This is my favorite way to make Hot tea. I have a local Teavana store that I shop at which is very handy for selecting teas, but they are also online. Teavana Online I have given quite a number of these tea infusers as gifts. Lo and Behold they now have a YouTube video so I can show you what I'm talking about.
I place my loose tea & German rock cane sugar in the infuser, add my hot water & allow the tea to steep for 4-5 minutes depending on the variety of the tea. Then I set it on top of my mug & it strains the tea into my mug. The infuser I have makes a 16oz cup, but I just fill it with water up to the bowl the little man is holding & that is an 8oz cup. I'm a tea sipper, so if I made 16oz cup it would get cold long before I drink it. If I'm getting near the bottom & want more, I just start another cup brewing. My husband is strictly a tea drinker, he hates coffee, and he has his own tea infuser for work.
Flavors:
I love the German Rock Cane sugar they sell at Teavana, it tastes so much better with tea that normal white sugar. I have several favorite tea flavors. Rooibos Orange is one of my alltime favorites (I ruined 3 tins before I found a tea-rista who was able to tell me it was the orange rind in this tea that was warping the sealing ring on my Teavana tin - now I keep it in a plastic container) I also love Silver Needle a white tea with wonderful health benefits & a very light flavor, I often mix it with Rooibos Orange or brew it on its own, then strain it into a mug with a Bigelow Earl Grey teabag in it. I like the flavor of Bigelow's Earl Grey, but it's so strong, I fish it out as soon as the tea is finished draining over it.
Another great group of teas are the Matte's I really like Matte Vana with milk, sometimes I blend it with Rooibos Chai (this is not your traditional chai, if you're looking for that look in the section for black teas such as Masala Chai.) Thai tea Blend is another very tasty option full of flavors of coconut, almond and vanilla.
It looks like Rooibos Caramel has been discontinued :(
I have allergies to most fruit, so I have been very limited in the past as to what flavored teas I can drink. Teavana has such a wide array that I am able to find a ton of different flavors to try.
My husband, who is not fruit impaired is a fan of Rooibos Tropica blended with Peach Tranquility.
Teavana is good at blending teas. They have a number of suggestions on their website and will blend the teas for you if you so desire... however... being the kitchen tinkerer that I am... I prefer to get the flavors separately so that I can do my own mixing and matching & tinkering at home.
Teavana has a huge variety of teas in several different categories... I like that they give information about health benefits and give me an idea about the differing amounts of caffeine in the different types of tea.
I boil water in a Krups Electric Water Kettle. Automatic, cool-to-the-touch, a kettle that lifts of the cord base, and auto-shut-off... Stove-top tea kettles are very charming to look at, but once I used an electric kettle, I will never go back!
Monday, January 4, 2010
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2 comments:
This is great, April! I love tea, but I've never really known what to do with loose tea. The little diffusers never really did it for me. Thanks!
Glad to be of help!
My mother always said loose tea was better, but unless you're brewing it in a china teapot & pouring thru one of those pretty silver strainer thingies.... it was such a pain.
I tried lots of different little balls & strainers & stuff but until I found this, there wasn't realy a practical way to make a single mug of tea from loose tea.
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