Everyone knows how to drink tea, but they don’t necessarily know how to brew tea. Of course, due to the variety of tea, quality of the water, brewing techniques, the color, smell, taste of the tea brewed by each person are different. Even you have good tea, good water, and good tea wares, if you don’t have the technique and skill to brew tea, it is hard for you to brew one cup of good tea.
But how to become the expert of tea brewing?
Making a good cup of tea, there are five conditions:
- Quality of the water
The water is the basis of tea. Water to tea is like water to fish. Fish is active due to water. The water adds to the flavor of tea, making the color and flavor of tea. The tea can be divided into water from spring, lake, river, well, rain, and snow. Only the water meets the five criteria “Source, flow, sweet, clean, light” is the good water.
The expert of tea Lu Yu claimed that “Water from the mountain is the best, then the water in the river, the last is the water in the well”. However, from the modern scientific experiment says the quality of the water: the first is the water from the spring, the water from the well ranked the second, then is the distilled water. The tap water is the worst.
- Temperature of the water
The difference of the temperature caused the diverse in terms of color, smell, flavor of the tea. The chemical compounds are thus different. Normally, the temperature of the tea is closely related to the type of the tea. For example, if the tea is made from older and tougher tea leaves, you have to brew directly with boiled water. If the tea is made from softer tea leaves, you have to use cooled down boiling water to brew. To be specific, Longjing, Xinyang Maojian and others that belong to the high-end are soft green tea. They are better to brew with 80 degree boiled water. Oolong tea is better to brew with the tea wares are heated up by boiled water. Brick tea and other types of steam pressed tea are better brewed with boiled water over 100 degree.
- Timing
The timing and times of tea brewed are based on the types of tea, water temperature and amount of tea used. In our daily life, the brew tea are normally black tea and green tea. Put about 3 grams of dried tea in each cup with approximately 200 ml boiled water. Cover the cup for 4 to 5 minutes, then you can drink it. Usually, the tea is best to brew three times.
- Amount of tea
The amount of tea used for brewing doesn’t have a standard. It is largely depended on the type of tea, tea wares and the preference or habits of the tea drinker. If the drinker is tea lover and heavy labor worker, the amount of tea should be increased. If the drinker is beginner or don’t have the habit of the tea, less tea can be used. Normally, each gram tea should brew with 50 -60 ml of water, better with boiled water. However, different types of water need different amount. If it’s Oolong, the amount used is one time more than normal black tea or green tea. But the amount of water used is reduced half.
- Mood
A good mood of the person who brews the tea is the key to have good tea. Brewing tea is not just about feel the natural spirit of tea, but also the dialog with the nature. There is saying “one people drinks the tea get the spirit, two people get the fun, three people get the taste”. Only in the good mood, you can get the best from tea drinking.