Good morning, lovely tea people! Today rather than preach to you about things that you should be doing, I figured I should talk about things that you shouldn’t be doing with tea! Below I will try to help you guys realize some of the most common mistakes that are made when making tea, most of which I was a top offender of prior to working here, and how to avoid looking like as silly as I did!
1. First and foremost, drinking tea in bags is wrong! Who knew??
Well, I suppose “wrong” is the wrong word. No pun intended. But drinking your tea from a tea bag isn’t the best way! This was probably the biggest surprise to me and is probably the most common set back that we see for tea drinkers here at the shop. As most of you know as well, tea bags are white and often times this is a result of bleaching. I don’t know about you, but ingesting bleach, contrary to this new tide pod trend, is NOT safe or something I aspire to do. Tea bags also limit the amount of water that is allowed to interact with your tea, which are often only the scrapings from the bottom of the bucket. To prevent all of these, and right your wrongs, try switching to infuser that I have mentioned before! I will post a link for them below here! If you are hell bent on using a tea bag though, avoid the bleach and try these tea bags we have here that are completely organic!
>>>>> Click here for all of our infusers! <<<<<
2. Again, if you are absolutely set on using these tea bags, do NOT squash the teabag on the side of the cup as you bring it out. Although, you may think you are squeezing the last bits of flavor out, you are in contrast, releasing more tannins and leave a bitter taste in your cup. If you are looking for this strong natural flavor though, I suggest a tea like an Assam! It is a wonderful breakfast tea!
3. Another important thing I learned working here is the temperature at which different types of tea should be brewed. All teas come from the same plant but have different ways of being made. When you are making specific types of tea it is important to know what temperature to brew at because you risk burning the leaves. If you are brewing a tisane (dried fruit and herb based tea), although, you in contrast do want boiling water. For these kinds of teas, you in a sense are rehydrating the fruit. Below is a temperature guide for at the different kinds of teas!
a. White tea: 65-75 degrees C
b. Green tea: 75-85 degrees C
c. Black tea: 85-95 degrees C
d. Tisanes: 100 degrees C
Our electric tea kettle we sell here takes away all of the worry of not having a thermometer on your kettle as it has preset temperature settings to help with this as well! I bought this personally for my dad, and he loves it!
>>>>> Check it out here! <<<<<
4. For those of you who like a dollop of milk in your tea, it is a common mistake to put the milk in after the tea. It is recommended that you instead put the milk in prior to the tea if you are making it in a pot because this heats the milk to the same temperature as the tea. Heating the milk will ensure that all the proteins in the milk break down at the same rate and distribute throughout the tea evenly. It also doesn’t leave the layer of build up at the top of your tea that most people know of.
5. When brewing your tea, don’t allow the infuser to sit in the teapot longer than the suggested 3-5 minutes. Although, like a lot of things in life, I assumed the more the better, this is not the case with tea. To achieve the flavor you are looking for, let the tea steep for the recommended time!
These are just 5 of the many mistakes I used to make prior to a schooling from both Susan and Rob! I hope you all are having a love filled start to your February and are staying warm! If you have any other common misconceptions or procedures having to do with tea, comment below and let us know! I love your feedback! Happy sipping, friends! -- Kay-tea :)