How to Brew Loose Leaf Tea

Brewing loose leaf tea is easy. All you need are four things:

1. Tea Infuser
A tea infuser keeps any tea leaves from floating freely in your cup while you drink. After all, you probably don't want to be chewing on tea leaves while you drink! It also lets you stop steeping tea after a specified time. This keeps your tea from getting bitter. You can use a disposable paper filter if you want something you can throw away. Otherwise, you can use a basket infuser to place in your mug or pot. These will last you many years if you treat them well. Many of our teapots come with an infuser. You can reference the handy chart to your right to see how long you want to steep tea for. When the tea is done steeping for the specified time, simply remove the infuser and set it aside for a second steeping of tea. Did you know that certain teas you can re-steep two or more times?

2. Teapot or Tea Mug
A teapot or tea mug is what you place the infuser in to brew tea. Some tea mugs and glass tumblers have tea infusers that come with it.

3. Tea Kettle
You will need a tea kettle to boil water. Traditional stovetop kettles are useful. Electric kettles boil water faster and more efficiently. Even a simple saucepan will work in a pinch

4. Loose Leaf Tea
Now all you need is some nice organic loose leaf tea. Follow brewing instructions using our nifty brewing chart.

Instructions

1. Boil water in your tea kettle.

2. While waiting for water to boil, add the appropriate amount of loose leaf tea to your tea infuser. Place the tea infuser inside your teapot or mug. Tip: Double the amount of tea you use when making iced tea.

3. When the water reaches the desired temperature, pour it over the tea infuser into your mug or teapot. This will allow the water to circulate through the leaves.

4. Time your tea. Once the time is up, dunk the infuser a couple of times to circulate the water. Remove the infuser and set aside for a second steeping.

5. Serve in your favorite mug, or pour over ice for a satisfying iced tea. Tip: when resteeping your tea, add another minute to the steep time, this is because the tea needs longer to draw out the flavor.