Monday, December 21, 2009

The laid-back person's guide to brewing a good pot of green tea

Step 1 - Select a teapot. If you only have one teapot this should be easy. If you have several (like me) this step can sometimes be a bit tricky.

...eenie meeni miny moe...


Step 2 - Boil some good water.

(somebody must really like apples)


Step 3 - Put a basket style infuser of some sort into your teapot.



Step 4 - Put some dry tea into the infuser. Use about one teaspoon per cup. Don't over think.



Step 5 - Pour 160° to 180° F water over the tea leaves.



You can pour in some cool water or add an ice cube or two,
if you're worried about the temperature being too hot.


You can even use a thermometer if you have one,
but try not to worry too much if you don't.
Remaining "Laid-back" is always the most important thing.

Step 6 - Steep green tea for about 2 minutes.

I'm using my oven timer.
If you don't have a timer you can just guess.


Step 7 - Take the basket of tea out of the teapot.

This step is probably the most important because
green tea will get bitter if it's steeped too long.


Step 8 - Choose a tea cup. (Advanced tip: Try doing this step at the same time as step 6!)

Again, DON'T OVER THINK.
Any cup you pick will be just fine.


Step 9 - Pour the tea into your teacup.

I chose this cute little Peter rabbit cup!
(I'm not sure why it wont display "right-side-up"
because it's fine in iphoto.
There must be some weird html thing going on.)
Oh well, I'm much too "Laid-back" to worry about that right now.


Step 10 - Sip your tea.

Step 11 - Let out a happy, contented sigh.

Step 12 - (optional) Put a tea-cozy over your teapot.

This one looks pretty cool.


Uh. Festive... but No.


Oh Yeah, Chip you're looking sharp in that little coat!


Look out for more posts in my "Laid-back person's guide" to come in 2010.

Happy Solstice!

7 comments:

Marlena said...

Too cool. I see you have a HOB also.

Tony said...

I also have a hob. the thing actually works well. I love how you repeatedly say "dont over-think it" -- over-thinking tea is probably the number one source of tea troubles.

Michael said...

Apple lover!

Question for you. When you want to infuse again is it better to immediately reinfuse to drink later and or leave the tea leaves out (maybe in your tea basket) until later on.

Nicole Manha said...

I love the pictures! Cora is like Goldi Locks with the tea cozy that is "just right".

Brett said...

M and T - Yeah, the HOB is rad. Great design.

M - Yep, we are apple lovers. We picked up the photographed 5 lbs of organic WA galas to make pie on xmas! I would resteep the leaves as you are ready to drink (unless you want to drink cold tea... which is fine). I recommend using them throughout one 48 hour period but I know some people who have used the same leaves for even longer.

N - Strangely enough, before our little cozy caper, Cora and I did fill three teapots with porridge.

Anonymous said...

Thank you... you helped take the stress out of tea making! (really, it's not supposed to be stressful, right? I mean, it's supposed to be relaxing! Now making cappuccinos and lattes should be stressful...)

Aunt Karin

Brett said...

Hi Aunt Karin! Right. It's supposed to be relaxing... and it's never supposed to be hard or stressful. Thanks for reading!

We tea lovers look forward to the process of brewing our tea just as much as the drinking.

Good tea is delicious, healthy, relaxing and invigorating, making it a perfect beverage.