Let's not repeat ourselves and talk about the benefitsgreen tea. What can I say! How much has been said about it: it helps you lose weight, prolong your youth, and cure various illnesses. Yes, that's true. But everyone knows about the benefits, but not many know how to brew green tea properly. But in order for tea to actually be beneficial, you need to skillfully extract these benefits from it. And if you think that daily tea drinking with boiling water from the tap and a bag of green tea (even the most expensive) will curb your free radicals and normalize your metabolism, then you are deeply mistaken. Green tea requires a special approach, and brewing it is a whole science. Of course, we will not master the art of the traditional tea ceremony (like in Japan or China). This requires long and persistent study. But we will talk about the rules for brewing green tea. Moreover, these rules are easy to learn. So, let's begin.
What is green tea?
First, let's look at the featuresgreen tea. Many people think that green tea is a special type of tea bush. However, this is not true at all. Both black and green (and even white and yellow) can grow (miracle!) on the same tea bush. And it's all about the growth stages of this bush and the methods of processing tea leaves. Like all plants without exception, the tea bush grows, and in the process of growth it throws out more and more new buds. Young buds with three or four leaves are called flushes and it is from them that the most expensive and elite tea is prepared. Leaves are collected from a tea bush of a more impressive size (middle age) for the production of cheaper, but not the lowest-grade tea. But old leaves of the tea bush serve as raw material for the cheapest and most common tea, which is proudly called large-leaf. And then everything depends on the processing technology. If the tea leaf or tea buds are quickly dried, the result is green or white tea. And if the leaves are fermented, then black, yellow, red and blue tea is obtained. During the fermentation process, biologically active substances are oxidized, which lose their beneficial properties (biological activity). But the concentration of tannins, which are recognized as carcinogens worldwide, increases. Now do you understand why green tea has anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and antioxidant activity? It simply preserves the maximum amount of biologically active substances (for example, green tea contains ten times more vitamin C than black tea). But it is easier to extract all the beneficial substances from black tea - pour boiling water over it and that's it! Green tea gives them up with difficulty, which means you need to brew it in a tricky way. This is exactly what we will try to learn.
Proper water
For good and “correct” green tea you needsoft water. Therefore, tap water (with various impurities) is not suitable for brewing tea. How to solve this problem? Firstly, you can buy soft natural water. Bottled spring or artesian water is easy to find in stores. Secondly, you can soften the water that flows from the tap. It can be filtered using a household filter, but you can do it differently. Pour water into a plastic bottle and put it in the freezer. The water will begin to freeze along the walls of the bottle, and as soon as the ice on the walls becomes two centimeters thick, drain all the unfrozen water from the bottle. Let the remaining ice melt and use the melted water to brew tea.
The correct kettle
The right teapot for green tea isa warmed teapot. You can warm it up by simply pouring boiling water over it. A cold teapot will take some of the heat from the brewing water, and this will ruin the first brew: useful microelements and essential oils simply will not have time to be released from the tea leaf. The ideal teapot for green tea should be clay. Clay will allow the brewed leaf to "breathe", and in addition, it is chemically neutral and retains heat well. In addition to a clay teapot, porcelain, earthenware and glassware are suitable for green tea, although the tea leaves will not be able to breathe in them. And under no circumstances take metal or plastic teapots for brewing green tea.
Correct boiling water
Actually, there is no talk of boiling water.If you want to make a truly healing drink, you should not let the water boil (it boils at one hundred degrees Celsius). So how long should you heat the water? It is enough to heat it to ninety-five degrees. It is clear that you will not stand over the teapot with a thermometer, so learn to determine the optimal temperature by external signs. The temperature of ninety-five degrees (almost one hundred and almost boiling water) is when bubbles begin to rise from the bottom of the teapot, that is, oxygen is leaving. At this point, remove the dishes from the heat and let the water cool down a little. The ideal water temperature for brewing green tea is from sixty to ninety degrees. Too hot water will not so much spoil the aroma and taste of the tea as destroy the beneficial substances.
Correct process
So, the water and teapot are ready, now all that remains is to brew the tea according to all the rules:
- Pour a clean, dry spoon into the tea pot with green tea. Pour tea leaves with water and immediately drain this water.
- Then pour the required amount of water into the kettle. How much water should I pour? An approximate ratio is a teaspoon of leaves per incomplete glass of water, but the exact proportions are usually indicated on the tea bag.
- Cover the kettle with a lid and let it brewyou need the amount of time: how long it takes to brew is also indicated on the package. But if there are no such instructions, then you can take tea for about three minutes. If you brew green tea too long, it will start to get bitter, and it will be impossible to weld it again.
- Now pour the tea into the cup. If you are preparing several servings of tea (for several people), fill the cups gradually, evenly, in a circle. So you will achieve that in all cups tea will have the same taste and equal concentration. And enjoy a pleasant and useful tea party.
Helpful Tips
Now you know the rules for brewing green teatea. And what is the right way to drink green tea? Brew as much tea as you can drink. Drink tea hot or warm. Drink tea with milk or sugar (this is not prohibited). And drink to your heart's content! Enjoy your tea drinking and good health! We recommend reading:
