How to Brew a Perfect Pot of Tea

 “A hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who for twenty years diluted his meals with the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle had scarcely time to cool; who with tea amused the evening, with tea solaced the midnight, and with tea welcomed the morning.” ~Dr. Samuel Johnson (he wrote this about himself)

When I first read this, I thought someone was writing about me! Yes, I do love tea and I’m sure you do too! But it’s come to my attention that there are ‘some’, and we won’t say ‘who’ to protect the innocent, who do not feel confident in the art of brewing tea… but never fear, on this post we listed instructions on “How to Brew a Perfect Pot of Tea” below!! We hope this inspires you to drink more tea this year!! With that said, let us raise our teacups high to Tea and the New Year!

1. Warm your china teapot with hot tap water. This will help your tea stay hot longer. Once your teapot is warm, discard the tap water.

2. Fill your kettle with fresh, COLD water. Cold water has more oxygen in it. Your tea will taste more lively if you use fresh, 'cold' water. Set it to boil...

3. Fill your paper filter (available at Miss Spenser's) with loose leaf tea (also available at Miss Spenser's)  We recommend a "tea" spoon of tea for each 8 oz. of water.  

  4. Once the water has come to full boil, place filter inside teapot and pour boiling water over. This step is called, "The agony of the leaves." (don't you think that sounds romantic!?) Secure the edge of the filter with the teapot lid so that the leaves don't spill into the pot.  Brew for the recommended time - 3 to 5 minutes. (Tea times are different for various teas, so consult the steeping time.)  Be sure to set the timer! Don't brew longer than 5 minutes because that's when tea starts to get bitter!

5. When it's been the allotted time, remove the tea leaves.

6. All done!! Sit back and relax... and enjoy that nice cup of tea!! Keep us posted on your progress!