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Brewing Rooibos Tea - Rooibos tea can be prepared and served as any other tea, but it can also be used in many different applications.
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It can be served with or with-out sugar, milk or cream, hot or iced, as a blended tea, or as the basis for a fruit punch or even a soup. Rooibos is also a meat tenderizer and can be used in marinades and sauces as a replacement for water or other liquids. Do not throw away unused Rooibos. Rooibos will not turn bitter if it is left to cool down. It makes an excellent iced tea and can also be reheated and served as normal. Rooibos can be applied topically to the skin as it is a beauty enhancer. It can also be used on skin irritations or in a face-pack.
Our Hyson Rooibos Hyson translates to 'Flourishing Spring' and this particular varietal imparts the fresh green character you would expect of springtime. It is blended with cut Rooibos bound and milled to a uniform length then bruised between rollers to trigger the fermentation process. This results in the characteristic flavor and sweet aroma. Rooibos consumers claime it has a soothing effect on headaches, disturbed sleep and digestive problems. |
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Preparing Rooibos Hot Tea:
Rooibos tea should be steeped or brewed with boling water for a minimum of 5 minutes to release the flavor and the valuable antioxidants and minerals. Experts suggest that brewing Rooibos for 10 minutes or longer will increase the antioxidant content of the tea by 30%. After this, the tea can be used immediately or stored. Important Note: Greentealovers is using a Chinese green tea with its Rooibos combination blend that can withstand boiling temperatures (green tea typically is best infused at lower temepratures). We recommed and infusion of 3-5 minutes for this combination blend (per taste) to balance the Green and Roibos tea notes.
Preparing Rooibos Iced Tea:
- 3 Rooibos teabags (or teaspoons of loose tea)
- 100 to 200 g sugar or honey depending on taste
- 25ml lemon juice (one lemon’s juice)
- Iced cubes
Prepare 1 liter of strong Rooibos (by steeping 3 bags in 1 liter of boiling water for more than 10 minutes). (sugar or honey can be added to the warm Rooibos if a sweetened iced tea is required). Remove the teabags and allow it to cool down. Add lemon juice. Chill and serve with ice cubes, garnished with fruit slices and mint. Will serve 8 glasses of 150 ml.
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Brewing Chinese Tea - In regions where teas are enjoyed in a traditional manner, customized teapots and cups are used. This applies not only for oolong tea, but for all Chinese teas. For best results:
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Before tealeaves are placed within a pot, pour hot water over the pot and cups so until they are warmed. Alternatively, fill teapot with hot water then pour more hot water into teacups to warm.
Use more tealeaves than you would for Japanese tea. Fill with hot water to the top of the pot. It is important to remove bubbles from the surface of the tea with the cover of the pot. Covering the pot will also prevent loss of aroma. Once again pour hot water over the teapot to maintain the proper temperature.
When the surface of the teapot is dry, the tea will be ready to drink. Discard water from the teacups then pour tea equally (quantity and strength) amongst the cups.
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Brewing Black Tea - To make great black tea in the most popular British styles, follow the “Golden Rules” below:
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Use a teapot with a lid that has been warmed up.
Measure the amount of tea leaves correctly. One teaspoon of leaves per cup. Use fresh boiling water.
- For broken (finer) grade use 2.5 –3 g (0.009-0.1 oz)
- For large leaf grade use 3 g (0.1 oz) for "Leaf" grade.
Steam and brew thoroughly. Place a lid on the pot. It is essential for steaming and extracting as many substances from the tea as possible. Russia is another country where people love to drink black tea. The Russian method for preparing tea is slightly different, however. A small teapot with strong brewed tea is kept warm on a kettle called a samovar. Pour tea to fill up a quarter of a glass with a silver holder. Add hot water from the samovar to the glass according to your preference. Then, add some jam to the tea or drink tea while tasting the jam with a spoon. During the winter season, water is always boiling in the samovar so that black tea can be enjoyed all day long. Russians often drink tea with rum or vodka in order to keep warm.
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Brewing Straight Tea - What you will need: kettle, pot, strainer, teacups, tealeaves, and timer.
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Boil cold freshly drawn tap water. Boil until bubbles as large as nickels appear.Warm cups and pots first by pouring boiling water into them.
Place tea leaves into warmed pot. Use a teaspoon of leaves per cup. Use a heaping teaspoon if the leaves are fine. Use more for large leaf tea.
Pour enough boiling water into a pot to fill all the teacups. Rather than bringing the kettle to the teapot, take the teapot closer to the kettle, the traditional English method.
Place the lid on the pot immediately and allow to steep: 2-3 minutes for "Broken" tealeaf grades, 3-4 minutes for large leaf grades.
When tea has steeped for the appropriate amount of time, stir gently with a spoon to even out the strength of the tea. Use a tea strainer and pour brewed tea into cups.
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Brewing Tea From Teabags - Some tea connoisseurs think tea made from tea bags does not taste as good as loose leaf tea, but you can still enjoy a good tea made from tea bags if you follow these rules:
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First warm a teacup. It is better to use a teapot for teabags, but teacups are used more frequently.
Pour boiling water. Use 1 teabag per teacup. Most teabags contain 2g (0.07 oz) of tealeaves, the right amount for one cup.
Allow leaves to steep. If you place a saucer on top of the teacup, you can steam the tea as if you were using a teapot. Follow directions on package for length of steeping time. Gently remove the teabag.
Avoid the following when brewing tea from bags…
Do not press the teabag with a spoon, this will only extract extra astringency into the tea. Do not shake a teabag in the cup.Do not try to brew two cups of tea with one bag of tea. Do not leave tea bag package open so that it absorbs moisture and deteriorates.
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Brewing Milk & Lemon Tea The basic methods for preparing these teas are the same as for preparing British style straight black teas. There are a few additional points to keep in mind for milk tea and lemon tea.
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Lemon Tea
Thin slice a lemon. Tea’s main aromatic substance is similar to that of lemon. In order to enjoy the refreshing aroma of lemon tea, teas which do not have a strong taste like Dimbula, Nilgiri, Kenya, etc. are recommended.The color of tea lightens when lemon is added. This has to do with the relationship between the tea dye and the citric acid in lemon. Tea dye appears light yellow in an acid environment and blackish in an alkaline liquid. If you expect that the color of tea might fade because of lemon and brew tea too strong, the acidity of the lemon combined with the astringent taste of the tea due to overbrewing will not match well.Warm up a teapot and cup. Pour boiling water and brew the tea. Brew for a shorter period to avoid astringency. 2 - 2.5 minutes will be appropriate.
Put lemon into a cup right before you drink the tea and stir it with a spoon. Pick out the lemon immediately. If you leave lemon in for too long a time, the tea will taste bitter.
Milk Tea
Teas that have taste and brew deep colors of liquor like Assam, Uva and Kenyan CTC are suitable for milk tea. Fresh cream and liquid coffee creamer are not good for tea because they contain too much fat. Evaporated milk or creamy powder is fine, but milk is best.Pour milk into a creamer and let it stand at room temperature. The distinct smell of warmed milk will ruin the aroma of tea. Use chilled milk or milk at room temperature.Warm up a teapot and cup.Pour boiling water and brew the tea.Brew a little longer and stronger so that the taste of the tea will not be overwhelmed by the flavor of milk. 3 - 3.5 minutes is appropriate.
Add milk until the tea is a beautiful creamy brown. If the amount of milk is too sparce, the color will not look good.
Royal Milk Tea
Boil milk and water together in a saucepan. Add tealeaves just before boiling point.Turn off the heat immediately and put the lid on.Allow to steep for 3-4 minutes and pour into a pre-warmed cup using a strainer.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water or hot water
1 teaspoon black tea leaves (large helping, about 3 g or 0.1 oz) Granulated sugar, to taste for taste perference
Note: For cinnamon milk tea and ginger milk tea, add cinnamon and sliced ginger during step 2.
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