I am easily distracted, I have to admit.  It doesn't take much to make my mind wander, and conversations are difficult as I tend to be a couple of degrees off of where things usually are.  The bad thing is that age has made it worse.  The good thing is that my distractions tend to mostly be people, and there are so many new people that I am meeting who I find fascinating.... This has to be one of the best things about life... meeting and understanding people. 

I don't think that I've ever received a request for a specific topic here, but recently was asked for info on tea by one of the above said fascinating people I've recently gotten to know.  At first I thought that she was interested in how to make the actual tea, which my response was to just throw some herbs together...

Since I seldom seem to get anything initially anymore as my mind constantly wanders, she explained that she wanted to know more about how to make a good cup of tea...

I felt a bit bad about this as I've been such a slave to coffee lately and have abandoned my leaves for beans...  Maybe this would be a good time to revisit and rekindle the relationship that tea and I used to had, and also a chance to dust off the camera and show you how I do it...

I'm not going into the kinds of teas, or the benefits of them, other than to say that most all of the teas I use tend to have a base of organic green tea that I tend to buy by the pound from Frontier.  I do have access to a wholesale account and it's pretty affordable in this manner.  They are also a great supplier of herbs, and if I'm not picking it myself this is where I get them.  The Bulk Herb Store is also another great supplier, and Shoshanna has some wonderful blends that I tend to look at when I'm making my own recipes.

I am from the south and I grew up drinking the vile, sickeningly-sweet drink known as iced tea as my main drink in life... I then got addicted to the wonderful blend known as Market Spice tea in Seattle.  I think it is probably still my most favorite tea, but I've grown too cheap to buy it regularly any more.  Now I tend to stick to my herb blends so that I get more bang for my buck... rather than just enjoying a good cup of tea, I want some other benefits as well...

Tea is basically plant material infused in hot water.  There are several ways to do this, but they do tend to be the same in overall theory. 

To heat water I like to use a tea kettle, mine is electric, but stovetop is always an option.   I like the electric kettle because it brings the water just to boiling and then cuts off.  You don't want the water to really boil as that will change the taste and quality of the tea.  You want the initial boiling and then turn it off.  You can also do a minute in the microwave if you have to as well; this is not preferred or great, but I won't say that it isn't done at times in my house. 

I don't tend to buy tea bags as I make my own teas, and I think that often the most inferior of teas are put into bags.  When you buy loose tea you really see what you are getting.

To infuse the tea you need to put it in the hot water.  Options for this include buying your own tea bags (I don't do this), using a tea ball, using a specially made tea cup (usually from import stores), or just dumping the tea in the water.

No method seems better or worse than the others... some are just bigger messes and leave more debris in your finished tea.  It comes down to what you can live with.

Tea balls are the easiest, in my opinion, just don't overload them.  Generally I look to fill up one side of the ball loosely with tea.  You want the water to be able to circulate well.  Tea balls are also very easy to clean up and don't tend to spill out into your tea.

The import tea cups usually have a tea compartement that is lifted out.  Depending upon the size of the holes or slits the tea can end up with leaves all in it that require you to either drink the leaves or strain them out.  I am also concerned that alot of these pieces are ceramic and from China (but that's another entry altogether) so I avoid their use.

Dumping loose leaves in the water sounds good, but you have to strain them out, and alot of the time they sink to the bottom and don't circulate well.

Another option, for those who want to buy another kitchen piece, is a percolator.  I have a stovetop version that you put in water and tea and then heat according to the directions.  It is simple, easy and the tea tends to come out very clean and free of leaves.  The only issue is that you allow it to perk only 3-4 minutes at most and you have to pay attention to it or it will be over-done, and with green tea this means bitter.

I do usually percolate my daily type teas that I want to make several cups, and use a tea ball when we are making single servings that are usually medicinal in nature.

Once you add tea with water you want to allow it to steep.  I cover it with an index card usually, but any kind of lid would work.  That's the nice thing about the import-style tea cup... it's an all-in-one set up, it's just unfortunate that there's no telling what it was glazed with.

I steep mine for 3-4 minutes.  Green teas can be a bit bitter when oversteeped.  Remove your tea ball at this time or strain the tea if needed.  You can add sweeteners at this time if you desire, but I personally tend to use a bit of dried stevia in my daily blends and this is usually enough.

The tea cup in the back is the import tea cup... you can see some leaves still left.

The left cup is the one that held the tea ball, and it seems to have the least amount of tea debris in it.

THe middle is the tea that was just dumped in and strained out.  Alot of debris is left.

The right cup is the pecolator tea. It didn't have alot of leaves in it either.

As far as tasting them all... the three that came from water in the kettle were pretty similar.  The percolator tea was a bit more complex as I could taste alot of the secondary herbs that were in the blend I used today.  It bordered on a bit more bitter, but I believe this was related to the other herbs and not the perc time.  Also... never use any coffee pot/percolator for tea that has been used for coffee.  It will be too overpowered by the coffee and your tea will taste horrible.

The colors on the above tea were pretty identical in  person... I think that the light affected the picture.

So... please enjoy a cup of tea and all the good things that can be found in it.