#4 from Marla Spellenberg
Q: As I sit her with my cup of tea, on this drab, drizzly, raw day, I contemplate questions for Joy about tea. My preferences for tea range from a good black tea, to the floral Chinese teas (one of which, brought back from China by a friend, actually opens as a flower in the bottom of your cup!), to nice green tea. I'm a purist in that I do not adulterate tea with milk, cream, honey or sugar. Brewing these various teas have always posed a question for me. What is the proper temperature for steeping tea? I know it must vary with variety of teas. Our tea pot, the stainless one with the element, has a knob to adjust the temperature of water. Some teas, you can pour boiling water over them, some you should not. I would love an answer to this, because I think I do abuse some of the lovely teas I have. We buy our teas from the Upton Tea Company. I love their printed catalog because they always include a history of some kind of tea, and you can purchase samples before "investing" in some of their teas. A: Miss Marla, not only do the steeping temps & times vary, so do the answers based on who you ask! I’ve included what I believe to be the best way to get the most out of your tea, along with a chart posted online that differs a bit. As always, go with what works best for you.
