Making Loose Leaf tea is a ritual. Sure it's tea bag or sachet counterparts might be easier, but there's just something about making Loose Leaf Tea. For one you can typically save money if you're willing to invest the time in making Loose Leaf Tea. For instance, our Mango Tea 24 sachets will run you $12.99 coming our to 54 cents per serving. In the Loose Leaf variety 6 ounces will get you 100 servings for just $15.99 coming out to just 15 cents per serving. And that doesn't even account for the fact Loose Leaf Tea can be re-steeped two sometimes three times! Hey listen I love the simplicity of a tea bag or sachet first thing in the morning too but if you're willing to take the time Loose Leaf Tea is pretty dang awesome.
Then there are ALL the different ways to make loose leaf tea. From the different accessory tea balls and strainers,(some even look like unicorns) to electric kettles, there are so many great tools to use to make loose leaf tea. One in particular is a french press commonly used for coffee, or even an empty Keurig cartridge makes a pretty decent cup. But today we are going to go over what we think is the BEST way to make loose leaf tea; the pour over method. This is how we make every cup at our headquarters and tea house in downtown Spokane,WA. Let's make a cup shall we?
Of course first you need to grab a bag of your favorite single origin or tea blend. We are going to go with a cup of Revival Tea Company's Mango Tea. A black tea with real mango pieces then finished with marigold petals.
For any tea you are always going to use 1 teaspoon for every 8 ounces of water.
For the pour over method we are using you will place the teaspoon of loose leaf tea into a glass beaker or just a separate mug than the one you will be using to drink out of.
Water is Key! We have a handy dandy on demand hot water heater at the shop. However you will be heating your water start with cold tap water. It has more oxygen and it really does help with the flavor of the tea. As this is a black tea we will use 200 degree water (close to a boil). This and the next step is where most people can make an incredible tea taste not so good. Green Tea for instance only can take 170 degree water. If you go any hotter it will burn the leaves making them bitter and honestly just gross. Oolong and White Tea can handle 185-190 degree water and delicates like Chamomile can only tolerate 160 degree water before turning tart. There are many thermometers and kettles with either temperature setting or monitoring that can help with this. We also list brewing instructions online under each of our teas just to help!
Next is steeping time. We will steep this black mango tea for 5 minutes. Green teas on the other hand almost are always steeped for 3 minutes. This can be a preference though on how you like your cup.
For the pour over method we are going to use a hand mesh strainer and place it sitting on top of our drinking mug.
Once your timer has gone off you will simply pour over the strainer until the mug is full of hot tea!
And there you have it, you can now make a hot cup just like the pros. It may take a little more effort but there is little debating that the practice of Loose Leaf Tea is well worth the time investment.
Cheers,
Revival Tea Co.