These days most people make use of tea bags and using tea leaves seems an old-fashioned way to produce a cup of tea. However, you may find a client who prefers tea leaves to bags, and this is what they want you to use. 

How to make tea with leaves

• Have at hand the teapot, strainer, cup and saucer and kettle.
• You should boil the kettle first. Place the leaves in the teapot and pour the boiled water onto the leaves.
• Wait for 2-3 minutes before using the strainer to pour into the cup.

What’s the ratio of leaves per cup?

Many of us can remember that our own mothers used to make tea from leaves and the general rule of thumb was a teaspoon per cup and one for the pot. That may be true, but most leaf packets will have instructions which are a little more definite than that!

You should use 2g of loose tea per 8oz cup. If your client prefers stringer tea you will need to add more leaves.

Don’t be tempted to let the tea stand for longer as this will make it bitter.

Hot water releases the tannins in the leaves and steeping simply adds more tannins to the tea.

Steeping times:

• Black tea 3-5 minutes
• Green tea 1-2 minutes
• White tea 2-3 minutes
• Herbal tea 5 minutes
• Rooibos tea 5 minutes

Tags:

1

Go Back to Previous Page

Live in care jobs