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Drink

Tea

A hot beverage made by steeping tea leaves in boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Tea

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Scald the teapot with boiling water and pour it off immediately.

  2. Add the tea leaves to the pot.

  3. Pour freshly boiled water over the tea leaves.

  4. Let the tea steep for no more than 5 minutes.

  5. Serve the tea immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Tea leaves
Provide the flavor, aroma and color that the hot water extracts during steeping.

The step that matters

Let the tea steep for no more than 5 minutes. Steeping longer extracts more tannins, which add bitterness and astringency, so the cup can turn harsh. Steeping too briefly leaves the tea weak and pale.

“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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