Dan and Debbie Holmes of Tea Maineia in Winterport have made tea their business over the past five years and in so doing have learned much about the art of brewing the perfect cup of tea.
The secret? Time and temperature. Each type of tea — black, white, green, oolong and herbal — requires its own combination of those two things in order to be right.
Here’s what the folks at Tea Maineia recommend.
Equipment needed: Tea strainer or teapot with infusing chamber, thermometer or kettle with integrated thermometer, your favorite loose-leaf tea or herbal tea blend, and your favorite teacup or mug.
Black tea: Use 1.5 teaspoons of loose-leaf tea per 8 ounces of water. The water should be between 210 and 212 degrees, and the tea should be steeped for between three and five minutes. Black tea is not ideal to re-steep. The tea leaves lose flavor rapidly.
Green tea: Use 1.5 teaspoons of loose-leaf tea per 8 ounces of water. The water should be between 170 and 185 degrees, and the tea should be steeped for between two and three minutes. It can be resteeped.
Oolong tea: Use 1.5 teaspoons of loose-leaf tea per 8 ounces of water. The water should be between 180 and 210 degrees, and the tea should be steeped for between two and four minutes. Can be resteeped.
White tea: Use 1.5 teaspoons of loose-leaf tea per 8 ounces of water. The water should be between 170 and 180 degrees, and the tea should be steeped for between two and three minutes. Can be resteeped.
Herbal tea: Use between 1 and 3 teaspoons per 8 ounces of water, depending on how strongly flavored the blend is. Herbal tea is not technically a tea because it does not contain actual tea leaves. Water should be between 210 and 212 degrees, and the “tea” should be steeped for between five and seven minutes.
