5 Tips to Make Your First Cup of Loose Leaf Tea
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If you’re making your first cup of loose leaf tea, it can be very intimidating. It’s full of random complicated instructions on how to make the “perfect” cup, but I’m here to tell you the 5 essential things to know before you start making your first cup.
1) Get tea sachets
If you’re not familiar with what a tea sachet is, it’s basically just a tea bag to put your own tea into. You can get some for pretty cheap on Amazon. I'll link my go to tea sachets below!
For someone just getting started, I highly recommend tea sachets. Now this isn’t ideal for getting the full flavor out of the loose leaf tea, but it is a convenient way to make tea if you don’t have a tea pot on hand to brew in. Also as an added tip here, all loose leaf teas are good for about 3-4 steeps, unlike most tea bags you get from the grocery store. You can really save a lot of money by having multiple cups with a single tea sachet.
2) Find 1 tea you’re interested in, and 1 tea you’re comfortable with
To make things less stressful, I like to have a tea that I’m familiar with on the side in case I really don’t like the new tea that I bought. I want to be clear that it doesn’t have to be another loose leaf either. It can be tea dust or even an iced tea from Chick-Fil-A. It really doesn’t matter as long as you’re comfortable with it. It makes the pressure on loving this new tea lessened because whether you like it or not, you’re still going to have a good time drinking tea and furthering your palette. Which leads us into the third thing…
3) Be present and mindful of the flavors of the tea
Tea is an experience. Most loose leaf teas will have a lot more complex flavors than what you’re used to. It’s okay to be overwhelmed or have an instant “I don’t like this” reaction. I truly believe that there is a tea for everyone. Be mindful, even if you dislike the tea, on the flavor notes that you did and didn’t like. Some people even like to make a tea journal to document the experience.
4) If unsure, start with Black Tea
If you’re brand new, my recommendation is to start with black tea. This is for 2 reasons. One being that most people don’t have a temperature controlled kettle. Green teas and some oolongs are very delicate and it’s easy to overheat the leaves that can make the tea taste pretty unpleasant. Number two is because in the west, black tea is what we’re most used to. It’s what’s served at most restaurants if you order an “iced tea”.
5) Be persistent & patient
It will most likely take a while for you to find teas that make your heart sing. Most people call it a tea journey for a reason. It’s all about understanding your palette and being open to new flavor profiles. For me, I started with English Breakfast because I liked black tea dust and restaurant iced tea. From there I’ve branched to other Indian black teas and into Chinese black teas while slowly working my way into green teas by trying out oolongs closer to green tea then into matcha! Don’t be discouraged. When you find a tea that resonates with you, you’ll be open to a whole world of tea that you didn’t even know existed.
I wish you all the best and congratulations on starting your tea journey! It’s truly an exciting time and something that us tea enthusiasts love to see! If I can help you in any way, feel free to message me at alex@enagatea.com. All of those messages go straight to me, and I love hearing/helping with your tea journey!