A Homemade Green Tea

Green tea has been very know for its various health benefits. But not known to most people, drinking green tea from a heavily processed green tea bags does not really contain the same amount of health benefits. Maximum green tea health benefits can be taken if you make the green from real loose tea leaves.

Do you know how to do it?

Here's how:

Boil water.

Its best to use fresh water, maybe from a natural spring or from a creek. Just make sure it is drinkable. If fresh water is not available in your vicinity, use bottled water. Distilled water is more favorable. If you got no choice but to use tap water only, just let set for a few minutes, after t boils, let it stand for a few seconds before using it for the green tea.

If you want to savour the best tasting tea, use the best tasting water as well. And see the difference.

Warm the Teacup Set.

This is the most left out part. It is suggested by the old folks who loves green tea that you warm the tea cup set before using it for the tea. This can simply be done by pouring a little boiled water on the tea set. Cover it with a padded cloth or a tea cozy. Knitted cloth can do the same function.

Use a Tea Leaves Infuser.

Put the tea leaves into the tea leaves infuser. If you dont have this one, you can just use a small size ordinary strainer. If you dont happen to have both, dont panic. You can just put the tea leaves insiede the bottom part of the teapot. By doing this, you can extract a better flavor from the tea leaves.

How much tea leaves do we need to use? This is easy to answer. I am using the ratio 1:1. That is, for each tea cup I plan to make, I'll just use one teaspoon of tea leaves. I like it this way but you dont have to follow it strictly. If you want your tea to have a stronger flavor, add one or two more teaspoons of the tea leaves. Or just reduce the number of teaspoons if you want it to be milder. Sooth yourself, sooth your taste.

Pour Hot Water

To achive an idea green tea drink, you should be using proportionate parts of water to the teaspoons of tea leaves that we used. If you have put in two teaspoons of green tea leaves, then we must put in two cups of hot water.

The ideal temperature of the hot water should be around 75 C to 85 C or around 170 F to 185 F. The boiling point of water is about 100 C or about 212 F. To achive our desired water temperature, just turn off the stove and let the boiling water set for one minute before using it on your green tea.

Steep the Tea Leaves

If you have acquired your gree tea leaves from a grocery store, just steep or imerse the tea leaves as per prescribed in the packaging box. Otherwise, just leave the teapot covered let it steep for at least two minutes.

Pouring the tea.

This one is the simplest and the most awaited part of making your tea. Simply and slowly pour the tea into the cup so as not to pour over the tea leaves with it. Or, use a strainer to preven the tea leaves from going into your serving tea cup.

The last but not the least.... set back and enjoy your green tea!

I like my tea with lime and my wife likes it with mild. So I make one lemon tea and one milk tea separately. Do not mix lime and milk to the tea at the same time. The result isn't too good. The milk tends to curdle actually.