How do You Brew Tea?

[brian64]

I drink a lot of black tea...hot, unsweetened. I'm too lazy to deal with loose leaf so I use bagged. The best I've found to my taste is Newman's Own organic. Out of the 4 or 5 brands of black tea I've tried in the past, it is by far the best. I just make it in my drip coffee maker...but put the bags directly in the pot, not in the basket.

 

[samb]

Tea bad in a mug with boiling water. No special ceremony in my tea making

 

[FLDRD]

Loose leaf in a container in a mug, sometimes a whole pot, sometimes a bag in a mug; 1 gallon jug with appropriate sized (or number of) bag(s) for sun tea that is subsequently chilled.
Various varieties.
Unsweetened.
I try to minimize the sugar consumption.

 

[Briarcutter]

I use Yixing clay pots to brew. Pu-erh,black,green,Oolong,Darjeeling, not all at once of course.
PG tips when I'm lazy.

 

[cshubhra]

I have a set of baskets for steeping whole leaf. Since I drink alone most of the time, I brew in a 11 oz porcelain mug, using a single serve basket.

With trial and error I have figured out that my mug produces water around 212 F when microwaved for 2 mins. I steep for 5 minutes which is typical for black or dark oolongs. I will use water at lower temperature and steep less if I am drinking a white tea. I don’t drink green tea.

If I am brewing more cups or brewing tea with milk, sugar, spices I boil water in a saucepan and steep using a bigger basket

 

[brian64]

So apparently common tea bags are the latest thing that's been found to be highly toxic. This has motivated me to make the switch to loose leaf, because I drink a lot of tea. Ordered one of these:

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[JackOrion]

I use to only buy loose leaf tea from a Chinese herbal shop. If you’re looking for quality, no doubt that’s obviously the way to go. Quality leaf, the right water temp….. but when life gets hectic and you stop making time for the ritual…. It’s a bag in a travel mug filled with hot water from the cooler. It’s kind of sad but it works. Really the saddest part is the cleaning of the mug, or rather lack of.

 

[Mikerr]

I make tea using loose 'Yorkshire Tea' in a Forlife pot with inner basket tea strainer. Boiling water, minimum 3min brew time. No milk, no sugar and drink from a mug. Usually make 3 times a day, morning, lunchtime and teatime.

Mike

 

[Flatfish]

I make tea using loose 'Yorkshire Tea' in a Forlife pot with inner basket tea strainer. Boiling water, minimum 3min brew time. No milk, no sugar and drink from a mug. Usually make 3 times a day, morning, lunchtime and teatime.

Mike

I had one in that colour. Lost the strainer though. Then broke the pot. All human error. The Forlife teapot was otherwise quite good.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

For most of the last decade I would brew tea in a coffee maker (brewing tea and coffee is virtually identical), but in recent years I got tired of coffee makers breaking down so now I only make tea in a rice cooker.

 

[Mikerr]

I had one in that colour. Lost the strainer though. Then broke the pot. All human error. The Forlife teapot was otherwise quite good.

Like you Flafish I broke my original black Forlife teapot, don't know what happened to the strainer.
Went back to using what's called a 'Brown Betty' teapot. But the pour on it was terrible, it dribbled.
So treated myself to the red Forlife teapot that I have been using for some years now.

 

[Andre_T]

I sometimes use Yorkshire Gold as well.

I too am a fan. If it is good enough for His Majesty The King Its good enough for me!

 

[edger]

Punjana loose and Punjana tea bags.
Small Sadler pot with stainless basket strainer similar to Brown Betty.
5 minute brew.
Splash of milk.
Reverse osmosis water with addition of Keto Chow Electrolyte Drops.
I drink this all day every day ‘cause I’m an Ulsterman by heritage.

 

[telescopes]

Boiling water poured into a Moroccan tea pot. Several tea bags of Moroccan tea is steeped with just a touch of sugar added. Tea is poured into small tea glasses which are then dumped back into the teapot. Tea is pored again back into the tea glasses. Part ritual, part good tea.

 

[quantumboy]

I use a mesh ball in a mug, mostly for the convenience. I use whole leaf tea from China, and once you've had a good whole leaf black tea, you'll never be able to go back to Lipton's. Also a bunch of tea cakes and pu'erh in the collection, a couple of them 20 years old or so. I like them all, but prefer the black teas,especially the ones with a strong malty flavor. You can steep the same leaves at least half a dozen times.

 

[Sigmund]

Well hell, now tea bags are evil…or at least some of them. I guess I will change brands or get an infuser since I make tea at least once a day.

I recently changed to an electric kettle that I like a lot.

I guess an infuser would allow me to explore some other teas and strengths but Im pretty set on basic black tea blends.

You guys owe me money. Now my tea bill will increase!

 

[SSGT.]

I prefer my tea cold sweet and lemony, however when I have a little Chamomile tea before bed, I'm sure this will be blasphemous to our folks across the pond, but I use K-cups in my Keurig coffee machine.

 

[anotherbob]

I use neither a tea pot, nor a mug for tea.
Down here, we use this
View attachment 334617
and this
View attachment 334618

And, if someone hands me a cup of unsweetened tea, I set the cup down and never pick it up again.

Funny story, I belong to a collective of artists who pooled our resources to buy studio space in the city and five very expensive intaglio presses. And a friend, and fellow member, is this 60 year old British lady. She came out of the back room with a coffee cup, so I asked her if there was more. She said sure, do you like cream and sugar, I was like no, I like mine black.

She brings me a coffee cup and I take a sip expecting coffee, and spray the room with this bitter weak assed tasting stuff. And, then laughed. with the back and forth on the conversation, I never assumed it was hot tea she was making and drinking. I've never seen anyone actually drink hot tea in Alabama. Seemed very weird to me.

we like it iced with just enough sugar to take the edge off, and I prefer a sprig of mint and lots of lemons. Basically lemonade. Lemonade with just a touch of caffeine. Otherwise, maybe it's more fair to say that I just don't like tea.

Though the Turkish understand that hot mint tea (like tea with mint, not just mint) is the best drink for hot weather.

 

[The Benedictine]

I brew my tea like Moses does: he-brews it.

 

[Gerald Boone]

I have an electric kettle that heats the water. I then pour the water over loose leaves contained in a tea strainer. I let it steep in water freshly boiled about 5 minutes. I do have a small, I mean very small, teapot. The teapot is a replica of the one used by 1st class passengers on the Titanic. I don't use it for tea because the huge mug system is better.
Oolong, Lapsang Souchong, and Darjeeling are my favorites. I agree with others that the leaves are the main consideration for a teapot; a tea strainer is easy to clean. Sidenote: George Orwell wrote an article about tea and was very against putting sugar in tea. We all are different I have lots of sugar in my tea.