweetness of your iced tea and easily dissolve in the hot water.

Immediately after the hot tea is brewed, pour it into a glass or pitcher filled almost to the top with ice. The sudden cooling keeps the flavor and scent of the tea intact. Garnish your iced tea with a slice of lemon or sprig of mint for the perfect glass of cool, refreshing iced tea.