How to Make Chinese Tea - 7 Steps

How to make Chinese tea? The steps and methods are different for different types of tea. However, some basic steps to make Chinese tea are similar.
 

Rush all tea sets with boiling water and drain the teapot and teacups. It aims to raise the temperature of tea sets, and ensure a relatively stable temperature of the tea soup. Meanwhile, clean effect is also achieved.
 

The number of tea leaves varies with different tea types and personal preference. If you like strong tea, put more; if you prefer light tea, put less.
 

Pour hot water into the tea pot, stay for a few seconds and then abandon the soup. Tea leaves are contaminated by dust or other things during the cultivation and processing, and there may be pesticide residues on the surface of tea leaves. Therefore, the first brew of tea may contain harmful substances, which should be abandoned. However, some tea has been washed clean during the processing and there is no need to follow this step.
 

It is usually advisable to pour into water occupying 4/5 of the tea pot, leaving some space for tea leaves to spread. The brewing time is generally about 5 minutes. The longer time you brew tea leaves, the stronger taste you will have.
 

The tea should be poured into the warm fair cup first, shake it evenly and then pour into the guests’ cups. By this way, the tea tastes the same either by early served or late served guests. This is also the name origin of the fair cup.
 

When serving tea, you should send the tea cup on the tea tray to the guest and place it in front of the right hand of your guest.
 

After the tea is served, you should first observe the shape and color of tea instead of drinking it immediately. Then, smell its fragrance holding the tea cup. Later, you can taste it.
 

1. Make Chinese tea right before drinking. Do not keep tea soup in thermos cups. Although thermos cups can keep heat, a variety of vitamins and aromatic oil of the tea will easily lose in high temperature or long time’s constant high temperature, and the flavor of the tea will also change.
2. The water temperature to make Chinese tea depends on the tenderness of tea leaves. Old tea can be directly brewed with hot water of 95℃ (203℉), while fresh tea is better brewed with the water of 80℃ (176℉).
3. Most tea can be brewed for 3 times, while oolong tea can be brewed for about 6 times and pu erh tea of good quality can be brewed for about 10 times.
4. Don’t drink overnight tea. When tea leaves are soaked too long, many harmful substances are soaked out. Meanwhile, the number of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi in tea increases due to the pollution of the surrounding environment, which affects people’s health.

 Further Reading: Chinese Tea Ceremony