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How to Brew Green Tea

Not sure how to brew green tea? Well you have come to the right place! Whether you are drinking green tea to lose weight or just for the pleasure of it, you need to brew it correctly to get the most out of it and enjoy the infinite green tea antioxidants in your cup. Otherwise, its powerful polyphenols may ruin the flavor of your drink and make it gassy if you over brew it.

Therefore, come along and join us in this wonderful adventure and learn how to make the perfect cup of tea – from the green tea plant directly to your cup.

How to brew green tea – Water Quality

Water quality is extremely important to brew the perfect cup. It will clearly influence your tea’s flavor. Thus when you are preparing yourself a nice cup of tea your best choice would be spring water.

How to brew green tea – The Ideal Quantity

Here’s an important advice - you should always brew just the amount you plan to consume straight away. Usually 5 grams per 8 ounces of water is the ideal, but it can also vary according to the tea variety. Keep in mind that high quality teas entail fewer leaves to get a good flavor and it is also important to use spacious teapots.

Whether you use ceramic teapots, Japanese tea pots or Chinese teapots just make sure the leaves have enough space to dance and release their nectar.

How to brew green tea – The Right Temperature and Steeping Time

This is also a crucial step to get your perfect cup of green tea. The temperature differs depending on the variety of green tea, but keep in mind that the hottest temperatures to brew your tea are 180ºF to 190ºF (81ºC to 87ºC) and the longest steeping times 2 to 3 minutes if it is a lower quality green tea. However, high quality green teas need cooler water to better release their magic content.

So the ideal temperatures would be 140ºF to 160ºF (61ºC to 69ºC) and then steeping for about 30 seconds.

If you do boil your water when preparing high quality green teas here’s a tip: give it one or two minutes a rest to cool down or you can use a tablespoon to pour cold water into the pot. It will bring it to the right temperature.

Let’s have a look at some Japanese Green Tea varieties and find out the differences between them, when it comes to brewing:

Sencha Green tea – to brew this tasteful variety the water temperature should be between 175-190ºF and the steeping time around two minute in a teapot.

Hojicha, Genmaicha and Bancha – for these ones you may boil your tea water and let it brew for just 15-20 seconds to get the best out of them.

Matcha Tea - the best way to prepare this variety is to use 1 teaspoon of its powder and then pour ¼ cup of 160ºF water in it.

One of green tea side effects is the caffeine content. As you may know, after the first brewing the caffeine intake drops, thus after multiple brewings your drink will be almost caffeine free. However, do not forget that a shorter steeping time produces high caffeine content and, consequently, a low polyphenol amount, since these powerful antioxidants are released while your tea is steeping.

How to brew green tea – Loose Tea or Tea Bags?

We’re sure that you have asked yourself this question before. If you usually don’t have time to prepare a nice cup of loose tea, tea bags are an option. They can also fill your mind and body with the pleasure of drinking your favourite beverage. However, you do get the most of green tea’s health benefits from loose tea, because it has undergone less transformations, thus maintain a high content of antioxidants.

If you prefer to use teabags, Gykuro, Sencha and Hojicha tea bags should be steeped for 2 minutes.

Now that we’ve answered some important questions about how to brew green tea, let’s prepare a nice cup of green tea together, step by step.

How to brew green tea – Step by Step

Where to begin? Prepare your tea pots sets, your kettle, tea strainers, tea leaves and let us walk through the process together.

Use fine quality water and brew your green tea around 165º – 170ºF. The quantity of tea should be 1 teaspoon per 8 ounces of water.

Now start heating your fine water in a kettle. Don’t let it over boil.

Next, choose a teapot, fill it with your hot water and wait a minute. This will warm your teapot and it will allow the water temperature to cool down.

Take the number of cups you are planning to use and pour the hot water from the teapot in them.

Then you will use your tea leaves. Put one teaspoon of loose leaf into the teapot, which has now a warm temperature.

Finally, use the hot water in your teacups and pour it into the teapot, over the loose leaf green tea, letting it brew for two minutes ( as we mention, it depends on the tea variety).

Now wait for a while. Look at it, smell it and plunge into this wonder drink. Take a sip with us and enjoy the perfect cup of green tea.

How to brew green tea – What went wrong?

Is it bitter? Its aroma is not pleasant? There are many reasons why your green tea is not exactly what you expected. Let us guide you through some of the possible reasons.

You didn’t use fine quality water.

Solution: Try other sources. Sometimes the mineral content in your tap water may not be the best for brewing tea as it may alter considerably the taste of your tea. Here's a tip: if you normally don't like to drink water from the tap, then don't choose that water for your tea.

The brewing temperature was too high and the steeping too long, which made your drink bitter and gassy.

Solution: Experiment by lowering temperatures and trying different steeping times. Take pleasure in finding what best combination suits you.

You whether used too much tea or not tea enough.

Solution: Again experiment by using less tea first and then if you feel the taste is weaker than you would like, increase the amount of leaves until you reach a flavor that suits.

You used a low quality tea.

Solution: Sometimes tea can be on the shelf of a store for too long or be of lower quality. Try other brands or other shops if you suspect that the quality of tea is being compromised.

Don't worry! Practice makes perfection! Soon enough you will get every step right. We will be here to help you make the perfect cup of green tea. Relax and enjoy the powerful green tea health benefits.

Green tea is fresh, delicate and super healthy. It’s fresh, delicate and super healthy. A nature’s secret waiting to be unleashed in your cup!

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”In the Taste of a single cup of tea you will eventually discover the truth of all the ten thousand forms in the universe.”
- Attributed to Kyongbong Sunim, Ch'an (Zen) Master

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Disclaimer: Please consult with your doctor before taking any products presented.
This site is for informational purposes only.
Self-medication is not advised.

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