How To Brew Green Tea Correctly - Leafy And Not Only

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Brewing green tea the right way for health and pleasure

Green tea has long been known for its beneficial properties and delicious taste. Everyone loves him - from young to old. But do we know how to brew green tea correctly so that it does not waste its benefits for the body? Read about how to brew tea without mistakes in this article.

Content

• 1 The benefits of green tea
• 2 What you need for proper brewing

• 3 Methods for cooking in a teapot

  • 3.1 With ginger
  • 3.2 With gifts from your garden
  • 3.3 Milk oolong

• 4 Brew in a cup

  4.1 Tea bags

• 5 Common mistakes
• 6 More tips from the forums
• 7 Video on the correct brewing of green tea

The benefits of green tea

For hundreds of years, green tea has given people health, but only in recent decades has its effectiveness been scientifically proven. And since then, many people cannot imagine their lives without this pleasant-tasting drink. Especially people who follow the figure and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Green tea contains many vitamins and trace elements that increase immunity, fight viruses, regulate the digestive process, stabilize the nervous system, strengthen blood vessels, and have a positive effect on the endocrine system. For women, green tea is a real find: vitamin B2 makes the skin elastic, B15 facilitates the penetration of nutrients into the body, and natural antioxidants effectively remove radicals from the body.

Green tea is not only tasty, but also a healthy drink

Green tea benefits:

• hypertensive patients (regulates blood pressure);
• pregnant women during toxicosis;
• nursing mothers during lactation;
• vision;
• vessels;
• metabolic processes;
• nervous, digestive, immune, diuretic system;
• mammary and prostate gland;
• with diabetes and overweight.

For green tea to work effectively, you need to consume 2 cups of it a day. Pregnant women are advised to alternate it with compotes and fruit drinks.

It is very important that the tea is of high quality: a fake or low-quality product not only loses its beneficial properties, but can also harm the body. But correct brewing also acts as a guarantor of the preservation of the elements necessary for the body.

What you need for proper brewing

Whether it's a real tea ceremony or a simple homemade tea, there are many ingredients involved in the brewing process. And you need to monitor the quality of each of them.

1. Water must be clean, filtered or non-carbonated drinking water. It needs to be brought to a boiling point of 100 degrees. But to brew green tea, you need to use slightly cooled boiling water, 80-85 degrees.

2. The teapot for brewing should be ceramic or porcelain, with thick walls - they keep the temperature longer. A prerequisite is the cap not only on top, but also on the spout. Before putting the tea leaves, the teapot is doused with boiling water from the outside and from the inside.

   

   Choosing the right teapot is important

3. Tea leaves must be of high quality, it is very important to follow the storage rules (in a tightly closed package, in a dark, dry place). You can transfer tea to the teapot only with a dry, clean spoon. Before brewing, rinse the leaves with boiling water and only then pour.
4. The time it takes to brew properly depends on the type of tea. Large leaves take longer to brew small ones. If you are making tea for a couple or a family, leave it for about 5 minutes. For a large company, when you need to dilute tea in glasses with boiling water, brew for 10-15 minutes to make the infusion strong and rich.
5. When brewing green tea, the traditional proportions are usually observed: 1 teaspoon of leaves per 200 ml cup. If you are planning a large group of tea, add 1 more spoon on top of the norm.
6. You can add sugar, milk, lemon or honey to green tea to taste. The addition of milk is highly recommended for pregnant and lactating mothers.

Teapot cooking methods

Green tea can be brewed in different ways, but not everyone can do it right. There are many traditional and original recipes. We have selected some of the most useful and interesting for you.

Classic Chinese green tea (leaf) is the basis for all other brewing methods. Heat the kettle slightly by rinsing it with boiling water or keeping it slightly over a fire. Use a clean dry spoon to pour the tea leaves at the rate of 1 spoon for each tea party plus 1 more spoon.

Wrap the teapot with a towel or napkin and let sit for a couple of minutes. then pour hot water over the tea leaves on a third of the teapot. Soak the required time (we indicated this above) and top up the kettle.

Do not forget to rinse the cups from which guests will drink tea with boiling water. The walls of the dishes will warm up and the drink will keep its warmth longer. Pour the tea in equal portions so that all cups taste the same.

With ginger

The beneficial properties of ginger have long been known. If you add it to your tea, it can help you lose weight.

You will need:

• 1 liter of water;
• 3 cm of ginger root;
• ½ lemon;
• to taste - 2-3 pcs. cloves, cinnamon, or cardamom;
• leafy green tea.

Brew tea according to the classic recipe and let it brew for 5 minutes. During this time, cut the ginger into very thin strips. When the tea is infused, strain it and drain into a small saucepan. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon there. Add, without peeling, the remaining peel and pulp. Cardamom, cloves and cinnamon - there too. Place a saucepan with tea on low heat and simmer for about half an hour. Strain the drink again before drinking.

Ginger and lemon in green tea can help with weight loss

With gifts from your garden

Our ancestors, who did not know tea, made drinks similar in quality and benefit from what was in the garden, for example, ripe juicy apples, fragrant currant leaves and sweet gooseberries. And we can easily combine these products with green tea for even more flavor and benefits.

1. Take a large apple (or two small ones). If the fruits are from your own garden, they do not need to be peeled: many useful elements are stored in the peel. Store-bought apples may have chemicals on the surface that are used to treat them during ripening and storage, so be sure to peel them.
2. Remove the core of the apple, cut the pulp into cubes.
3. Brew green tea according to the classic recipe, let it brew.
4. Put apple slices, a few lemon slices, and a teaspoon of cinnamon in the kettle. Pour in the infused strained tea, cover the teapot with a lid, wrap with a towel and hold for 10-15 minutes. Such tea should be poured into cups through a strainer.

Green tea with apple and cinnamon

To make currant green tea, place a few currant leaves along with the tea leaves in a heated kettle. Leaves can be fresh or dried. Fill with hot boiled water (up to 85 degrees), cover with a lid. Insist 5 minutes.

For gooseberry tea, take a few berries (1 teaspoon per glass of water) and gooseberry leaves. Pierce the berries with a needle, cover with sugar. Wait for them to give juice.

Put the leaves together with the tea leaves in a kettle, fill with hot water. Let it brew. Place a few berries in each cup before pouring the tea.

Milk oolong

Many people mistakenly think that milk oolong is tea brewed in milk. It is actually a type of flavored oolong and its flavor varies by variety. For example, in Taiwan, tea is grown with a caramel-creamy aroma, which is achieved thanks to the climate and the characteristics of the soil. In the Chinese province of Fujian, tea bushes are sprayed with milk extract, which gives the tea a special flavor.

If you bought oolong tea with colors and flavors identical to natural ones, you got a fake. Such tea has nothing to do with the original and will delight you only with its taste, but not with its benefits and quality.

But it is not only the oolong variety and its quality that are important. It is necessary to brew this drink properly in order to fully enjoy its gift.

Milk oolong

Oolong tea is considered to be something like an intermediate link between green and black tea. The difference in brewing time and water temperature is based on this.

For lightly fermented milk oolong, heat the water to 60-80 degrees. Leave the tea leaves for a short time, up to 3 minutes.

For a more deeply fermented oolong, you need water with a temperature of 80-90 degrees. The brewing time is 2–5 minutes.

The general rule of thumb for brewing milk oolong is preparation. Preheat the teapot by rinsing with boiling water. Pour in the right amount of oolong, fill it with hot water and drain immediately. Repeat and then brew the tea. So the oolong will fully reveal its taste and aroma.

Brew in a cup

Unfortunately, we do not always have the opportunity to arrange a traditional tea party with a classic teapot and a tea made according to the recipe. For example, at work, we prefer to have a quick cup of tea with a sandwich without bothering with long ceremonies. Usually we put the tea leaves directly into the cup or use tea bags.

For the first case, it is important to use the same quality green tea that you use at home. Pour a teaspoon of tea leaves into a cup preheated with boiling water, pour hot water (up to 85 degrees), cover with a napkin or saucer and let it brew. For elite tea made from young leaves, 30 seconds are enough to brew. Large-leaved varieties need about 3 minutes. It is not necessary to insist longer, otherwise the taste of green tea will become bitter.

Tea bags

Of course, this is not the best tea. In sachets, they usually use powdered leaves of not the highest quality. But on the other hand, there is an indisputable advantage: brewing will take you a couple of minutes, and after drinking tea, you will not have to thoroughly wash the dishes.

Green tea bags are a convenient and quick way to enjoy your drink

Place the tea bag in a cup (you don't need to pour boiling water over it) and fill it with hot boiled water, but not boiling water. Typically, the flavor of green tea bags is enhanced with additives and flavors, since its native flavor is lost when the tea leaves are crushed. But the beneficial properties remain, and to enhance them, add a little sugar to the tea to taste - this will increase the amount of water-soluble glycosides.

Typical mistakes

If you violate the way green tea is brewed, then it can cause significant harm.

The main mistake is adding raw (unboiled) water to the tea brew. It can cause stomach and intestinal problems.

Do not make the infusion too strong due to a long infusion or more than necessary amount of tea leaves. On an empty stomach, such tea tones up too much, which is harmful for people with many chronic diseases during an exacerbation and for pregnant women, especially with a threat of miscarriage. Strong tea at night causes insomnia and nervous tension.

Don't forget the old Chinese proverb, "Fresh tea is like a balm, left overnight is like a snake." Do not try to revive yesterday's brew by diluting it with fresh boiling water: this tea has no useful properties, no taste or aroma. Better brew fresh tea.

Do not boil the infuser. It is enough for it to reach 100 degrees and start to boil. Prolonged boiling destroys useful substances in water and gives a precipitate of salts and metals. This will not add any health benefits to the tea.

A few more tips from the forums

Video on the correct brewing of green tea

Now you know how to properly prepare green tea that will give you pleasure and take care of your health. Tell us in the comments how you brew this great drink. Bon appetit and comfort to your home!