A Good Cup of Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil fresh, filtered water in a flat-bottomed kettle over a brisk fire or alcohol lamp.
Heat an earthen teapot by pouring in a little boiling water, then discard it.
Steep and serve
Add 1 teaspoon of tea for each cup of water, plus 1 extra for the pot.
Pour boiling water into the pot to fill the desired number of cups.
Let the tea steep for 2 minutes.
Stir gently with a long-handled spoon, then cover the pot again.
Allow the tea to steep for an additional 3 minutes before serving.
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
- Good tea
- Provides the flavour, aroma and colour of the infusion.
- Filtered water
- Forms the bulk of the brew, so its purity shapes the final taste.
The step that matters
Pouring boiling water onto the tea. Water must be at a full boil so the tea leaves release their flavour and aroma efficiently. Water that is too cool extracts a weak, flat brew, while the steeping time then determines how strong and bitter the cup becomes.
“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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