How to Properly Brew Black Tea

Black tea is a highly fermented and oxidized tea, so in order to get the best flavor from your black tea, you need to know how to properly brew your black teas.  There are many different varieties of black teas at Teavivre and with each of them you should use the most ideal brewing time and temperature to achieve the most delicious black tea you can prepare.

Many teas come with specific steeping instructions on the package, while others do not.  If you have steeping instructions on your tea package you should always go by those instructions first.  However if you are brewing black tea without any specific instructions, there are certain guidelines you can follow to brew your black tea perfectly!

As mentioned above, black teas are more fermented than white or green teas, so you can use hotter water with black tea than you can with lighter teas such as green or white tea.  Some black tea manufacturers recommend using boiling water for black tea although I find using boiling water gives the tea and extra sharpness and astringency, so I recommend using water that is very hot, but just under the boiling point.

Generally speaking, for black teas, you should use 1 tsp of tea per 8 ounces of water unless otherwise specified in the manufacturer's directions on the package.   If you like your tea stronger, you can add slightly more dried tea leaves, because if you want stronger tea you should simply add more tea leaves rather than letting it steep longer, as if you over-steep it, it may become bitter.

Once you have added your tea leaves to your cup, add very hot, but not boiling, water to the tea and allow it to brew and steep for approximately 2-4 minutes, depending on taste.  You don't want to over-steep the tea or use boiling water, as both will result in a bitter and undrinkable brew.  Finally you can add milk or sugar as desired.

Additionally, the finer the leaves of the tea, the less steeping time you need.  The teas at Teavivre are of exceptional quality, and if you purchase tea with full leaves, you may need to steep the tea slightly longer.  If the cut of the tea leaves is very fine, or looks similar to coffee grounds like some breakfast teas do, then you should reduce your steeping time to produce the perfect cup of black tea.