Tea With Miss Janice, Post #3

Today, I am going to address the procedure for preparing hot and iced tea, how to prepare tea for a large crowd, and how to partially decaffeinate your tea.

Please remember that tea is steeped and coffee is brewed.

To prepare hot tea, fill your tea kettle with cold filtered water and begin heating, bringing to a boil. Meanwhile, warm the teapot by filling it with hot water from the tap. Discard the water from the teapot. Put in one teaspoon of tea leaves for each cup, adding an extra spoonful "for the pot" if you like your tea strong. Or, use one teabag per 2 cups of water. Pour the water over the tea leaves or teabags as soon as it comes to a boil. Stir briefly, put on the lid, and steep.

Steep times:
~Green tea--3 min. at 170-180 degrees
~White tea--3-5 min. at 185 degrees
~Oolong tea--5 min. at 180-212 degrees
~Black tea--5 min. at 212 degrees
~Herbal infusions--5 min. at 212 degrees

After steeping, remove the tea leaves/teabags from the teapot immediately or decant to another teapot. Most green teas can be infused three or more times, so you may reserve your tea leaves if you wish to reinfuse.

To prepare hot tea for a large crowd, use an electric coffee urn that has been cleaned with vinegar. Fill the urn with cold water. Steep teabags only. Using a 50-cup urn, you will need about 25 teabags to serve three cups of tea per person. Put in the center post and basket. Place the teabags in the basket and leave them in the basket until it is time for another batch to be steeped; then remove the used teabags, add cold water and more teabags. If you want to use the urn just to heat the water, place three teabags inside each 5-6 cup teapot and pour the water from the urn into the teapots and steep the tea.

To prepare iced tea, boil 2 quarts of water in a saucepan and then reduce to low. Place 8 small teabags into the water and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of sugar and stir. Pour beverage into a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to serve. Restore cloudy tea by stirring in a splash of boiling water.

If you would like to partially decaffeinate your tea, pour water just off the boil over the tea leaves or teabags, and let it steep for 30 seconds. Discard the liquid, keeping the tea leaves or teabags. Add more boiling water to the tea leaves or teabags and brew for the recommended time. Tea can never be fully decaffeinated.

Now you have learned about the history of tea, the varieties of tea and where they are produced, some health benefits of drinking tea, and how to prepare your tea. Thank you for stopping by today and tomorrow I will continue this tea tutorial and explain the certain names for special times of the day to take tea. I hope that you will join me then!

To sit and have a cup of tea is one of the most relaxing things you can do. It is not the actual drinking of the tea, but the ritual of boiling the water, preparing the tea, and patiently anticipating some quiet time. It slows you down from your hectic pace and gives you a chance to take a deep breath and relax.