How to Make the Perfect Cup of Loose Leaf Tea

Making the perfect cup of loose leaf tea doesn’t need to be at all messy or complicated. With just a few tweaks and a bit of love and attention - we promise the resulting flavours you get out of loose tea are 100% worth it! Follow this simple guide to make the perfect loose leaf tea. 

 What you will need:

• An infuser or teapot, have a look at our favourites
• Your favourite loose leaf tea
• Mug or cup
• Perfect Tea Spoon 

As you can see, you don’t need any fancy equipment to make a perfect cup of tea; most people have a mug and a spoon in their kitchens. It might just be the infuser that seems a bit alien - and we have some starter tips for that a bit further down. 

Always use a heaped teaspoon and be mindful of getting an even mixture of ingredients in your scoop - with loose leaf tea some of the ingredients can settle in the bottom of your tin/pouch and some will float to the top over time.

2. Check the desired brewing time & water temperature on the packet and fill your kettle with freshly boiled water. Try to use only freshly poured water each time and only fill your kettle with enough water for the number of cups you want to make (this saves a lot of energy!). 

If your temperature guide says 80 degrees (green, white and oolong teas) you can add a splash of cold water before you fill with freshly boiled water. If you can't see your brewing information we have a handy temperature & steeping time guide below. 

3. Set a timer for the moment the water hits the leaves. Leave to brew for the desired time & strain as soon as your timer goes off.

Once brewed take the infuser out (if you've used one), throw away the leaves, give it a rinse and you're all done, a beautiful rich tasting REAL cup of tea! Did you know you can place most used tea leaves into your garden compost and they will enrich your soil? Did you also know that you don't need to fully wash your strainer, teapot or infuser every time? Just a rinse will do on a day-to-day basis and we recommend a deeper clean once a week. 

Be aware there are different brewing times, for different types of tea. But don’t worry- we have a general rule of thumb:

Green, white and oolong tea are delicate teas and need to be handled gently. They like brewing times of no longer than 3 mins and 80° water (otherwise they become bitter).

If you don’t have a fancy temperature kettle, don’t worry! This is very easy to do… you just add 1 part cold water to your mug and then 4 parts hot water: done!

Black teas need at least 4 minutes brewing time with 100° water to let the full flavour develop, especially if you are adding milk. Let your leaves brew for the full time first, before adding the milk, otherwise the milk cools the water and you won’t get a proper steep!

All other herbal teas including fruit teas and rooibos teas can be brewed for as long as you want (for at least 4 minutes), keep in mind the longer you brew the stronger the flavour. You can add milk to rooibos too, if you like. 

Our Brewdini Gravity Steepers are the perfect way to make the ulTEAmate mess free cuppa! We love them so much, we use them in all our stores to make all your favourite drinks. Not only do they give your tea leaves the space to brew that they deserve (giving you the best flavour) but they are super easy to use and clean! Check out the video below to see this beauTea in action!