Getting the most flava out of your tea..

I don’t know, but now I keep saying flava. Flavaaa.

Lower temp, longer steep time. Try it.

Actually when unhappy with my teas i try

-Lower temp, shorter steep time (if bitter)
-Higher temp, shorter steep time (if bitter)

-Lower temp, longer steep time (if weak)
-Higher temp, longer steep time (if weak)

in that order actually

I usually follow the instructions of that the tea company puts on the package the first time I steep it. However, I do adjust to my tastes through experimentation. If I find a tea to be too weak, I increase the amount of tea I use, not the time it steeps. increasing the time it steeps can make a tea go from weak to bitter with no in between. That’s for black tea.

My experience with loose green tea is limited, but growing. I find that an even slightly too high temperature can destroy the flavor and brewing it longer than about too minutes turns it into a stewed vegetable type mess. So again, if it’s too weak, I just add more tea next time.

The exception to this is white tea. I find that if I brew it at about 100 degrees F and let it sit for a very long time, 7 to 8 minutes, it develops more depth of flavor. However, I’m still learned what white tea is supposed to taste like. I’ve always been a sort of hard core black tea drinker. So maybe this is just my personal taste.

I still prefer very strong, bold black teas over anything else and brewing black tea even half a minute too long yields a bitterness that I want to avoid.

Margaret Studer,
Tea Examiner
Examiner.com