► Brewing with Chinese tea pot— Three elements
There are many benefits of drinking tea, such as keep someone awake, relax your nerve, facilitate digestion, lower blood lipid and blood sugar, etc. However, it is forbidden to take medicine with tea, for this would affect the medicine’s function. To make a pot of good tea, there are three key elements: the amount of tea leaves, water temperature and brewing time.
the amount of tea leaves
There is no universal standard of how much tea leaves one should use for a single brew. The amount of tea leaves depends on the types of tea, the size of tea set and the habits of consumers. Generally, the portion of tea and water should be controlled as 1:50, but one can adjust based on her personal preference. The key is to handle the portion of tea versus water. If the portion is high, the tea would taste strong; if the portion is low, the tea would taste flat.
In general, when brewing common black tea and green tea, the portion of tea versus water should be controlled at around 1:50-60. That is, add 150-200 ml boiling water for 3g of tea.
water temperature
The most suitable hot water for brewing tea is the one just boiled. This is because the active ingredients in tea are not easy to release when the water temperature is low. Generally, the tenderer and greener of tea leaves, the lower water temperature should be used to brew it. This way, the color of tea would be brighter, the taste fresher, and the vitamin c in tea leaves would be destructed less.
Accommodating different water temperature for different tea is the principle of brewing high quality tea. The basic principle is brewing green tea around 75℃~85℃, for it is made of tender sprouts. When the water has boiled, open the lid to lower the temperature. It is suitable to use water around 95℃~100℃ to boil Oolong tea, so it is okay to brew instantly after the water boiled. Black tea is suitable for 85℃~95℃ of water temperature.
brewing time
After putting tea leaves into a cup, first pour a little water in to the cup, following the principle of soaking over the tea leaves. Then, put a lid on it for 3 minutes and add water to 70%-80% full. After that, it is suitable for drinking. Once there are only one third of the tea, add water again to make the concentration more balanced.
At first brew, 50%-55% of the soluble content could be released. At the second brew, 30%; at the third brew, 10%. When brewing for the fourth time, there would be almost nothing. Thus, one should take care of the number of times of brewing.
