Making Green Tea Properly

With all the health benefits associated with green tea, it's not surprising that it is often in the media, and hailed as an important aid to staying healthy and losing weight. There are many reports and claims that reckon that this tea is one of the best things you can drink. Little wonder is has become so popular.

Although what is less known, is that loose green tea is often not made properly. Many people who don't like it have either not made it properly themselves, or the person that has made it for them hasn't made it properly. The most common problem is that the water used is too hot. This makes the tea bitter, and so not nice to drink. This is usually what puts people off drinking it. The other common way in which people get green tea wrong is by steeping it for too long. A lot of teas will steep for several minutes, whereas this tea only needs to brew for a couple of minutes.

Unlike when using normal tea bags, the water for green tea should not be boiling, or have boiled. Ideally, it needs to be around 80 - 85ºC. There is a very short steeping time, of around 2 - 2½ minutes where the leaves are left in the water to infuse. Getting the temperature or steeping time wrong means that the tea won't taste right, and also means that it might not provide all of the health benefits you're drinking it for. If you get the temperature or cooking time wrong whilst cooking, then the dish won't taste as it should do, and the same is true for different teas.

Using a thermometer can help you to make sure that the temperature is right for green tea, but it can be a chore to remember to check the temperature of the water, every time you make a drink. A stopwatch or kitchen timer can be used so that you don't leave the tea to brew for too long.

The situation is made more complicated if you drink several types of tea in your household. You might have a morning tea, a green tea for during the day, a tea to help aid digestion, and one to help you relax before you go to bed. These teas may all require different water temperatures and steeping times. If you're not careful, and not organized, you can end up getting the temperatures and times mixed up, and spoiling the tea, so that it is almost undrinkable.

Getting the brewing process is difficult, and a lot of people will be put off drinking green tea as they see it as complicated, and fiddly. An alternative is to use a tea machine that will do all the hard work for you. All you have to do is tell it what sort of tea you are using, and it will do the rest. This means that you don't have to worry about getting the water temperature right or stand there with a stopwatch making sure the tea isn't brewed too long.

If you would like the benefits of drinking green tea, with the complications, it could be time to see how a tea machine could help you.