Tea-Magic

In general:

• Warm up the tea pots before preparing the tea.
• Do not use tea eggs, paper filter or alike, let the tea flow in one tea pot and after the steeping time pour through a metal filter into another pot.
• For good tea you need a low water hardness. Either filter the water or get it from a store.
• Use loose tea instead of tea bags, the bigger the pieces, the better the quality of the tea (in general).

Black Tea

Preparation:

• For black tea, you need fresh, boiling hot water.
• Take about 7 to 12 gramm for 1 litre of water. Vary for your liking.
• Steeping time: from 2 to 3 minutes, for tea with aromas 3 to 5 minutes. Again vary for your liking.
• The longer you leet it steep, the more tanning agent gets into the water (what makes the bitter taste).

Green Tea

Green tea is not fermented, so the enzymes have not transformed the substances in the leafs. For this the taste differs greatly from black (fermented) tea. Some compare it to gras, spinach or field salat, but it simply tastes like green tea.

Preparation:

• For green tea, you need a temperature from 65 to 80 degrees (varies for the kind of green tea), never use boiling water.
• Take about 10 to 12 gramm for 1 litre of water. Vary for your liking.
• Steeping time: from 40 seconds up to 90 seconds, depending on the tea.
• You can brew the same tea up to 3 or 4 times. The first course is normally not the best one (with green tea, the tanning agents get into the water at the beginning).
• You can also mix the 3 or 4 courses together, but meanwhile do not let the tea cool down

Roiboos Tea

Not really a "tea", because it does not come from one of the tea plants, but from a shrubbery that grows in Africa.
It has no caffeine nor tanning agent, so theoretically you could steep it for an hour.
Roiboos tea is very good with additional aromas like orange, lime, vanilla. There are many different aromas available.
Roiboos tea is rich in fluorine and minerals.
Roiboos tea ist suitable for nurslings.

Preparation:

• For Roiboos tea, you need fresh, boiling hot water.
• Take about 10 gramm for 1 litre of water.
• Steeping time: from 3 to 5 minutes, for tea with aromas at least 5 minutes.

Tipps

• Drink from keramic bins, it tastes better.
• You are allowed to slurp, the aroma positively explodes in your mouth.
• You can sweaten black tea with candy.
• You can put (concentrated) milk in your black tea.
• Black tea with candy and rum is very tasty (warning, you are going to sweat).
• Tea from higher locations (e.g. Darjeeling) are lighter, tea from lower regions (e.g. Assam) usually stronger, heavier.

Iced Tea

For self-made iced tea, best use green tea.

Preparation:

• Brew a strong green tea from 3 courses, use about 16-18 gramm for 1 litre of water.
• While hot, use lime juice and/or lemon juice together with sugar for your linking.
• Pour in a big jar with a big block of ice in it (about 1 to 1.5 litre of ice).

You can mix this iced tea with juices, e.g. mango, orange, multivitamin (best 2 parts tea with one part juice).

Links

• Teehandel Kolodziej & Lieder
• Teehandel Gschwendner
• Tee Handelskontor Bremen