Green tea is healthy. It’s great for controlling weight and obtaining healthy finger and toe nails, and it invigorates with its modest caffeine and thermogenic properties. Plus, it tastes great, once you acquire a taste for green tea.
We acquired our taste long ago, and since then, have employed these generic Hot Green Tea Brewing Instructions By The Cup successfully with numerous brands of green tea, including Salada, Bigelow, Uncle Lee’s Tea, Prince of Peace Tea, Stash, Lipton, Lifestyle Awareness, and loose green tea from health food stores. These brands as well as others, offer their green tea product in single-serving tea bags. Each tea bag makes eight ounces of green tea, generally speaking. Here’s a complete list of the green teas we’ve reviewed.
Typically, teabags are wrapped either airtight plastic or non airtight paper. Remove these prior to brewing. But for cups of green tea, I leave the tags on the bags. This makes pulling them out of the cup after steeping quite simple. These brewing instructions are a sort of least common denominator of the recipes found on the boxes of each of these major brands. So, for the best-tasting cup of green tea, no matter the brand, try the following general guidelines.
- Decide how many cups of green tea you want.
- Set out the appropriate number of cups. Cups should hold eight ounces of liquid or a bit more.
- If you’re using bulk green tea leaves, measure out 1.3 to 2.5 grams per serving and put in single serving tea balls or similar strainers.
- Remove the wrappers from the appropriate number of tea bags.
- Place one tea bag in each cup.
- Put the desired amount of fresh, filtered water in your kettle or pot to boil. Allow for eight ounces of water per cup, plus a little extra, as the water evaporates a bit during boiling.
- When that water boils, remove from heat and let stand for one minute.
- Then, pour water into your cups over the tea bag(s).
- Steep for two to five minutes. The amount of steeping time varies depending on brand. However, the correct time for your taste is easily discerned by experimenting.
- Remove tea bag(s) promptly. If you steep for too long, bitterness in the tea many result. The Lipton brand, to me, seems particularly sensitive to over-steeping.
If you do not drink your green tea before it cools, you can reheat it in the microwave oven for thirty seconds to one minute, without destroying the original flavor from just after brewing. In fact, the flavor remains intact for several hours after brewing; it will not spoil.
Note that in my reviews for each green tea brand, I’ve included instructions for each that reflect the brewing instructions given by that particular tea maker. The procedures here are just general guides to use when you do not have the instructions for the brand of tea you have. However, it’s best to follow the specific tea maker’s procedures when you have access to them, for the best-tasting green tea you can get for that brand.
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Revision History
- 2014-12-01: Extended the content and Categories list, and updated links.
- 2012-07-09: Originally published.