HOW TO BREW OUR TEA
Brewing Instructions
We suggest that you brew our tea in an oxygen exclusion tea steeper for maximum retention of catechin antioxidants.
For the best cup of green tea use a teaspoonful or more of dried tea leaves per 12 ounce cup (our special 13oz porcelain steepers will make your tea even more enjoyable). If you find that the tea is too strong, try using a little less of the leaves.
- Use boiling water and fill the cup to the top.
- Cover and steep for 20 minutes.
- Never use soap on your cup. Soap residue will make your brewed tea brown. Hand rinse your cup in plain water. To remove stains use baking soda.
- If you feel you must wash your cup in the dishwasher, rinse, rinse, rinse the cup and the lid with plain water before using.
- It’s best to use filtered water, preferably filtered with reverse-osmosis. Minerals and residue in the water will make your cup of tea brown. Brewed tea should be pale green in color.
- Never re-use the tea leaves. For the most antioxidants use fresh tea leaves with each cup.
- Never micro-wave the tea. Micro-waving super-heats the tea and destroys all of the antioxidants.
- Drink your tea within one hour of brewing unless refrigerated. Tea standing for more than two hours will begin to become bitter.
- Store your tea in an airtight container away from heat or light. You may store unopened tea in the freezer or refrigerator but not opened tea.
- For maximum health benefit, drink 3 cups of tea daily.
Water Quality
The ancient Chinese knew that pure water was essential for making good tea (green tea). The Taoists use porcelain trays to collect rain water or melting snows to get high-grade pure water to make tea. The best water to make tea was collected from the snow that fell on the winter plum blossom, or from the morning dew on the lotus leaves. Of course, these were waters without pollutions or contamination with metals. Now we know that metals, especially iron, in the hot tea are catalysts that may promote oxidation of tea catechins, especially EGCG. Chlorines and detergents also cause degradation oxidation of green tea.
Deionized Water – our green tea is best brewed in deionized water, such as distilled water or water purified by reverse osmosis. All recent science-based research works, which prove the health benefits of green tea in the laboratories, have been based on using green tea prepared in deionized water. Green tea brewed in tap water containing chlorine and iron tends to have a more bitter taste.
Filtered Water — Filtered water has no scientific definition. Its quality depends on the kind of filters used.
Bottled Water — If the bottled water is purified by distillation or by reverse osmosis, it is good to use. However, the solutes in a bottle of spring water are naturally variable from spring to spring.
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