Combining the best of East and West,
to make or brew perfect Chinese tea, the following rules are
generally applicable to all kind of teas - green, black or oolong.
Use fresh cold water. Let the cold
tap run for a while first to avoid flat-tasting water (and also
to avoid lead that may have dissolved into it while standing in
the pipe). For this same reason, never make tea with water from
the hot tap.
The quality of water will affect the way the tea leaf components
dissolve into the beverage, and therefore its quality. Experts said spring water was best, followed by river water, and the
well water. The amount of minerals in the water seems to have
been a consideration. The problem is that nowadays it's
practically impossible to find such "natural" water that is
unpolluted, and tap water is frequently highly chlorinated.
Various types of bottled spring water, now available everywhere,
can yield satisfactory results. We recommend experimenting to
find the best water.
While the water is heating, get
the tea accessories ready. A small pot is preferable to a large one,
as the amount of boiling water used in a large one may "stew"
the leaves and result in flat-tasting tea. Warm the pot (of
pottery or other ceramic material) by rinsing it with hot water.
If you wish, you can measure the rinse water in by cupfuls, so
you will know just how far up to fill the pot when you actually
make the tea.
Just before the water in the
kettle boils, empty the teapot and add tea. For each cup, use one
teaspoonful of tea or one tea bag. For more than six cups, add
an extra spoon "for the pot". If tea bags are used, they should
be placed on the bottom of the pot so the water can hit them
with full force. Some people use a perforated metal infuser or tea ball in a pot
or mug, but connoisseurs frown on this, maintaining that the
infuser prevents the water from fully saturating the leaves
(this is also the criticism of tea bags, but their convenience
may win out). If an infuser is used, it should be no more than
half of leaves to allow room for them to expand.
Some people prefer water at a
rolling boil. The air bubbles in it help spread out the tea
leaves so that the water can get to them better. Others prefer
it just before the full boil, when bubbles begin to rise,
particularly for green tea. British wisdom teaches: Take the
teapot to the water kettle, never the other way round - this
applies to black tea, not green tea, which does not require as
much heat. An optional step before adding boiling water to tea is called
"rinsing the tea leaves." It is mandatory in making gongfu tea,
but can improve any type except broken black tea. (Rinsing
releases the compounds in the broken tea too rapidly, harming
the flavor.) After the tea leaves have been added to the pot,
pour in a little boiling water and drain it off immediately.
Finally, pour boiling water into
the pot to the desired level and cover. British style is to keep
the pot warm with a padded tea cosy, but the Chinese avoid this
practice, feeling that it causes the leaves to stew, making them
bitter and putting the chemical elements out of balance. If high-grade green tea is used, authorities from the Chinese
Agricultural Institute advised leaving the lid off the pot, for
these teas are easily stewed.
Let the tea stand. The best tea is
made by infusing for a short time rather than steeping for a
longer period. Three to five minutes is recommended, with the
shorter time preferred. A kitchen timer is handy for this.
Curled leaves take longer than flat ones and probably will need
the full five minutes. Three is enough for most other teas. Very
fine tea needs an extremely short time. Do not infuse any tea longer than five minutes, or it will
become bitter. A longer time is not necessary, as the flavor and
the tannin come out early in the infusion. A shorter time also
reduces the caffeine. About three-fourths of the caffeine comes
out in a five minutes infusion. Make time and not color your
gauge of when the tea is ready, because color is not a good
gauge of flavor. If you want stronger tea, use more leaves, not
more time. The color comes out very quickly in black tea. Green
tea should never get dark.
Rinse cups with hot water. If you
use milk with black tea, now is the time to pour it into the
cup. British tea drinkers swear by this. "Scalding" the milk
with the hot tea gives it a particular desired flavor, they say.
Another less poetic reason for putting milk in first is offered
by none other than Samuel H. G. Twining, ninth generation of the
family whose company supplies tea to the British crown: milk
keeps the hot tea from cracking delicate porcelain cups. Never
use cream. The tannin cause cream to curdle. Milk is never used
with green tea, but sometimes with oolong.
Before pouring, stir the tea or
shake the pot and then let the leaves settle. Pour into cups
through a tea strainer. Green tea is of course taken without
anything in it. If lemon and sugar are used with black tea, put
the sugar in first, so it can dissolve well.
Strain off any tea left in the pot
into another warmed pot, and cover with the tea cosy. Don't let
the tea stand with the leaves in longer to make it darker.
The second infusion. Opinions
differ on this according to the kind of tea and the authority.
Many people say the second infusion is the best. In China, green
tea drinkers start the day with some leaves in the bottom of
their covered mugs and keep adding water before the cup is
completely empty. Black and oolong teas can stand up through
more infusions than green tea.
Never use tea that has stood
overnight. Researchers at the Fujian province Chinese Medicine
Research Institute found that while fresh green and oolong tea
lowered incidence of lung cancer in rabbits, green tea that had
stood overnight increased it.
Note:
Three grams, or one teaspoonful, is the usual
amount of dry leaves per cup.
Both Chinese and American sources
agree that a pound of tea makes about 200
cups. An ounce of instant
makes 40 servings.
