How To Brew The Perfect Cup of Black Tea

The thing about making tea is that well, you never really think about it much, do you? Well, at least I never did. It’s one of those – well, how hard can it be, right up there with boiling an egg? Just toss it into boiling water. Boom, done. Tea.

I never thought that tea making could be well, serious business until an incident that happened a few years back to a friend of mine. My husband’s housemate back in uni was preparing tea in the kitchen while the plumber worked on the kitchen sink. The housemate in a true Malaysian fashion, took a big plastic jug, filled it up with hot boiling water and then tossed in a couple of bags of tea. And then he took a couple of tablespoons of sugar, tossed it in and stirred it around.

The plumber who who did not even acknowledge the housemate’s presence in the kitchen, turned around and screeched! He exclaimed, that was NOT the way to make tea. He grabbed the plastic jug from said housemate, tipped it down the newly fixed sink before making them proper tea.

Truth to be told though, it seemed like everyone in England knew how to make a proper cup of tea. I had a housemate who made making a cup of tea part of her evening ritual.

I loved watching her do it. First she would use fresh water in the kettle. And then she would boil the water and as the kettle was about to reach boiling point, she’d stop the water from boiling, tip in the hot water and swirl into her mug before tossing the water out. She would drop a bag of tea into the mug, cover the mug with a saucer, to keep the cup warm (and pile biscuits on the saucer). And then she’d bring the kettle to a boil again, remove the saucer from the mug and pour in the boiling water into the mug. She always added milk later before going off and watching Eastenders.

I never actually bothered until years later, after reading an article on the BBC about making tea and out of curiosity, decided to brew tea correctly. The taste was amazing – sprightly and bright, compared to just tossing tea into hot water (or vice versa). In case it might just be in the mind, I did a blind taste test on the husband, who is not a tea enthusiast and even he remarked the difference in flavour.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t defile your tea anymore!

Firstly, make sure you have all your equipment ready for making tea. Here we have a kettle, a teapot, teaspoon, a strainer, a mug and tea leaves. Toys are fun but not a necessity for brewing tea.

Bring the kettle filled with water to an almost boil. 

As soon as the water begins to gurgle into the kettle, tip the hot water into the teapot to warm it up. Swirl the hot water around and then toss the water out. Replace the kettle back on and let it boil further.

While the water rolls into a boil, quickly add one teaspoon of tea into the warmed teapot. You need one teaspoon of tea leaves per person. (It's the same for teabags!)

As soon as the water begins to boil furiously, pour 1 cup of water for every teaspoon of tea. Leave it to steep for 1 or 2 minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea. Don't leave them in for too long, or it'll be bitter.

Strain the tea as soon as you've steeped it. Leaving it in would make for very disgusting tea. You can always add milk and sugar, depending on the type of black tea you are drinking. Now find a friend and enjoy!

This method works perfectly well for a cup of black tea. Depending on your black tea, you can always add milk or sugar or both! But if you're drinking a Darjeeling, it's best enjoyed plain. Remember though, this method is only meant for black tea, white tea and green tea have to made in a different method which we will explore in other blog entries.

Happy drinking!