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How to make green tea.

Green tea is a classic, and for many tea hobbyists was the introduction to their tea appreciation. I remember one of my first cups of tea was a nice cup of green tea at a Japanese restaurant when I was a young kid. Even then once I tasted the lightly colored drink I knew it was something that I liked.  It was not until years later when I was reintroduced to tea did I recall those early cups of tea and instantly pick up some nice green tea leaves to brew. To my surprise they didn’t taste how I remembered them, and I was stuck trying to figure out if it was just my memory which was mistaken or if it was just me making the mistakes. In the end it turned out that I had not really prepared the tea right, but once I got my method down I was pleasantly reminded of those great cups of green tea from my youth.

clear glass mug with green tea
amazing looking cup of green tea

Our steps for the perfect green tea

The first thing that I wasn’t paying attention to was the water temperature when making the tea. I had thought that all tea is the same and that is a big mistake when you are preparing different types of teas. With green tea you will want to have a lot cooler water temperature than when you are brewing up some black tea. With green tea you will want to have a temperature of around 80 degrees as this is the perfect temperature for these mellow leaves. It is not too hot or harsh and allows a nice gentle release of flavors while it steeps.

Step two for perfect green tea

The next thing that I wasn’t paying attention to was the amount of time that I was steeping the leaves in the hot water for.  This is another very important aspect of brewing the perfect cup because if you leave your leaves in the warm water for too long they will go from nicely flavoring the water to overpowering the water with a bitter taste. It is similar to cooking vegetables because there is a very fine line between perfectly cooked veggies and some that are cooked too long which will result in wilted, mushy, and poorly flavored veggies. I try to avoid those types of veggies so I am sure you get my point when I saw how important it is to keep an eye on how long you are letting your tea steep for.

For me I find that 2 minutes is usually where I like to keep my steep time at, as this allows the tea to lightly steep in the water and ensures there is no bitterness released. Some people brew the tea up until 3 minutes which results in a stronger cup of tea and generally still keeps the intended flavors coming out. If you are brewing green tea for longer than about 3 and a half minutes you might be approaching the bitter cup of tea territory.

Conclusion

So to conclude, nice warm water around 80 degrees and a steep time of between 2-3 minutes is generally what will make you a nice cup of green tea.  If you find yourself craving a new green tea take a look over here Green tea at the green teas we have and see if there are any you are interested in trying out.