Tea, to Make
for every two small cupsIngredients
Directions
Heat the water
Boil fresh cold water in a kettle.
Do not use water that has been boiled before.
Once boiling, pour the water into an earthen teapot.
Steep the tea
Add 1 teaspoon of tea for every two small cups.
Let the tea steep for 3 to 4 minutes.
Serve
Pour the tea into a clean, pre-heated teapot.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Fresh cold water
- Dissolves and carries the flavor and aroma compounds out of the tea leaves during steeping.
- Tea
- Supplies the flavor, aroma and astringency that develop as the leaves steep in the water.
The step that matters
Let the tea steep for 3 to 4 minutes. Steeping too long over-extracts tannins from the leaves, making the tea bitter and astringent, while steeping too briefly leaves it weak and thin. Timing controls how much flavor is drawn out.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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