How to Steep a Perfect Cup of Tea Every Single Time

By Kitchenistic

30 Aug 2019

The ancient art of steeping tea has been perfected by our ancestors from all over the world for many centuries. Countless cultures each have their own tea ceremonies and traditions and have perfected the art of how to make the perfect cup of tea. So, understanding how to steep tea properly is obviously a central skill. How you steep your tea can be just as significant as the kind and quality of tea that you have chosen to drink. Reliant on your personal preferences you can make your tea in any way you wish but the advice below with let you know exactly how to steep a perfect cup of tea every single time.

What Does Steeping Tea Mean?

Basically, when you come to steep something, all this really means is that you are soaking something in a liquid. This is what you need to do to your tea leaves when you prepare your tea for drinking. Steeping tea involves taking dry tea and adding it to boiling hot water. You then only need to wait a while to allow them to fully soak and then you will be ready to pour your tea. When you hear about the practice of ‘steeping your tea’, all this really means is that you are properly preparing your tea to drink.

woman pouring tea from teapot

Steeping Tea With The Right Water

Most tea are made with hot water and putting some thought into this can bring out the full potential from your tea leaves. Fresh water can be used to offer you a smoother tea so try using bottled water or filtered water. You should fill your kettle with cold water and allow it to come to the boil for most varieties of tea. This is unless you are using green tea as you may boil the leaves. If you are steeping loose tea, then use one teaspoon per cup of hot water.

How Long To Steep Tea

Personal preference will dictate the exact amount of time you steep your tea as it depends on the strength of flavor that you enjoy. But it can be said that different types of tea will have different steeping times. So, you should experiment to discover your perfect timings depending on the tea you are drinking. A word of caution however, never steep your tea leaves for too long or this will give you a bitter tasting flavor. As a rule, whole leaf teas usually take longer to steep to bring out their finest flavors. Commonly you will need 5 minutes to steep most black and herbal teas and 4 minutes to steep green and white teas. Keep checking as you steep until you discover your perfect flavor. Store bought paper tea bags will only take a couple of minutes of steep time as the tea inside them is usually fairly fine.

Steeping Temperature Of Tea

You know to boil your water to make your tea, but the temperature is so important because when herbal or black teas do not have a hot enough water, then they will be wanting in terms of a real depth of flavor. With green or white teas, if you use very hot water it will scald the leaves of your tea and ruin the final flavor. So, you need to steep herbal and black teas keeping your water at a temperate just below boiling by turning your kettle off earlier. White and green teas need a full boil of about 185˚F.

Tips On How To Make Perfect Tea

Run the water first to aerate it as you fill your kettle and remember that you should only boil the water one time if you wish to keep it oxygenated which maintains the flavor of your tea.
Transfer the boiled water to your cup containing tea, do put the tea leaves into a cup which has been filled with hot water already.
If your tea is in bags, never squeeze them after you have finished steeping your tea as this will pushout unwanted bits from the bag.
Warm your pots and cups by swirling boiling water around them first.
At all times you need to keep the cup covered over with something like a small plate as you are steeping tea.
The minute steeping is complete get rid of the leaves instantly.

Black tea with mint

Steeping tea is as you can see essentially quite simple to do. But it is not just about pouring some hot water over tea leaves, there are some tips to follow to help you to know more about how to make perfect tea.