Loose-Leaf Tea Love
Whilst it may seem like a lot of fuss to make tea with tea leaves, there are some benefits. And when the days are slower – the weekend – it’s a great way to take time out, turning the humble tea making process into a ceremony.
The leaves in loose-leaf tea tend to be slightly larger than the tea leaves you may find in a teabag. When the loose leaves are left to infuse in the water, the water can move around the leaves more easily and the leaves are able to absorb more water. The result is a fresher, deeper flavour and a greater extraction of nutrients.
Loose-leaf tea allows you to personalise your tea to your exact preference with the flexibility to modify the amount of leaves per teapot and gives you the opportunity to re-steep, or top up the pot, with a second wave of boiling water.
As a general rule, loose-leaf tea needs to be brewed slightly longer than teabags, with an average best-brew time of 4-6 minutes. Your average teabag should be steeped for 3-5 minutes.
All loose tea can be brewed directly into a cup with an infuser or you can use a teapot – either with an infuser or a tea strainer. Here’s our guide to the perfect loose-leaf tea ceremony.
- Use 1 teaspoon of tea per cup, or 2-3g per 180ml of boiling water. Most teapots are 6-cup teapots, but some smaller teapots may only be 4. You can check on the teapot packaging. It’s worth noting that the teapots refer to teacup sizes not mugs.
- Loose-leaf black tea should be brewed with freshly boiled water - 100°C
- Leave the tea to steep, or brew, for 4-6 minutes
- Pour the steeped tea through a strainer into your tea cup
- Add milk to taste
