GET THE TEMPERATURE RIGHT

To get the temperature right we suggest putting a little cold water in a cup and then pouring boiling water on top. If you wait for your kettle to cool down it could take as long as 15 minutes!!! How much cold water? Around 7%.

The recommend temperature for making tea:

  • 70C for white tea and Japanese teas
  • 80C for green teas
  • 90C for oolongs
  • Boiling water for black tea

The reason for this is that using water that is too hot will release the tannins from the leaves and your tea will taste bitter. This also happen when you stew tea for too long- not cool. What’s more, if you are drinking green tea for health reasons you’ll start to oxidise the antioxidants.

TEA AND DECAFFEINATION

Different teas have different amounts of caffeine. Generally, the darker the tea, the higher caffeine content.  The caffeine that is absorbed into a cup of tea is found on the surface of the leaves.  You can remove about 80% of the caffeine found in tea by following these simple steps.

1.    Put leaves into infuser pot.
2.    Pour the correct temperate water onto leaves.
3.    Leave for a few seconds.
4.    Drain off water (and majority of caffeine)
5.    Infuse the leaves as usual.
6.    All tea leaves can be decaffeinated in this manner.