Apart from having a soul, brewing tea is the only thing that sets us apart from the great apes.
Tea is a beverage that is considered to be the drink of the royals, the nobles and those love who the finer things in life. A cup of tea is not just another hot beverage, it is rightly termed nobility in a cup. Because of the time, expertise and quality of the product that goes into its making. Many think that brewing a good cup of tea is a child’s play. Sadly they’re those who have never experienced the joy of sipping into a perfectly brewed cuppa.
Brewing tea is a work of art, and for those who are looking forward to honing their skills in it, here we’re at Tia & Berry with a beginner’s guide on how to brew the perfect cup of tea, both hot and cold.
Across the globe, different cultures and their people have different ways of having their tea. Some like to have it with milk, some with plain water. Some like it in its original flavour, while others like taking it with some sweetening agent like Sugar or Honey. We love our tea, the Mighty Darjeeling (our personal favourite), plain hot, brewed in water, in its natural flavour with no additional ingredients. (Believe us, once you taste the Mighty Darjeeling from the foothills of Kalimpong in West Bengal, you’ll see every other drink as pedestrian).
Black Tea
Brewing a cup of black tea takes 5 minutes to be precise. Well, these 5 minutes are for the tea to get infused into the warm pot of water and for it to release its natural flavour to it. Once you bring your water to boil in about 2-3 minutes, pour it into a container, preferably Tia & Berry’s Glass Kettle that comes with an infuser cum strainer.
Here’s a tip, never add your tea leaves into a boiling pot of water or the one that has been just taken off the fire. You’ll only end up with a bitter concoction without any of the magical flavours we’re talking about.
A minute after you’ve taken out the water into the pot, add 2 teaspoons of Tia & Berry’s Mighty Darjeeling Loose Tea into the infuser and close the lid. It is like watching the magic unfold before your eyes as the water changes colour to rich golden with every passing minute. After 5 minutes, pour out the tea into a cup (don’t worry, the strainer will retain the leaves in the pot.) and serve it with honey, sugar or milk as you or your guest like it.
Iced Tea
On days when the sun is beaming bright and you feel thirsty more often, having a hot cup of tea to beat the tiredness is out of the question. But tea lovers have also found a solution to it. Tea in a chilled form. Yes, in case you’ve tried ice tea before and haven’t really enjoyed it, it’s because you’ve had the powder mix one which is simply added to iced water, stirred and served. But follow the below steps to make iced tea as we do, and we bet you’ll never regret it and you’ll have a new favourite cold beverage.
In a jug of one litre plain water, add about 6 teaspoons of loose tea leaves. Pick from a range of Tia & Berry’s blends like Raspberry Cinnamon, Mango Vanilla, Rum & Raisins (Non-Alcoholic) or Honey Lemon Tea. Let the tea leaves blend into the water for about an hour or so in room temperature. Strain it into a glass bottle and refrigerate it overnight. And the next day, you have the perfect chilled to look forward to. Dilute it in a glass with ice cubes or chilled water. Add a spoon of sugar, honey. Served it with a rind of a lemon, orange or a disc of pineapple.
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