Prepare loose leaf tea the easy way
It is very easy to gather materials needed in making loose tea without breaking the bank by purchasing those electric tea makers. You will only need materials that are already present in most households. For a quick checklist here are the things you will need to make loose tea. They are only suggestions as it is a personal choice what to use. There is no one-fit-all solution, I suppose.
Things you need for making loose tea
A stainless steel strainer is by far highly recommended as it doesn’t stain much compared to other mesh strainers. Other strainers which you could also use are the steel, plastic and the porcelain ones. A net is another must-have, a net made of cotton or bamboo will do the trick. Paper filters for making tea bags is another necessity. Some of the paper filters come with a stick which is laid over the cup which is ideal for smaller cups. Another way of fixing the paper filter is a clip which holds the filter together.
You might also like tea balls, or the tiny perforated steel ball used to hold tea leaves while it is being steeped in hot water. Please bear in mind, that these tea balls are only meant to use for cups and mugs and not for a teapot. The reason is, that tea needs to flow to release its flavours. The amount of tea you would need for a teapot is too much for such a small tea ball. Select the kind with an easy handle to have more control in steeping the tea from the water. Or you could also buy a teapot that already has a strainer. You will find quite a lot of them among our teapots . One of our best seller is the teapot Eddie, which is available in several colours.
How they made tea in the olden days in Britain
Some of the older generation prefer to make the tea like in in the olden days. Simply adding the leaves in the teapot and add water. Then you would need a handheld strainer when pouring the tea in your cup, like our strainer net.
To properly prepare loose tea you will also need a tea timer or any stop-watch which displays easy to read digital or analogue time. Remember these specific times for different types of tea: Black tea requires 3 to 5 minutes, 5 minutes for rooibos tea, 2 or 3 minutes for green and white tea and around 8-10 minutes for herbal and fruit teas.
Getting the temperature right
To get the correct temperature for different types of tea you will need a tea water thermometer. Again follow this short guide:
Herbal Teas: 206F/93C – 1 – 2 teaspoons (8-10 minutes)
Fruit Teas: 206 F / 93 C – 1 – 2 teaspoons (8-10 minutes)
White Tea: 175F/80C – 1 teaspoon (1-3 minutes)
Black Tea: 206F/93C – 1 teaspoon (3 minutes)
Green Tea: 175F/70C – 1 teaspoon (2-3 minutes)
Oolong Tea: 185F/85C – 1 teaspoon (3 minutes)
Luckily, nowadays you can also buy water kettles where you can regulate the water temperature. That comes in really handy if you, like me, are not only drinking black tea but also green tea from time to time.
And lastly, a measuring spoon in either plastic or stainless steel to get the right amount of tea per cup. We found that the plastic spoon is ideal for herbal and fruit teas, as they tend to be more bulky than regular black tea. Having said that, there are of course some exquisite teas like e.g. the Golden Monkey or Oolong teas that are quite bulky as well.
There you go, it’s very easy to gather the instruments for making loose tea and most of them are available here in our shop. Preparing tea is as satisfying as drinking a cup of tea, so enjoy and hope you can prepare more tea for many fun afternoons of drinking a healthy cup of tea.
