How To Steep the Perfect Cup of Tea

Steeping tea is an art form of its own, as steeping can make or break the perfect cup of tea.  The practice of steeping tea is to infuse water with your tea leaves.  The key elements in the process are the water temperature and the length of time you let your tea leaves steep.
 
The ideal water temperature can vary based on the type of tea you are steeping.  When making a cup of green or white tea, you want to keep your water temperature between 150 – 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  These teas steep in a cooler temperature than others because their leaves are more delicate and higher temperatures risk burning the leaves.  Black and Oolong teas steep at a slightly higher temperature, 180 – 200 degrees Fahrenheit and Herbal has the highest steeping temperature at 200 degrees.
 
Each type of tea also has its own ideal length of steep time, seen in the chart below.  The length of time you let your tea steep for is important as too little time does not allow the tea leaves to release each of their unique flavors and too much time can over steep your tea and you risk your tea becoming bitter.  If you are re-steeping tea leaves you should add an extra minute or two to the original steep time.

For specific steeping information on each of the Elden Street Tea Shop teas, click here to go to our tea catalog.