How do I prepare green tea?
Green tea preparation is something of a fine art. The slightest variation in water temperature, the wrong kind of water, steeping the leaves for too long... all sorts of factors can have negative effects on the resulting brew, giving your green tea an unpleasant bitter taste and spoiling the unique, fresh flavors. However, with a bit of attention to detail and a little bit of practice, you can ensure that you end up with a great-tasting cup every time. Here are some of the things to bear in mind when you're preparing green tea.
Firstly, don't boil the water! Or if you do, give it some time to cool slightly before you pour it over the leaves. Many green tea fans prefer to boil their water in a small saucepan rather than a kettle, so that they can watch for tiny bubbles and steam to start appearing and immediately remove the water from the heat source. Adding boiling water to green tea leaves will almost certainly spoil them, as the heat causes chemical reactions that extract bitter-tasting flavors, overshadowing the tea's natural, fresh, “green” flavor.
Secondly, don't stir the tea. Instead, you should steep the leaves in the water. Don't use your hands to put the green tea leaves into your cup – use a spoon. The quantity varies accoring to taste and also according to individual brands of tea, but as a rough guide you should use about one teaspoon of leaves. Pour on the water, and leave to steep. Again, this is something that can vary according to taste and different types of green tea, but generally speaking you should steep the tea leaves for somewhere between one and five minutes. Check the instructions from the manufacturer of the tea leaves that you're using.
It's also worth noting that steeping the tea leaves for different lengths of time has different benefits. For example, to enjoy the proper, delicate and fresh flavor that is associated with green tea, it's agreed that you should only let the leaves steep for a short amount of time – no longer than 2 minutes. However, if you're more focussed on the health benefits than on the taste, then you might want to give your tea a longer steeping time – letting the green tea stand for about 5 minutes will increase the concentration of the beneficial antioxidant polyphenol.
Good quality tea leaves should sink to the bottom of your cup, so you should be able to drink your green tea without removing the leaves. However, some prefer to fish them out, since letting them remain in the water while you're drinking will cause them to overcook, and might spoil the flavor by the time you reach the bottom. Again, this is a matter of personal taste. Another method is to let the tea leaves steep in a pot rather than a cup, and then pour the tea over a tea strainer to avoid getting leaves in your cup.
Also, if you want to reduce the amount of caffeine in your green tea, a useful trick is to pour on just enough water to cover the leaves, allow it to stand for 20 seconds, and then pour off the water. Then just pour in the water for your cup of tea and prepare as usual.
Useful Links:
http://www.taichiwang.com/green_tea.htm
http://www.planet-tea.com/preparation.html
Return to Green Tea Guru Home