How to Brew Loose Leaf Tea

There’s a common misconception that making loose leaf tea is really arduous but actually with the right equipment it's incredibly simple and much better for the environment.

Today, I’m going to use our Chelsea teapot. Its made of glass so you can really see what’s going on inside as the tea steeps

I’m going to make our English Rose which is a black tea blend with rose buds.

Now depending what type of tea, you want to make you need to adjust the temperature of the water and the amount of leaf that you use.

Don’t worry, our packaging all has specific instructions on it.

In general, you want to use freshly boiled water for black teas and puerh tea and fruit and herbal infusions.

For white, green and yellow teas you use 80-degree water. They are more delicate and using freshly boiled water will burn the leaf and make the flavour slightly bitter.

Black tea is best with one spoon per person and this teapot is quite big so I’m using two and I’m going to use freshly boiled water.

Again, black tea and fruit and herbal infusions are best with freshly boiled water. The higher temperature pulls out a lot of the colour from the leaf and also flavours that work well with milk if you’re drinking a black tea, so it pulls out polyphenols, caffeine and catechins.

The average steeping time in Britain is 3.5 seconds and that is just not long enough for the really lovely complex flavours of tea to come through. So, you do have to be patient with loose leaf.

You also do not want to squash tea leaves. many people squash the bag against the side of the cup to make it infuse quicker. But this is a terrible thing to do to tea as it pulls out all the tannings and the bitter flavour compounds that you just don’t want in your tea.

One of the major benefits with loose leaf teas when you get a good quality blend is that you can steep it several times.

So black tea and fruit and herbal we recommend one or two steeps but green tea, puerh, oolong tea are all fantastic for three or four.

Now all that’s left is to pour and you’ve got that beautiful infusion. Black tea just gives a little bit longer if you want to add milk but otherwise, this kind of colour is perfect, and you can enjoy your tea

[westlisbon]

She has a British accent. I believe her.

[FireBird]

3-5s second steep? Who the hell is making tea like that?
It takes me at least 20s to find the teaspoon in the draw, and usually leave my brew for several minutes at least.

[returnearthvideochannel]

Well presented - concise, no nonsense.

[UnicornQueenJillyBean]

This video was very helpful. Just made my first cup of loose leaf tea. ☕

[jshoes]

Average time is 3.5 secs, but you to leave it for longer. That's very

[SSXani]

I apparently like my tea very strong because I use 2tbsp of leaves per pot. The tea ends up becoming a beautiful rich brown color I would compare to a decent whiskey or almost coffee.

[timojissink]

I have not once tried milk in my tea, perhaps I should try but I do love the pure taste.

[dariowiter]

Fantastic video! Very to the point and very clear instructions. ☕ 😁

[SSXani]

I had my wife buy me this teapot for my birthday this year. I love it! It's more tedious than using a microwave but the overall product tastes better. My only concern is how to easily rinse out the infuser without having to dig out the tea leaves?

[gam]

Dear Britain,
Hope you are enjoying our invention of tea brewing.
With love,
China

[adjoaaj]

When you take ti out to stop steeping it, where do i put the infuser basket, so that i can reuse it again?

[alexisdetocqueville]

I absolutely cannot stand weak tea. I drink it more like a coffee - 2 bags or tbsp per cup till it's very dark, with milk or half & half, and sugar. Irish and English breakfast is my favorite. I've been to fancy tea lounges and drank very expensive tea prepared as in the video, and it just tasted like water to me.

[mikel]

Why everytime i add my water - exactly as shown above - there is a bunch of leave that go through the strainer thing?

[jessieturris]

Can you eat the brewed loose leaf tea bags or do you have to strain them out

[revelationsoundstudio]

I have the same Whittard English Rose tea and a nice British tea pot. I love this tea by the way. What the video does not address is all the tea leaves entering your cup when you pour. How do you stop this from happening. You can pour the tea with through a screener or you can put a screener in the pot. What is the best way to brew tea without the tea leaves entering the cup

[Masterr]

I'm really new to tea but have all this equipment now. What I'm trying to figure out is it okay to leave the leaves in the warm water since it's no longer boiling. I will leave my kettle over the tea light to keep it warm and sip on it for a few hours and I think it looks weird taking out the infuser.

[MySensualWorld]

Who honetly believes the average tea steeping time in England is 3.5 seconds. If she said it wrong she should have corrected herslef, 3.5 minutes makes more sense.

[georgebowman]

Did you cover the tea leaves fully with water to the top or did you just pour the water to the bottom of the tea leaves and let it seep from the bottom or did you submerge the whole

[BassKlef]

Question. I use Zero Water filtered water, and I notice that compared to tap water my black tea steeps a weaker tea brew (with Zero Water). Why?

[emmalea]

I am new to loose leaf, I bought 2 herbals blends and use a wire mesh ball infuser that about an inch diameter. When I steep my teas, it doesn’t taste like anything. It’s like drinking water. Did I accidentally buy poor quality tea, or am I doing something wrong?