Tea, Brewing the Perfect Cup

Le Gourmet TV visits the Tea Emporium in Toronto to learn about brewing the perfect cup of loose leaf tea.

Male: So welcome back we’re here again with Shabnam with The Tea Emporium in Toronto and now we’re going to talk about brewing the perfect cup of tea. Shabnam: Well, and there’s obviously lots of opinions about how to brew the best cup of tea, so I’ll tell you what we think is the best way of brewing a good cup of tea. Male: Okay. Shabnam: Number one start with good tea. Tea is the cheapest beverages in the world next to water even when you’re dealing with really good high quality loose leaf teas. Male: Okay. Shabnam: So, no reason to be brewing a low quality for any reason whatsoever. Male: So the best you could find in your area. Shabnam: Absolutely. General rule of thumb is about a teaspoon of tea. Male: Okay. Shabnam: And the teaspoon measurement which is why you see I'm not doing this alright, so it’s about a teaspoon per cup, and this particular tea pot is about three to four cups. So we put about three of these. Male: Okay. Shabnam: Okay, now I tend to put a little bit I tend to air this side of less than more and they are definitely lots of people that say, “Put one teaspoon per cup”. Male: One for the pot. Shabnam: And one for the pot, exactly. And what I say is try the recommendation and take it from there. If you like a little bit stronger adjust it how would you like it. Male: Find what you like it and play with it until you get where you want to be. Shabnam: Absolutely. Male: Make sense. Shabnam: So as you saw the tea pot that we’re using has an infuser inside of it, so this is a separate basket infuser whatever you want to call it that goes inside of t. We’re going to pour boiling water directly over the leaves. One thing that everybody agrees on is that water always goes to tea, tea never to water, so always pour the water over your leaves, and now we’re going to time it. Male: Okay. Shabnam: And general rule of thumb is about three to five minutes of steeping time for a black tea. Male: Okay. Shabnam: One to three minutes on a green tea and five an apt for an herbal. Now there’s obviously you know discrepancy there of two minutes one to three, three to five and that’s leaving room for however you like it for smelling. Male: Okay, and then if the leaf is broken up more finely you’re on the lower side of that time scale as well? Shabnam: Again depending on how strong you like it, right? If you like your teas nice and rich and strong and full bodied then you may very well like a broken leaf at that five minute mark. Male: At a long time. Shabnam: Absolutely. We’ve got customers that take our recommendations and do half as much as half as long, and twice as much twice as long. Male: So don’t be intimidated by the dogma of brewing tea. Figure what you like. Experiment, flavored it and then go from there. Shabnam: I think that, that’s the key message with everything that is related to tea. People can get so I think a little bit overwhelmed by the selection and as well, “Oh, my goodness that’s loose what do I do with it?” And the point that we try to stress over and over and over again regardless of what you’re dealing with whether you know your after the health of tea, or you know pots or cups or whatever it is you have to find out what works for you. You have to find a tea that taste good to you if you prefer broken leaves to large leaves that’s what you should be drinking. If you like milk and sugar in your tea then put milk and sugar in your tea. If you like glass teapots use glass. You know if your mother told you that, “Find bowl China was the only way to drink tea”, then you should do find bowl of China. Male: Then go with that. Shabnam: Absolutely. Male: You just burst all of the myths of preparing tea. Shabnam: Yes. Male: So it’s just find your own way. Shabnam: Absolutely. Male: Don’t be intimated. Shabnam: Not at all. Male: Try though. Shabnam: Exactly. Male: And I think just a good message. Shabnam: Yes. Male: Especially with something like this cause it is very intimidating. Shabnam: It is very intimidating.