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How to steep the perfect cup of tea

The most important thing in steeping the perfect cup of tea (weather it is green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea, herbal or rooibos tea) is to enjoy the whole process of preparation. If you don’t enjoy the process, you will not appreciate the taste of your tea. When you are ready for the ceremony of steeping the perfect cup of tea, boil fresh water in the kettle and put your teacup nearby. It is preferable to use bottled water and avoid using boiling water for the tea. The quality of your water will directly affect the taste of your tea.

Bring the water to a rolling boil. Don’t boil the water more than 3 sec, as this will reduce the flavor of your tea.

The next important step is to preheat your teacup. This will keep your tea staying warm longer and will give it more flavors. Just pour boiling water into the teacup and pour it out.
Place the tea bag into your teacup or use one rounded teaspoon of loose tea leaves per teacup. Do not pour the water and then add the tea, this will only result in a poor cup of tea. By the way, loose tealeaves have more flavors in them than leaves in tea bags.

Wait about a minute until the water you just boiled cools down to 70-85 °C (158-185 °F) and pure it onto the tea. For White, Green, and Oolong teas the hot water temperature should be lower than for black tea. For the perfect cup with black teas use the hot water at its boiling point (100 °C, 212 °F). After just 20 to 30 seconds shake the tea bag in the hot water 3 to 4 times or use teaspoon for loose leave tea. Steep green tea for 1-2 min and black tea for 3-5 min unless instructed otherwise. Never increase the brewing time; the tea can over-brew and turn bitter.
Remove the tea bag. Use a strainer when pouring the loose leave tea from you teacup into another teacup. You may want to preheat another tea cup in this case.
Sweeten your tea as preferred or serve with a slice of lemon and enjoy.

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