Guidelines for Brewing the Perfect Pot of Tea and How to Serve Recipe

Directions:

1. For Black Tea: Your tea will only be as good as your water. It is best to use filtered or spring water only. If you must use tap water, take water during the day time from a tap and leave it out overnight. Once the water as come to the boil, take off the lid of the pot, turn fire down to low and continue to heat for 5 minutes; This gets rid of any unpleasant smells the water may have.
2. Wait until the water is near boiling, then pour a little into the teapot and swirl it around. This warms the pot so that it is at an optimum temperature for holding the tea. Empty the pot.
3. To the warmed teapot add one slightly rounded teaspoon of a tea per cup plus one teaspoon for the pot. Or use one tea bag in the pot for each cup.
4. When the water in the kettle has reached a rolling boil, pour it in the pot and allow the tea to steep for three to five minutes.
5. Green and Oolong Teas: When making green tea or oolong teas, water should not be allowed to boil. When water temperature reaches 185-degrees, tea leaves should be infused. Failing to do this will make green, white and oolong teas bitter.
6. Serving Tea: Milk is served with tea, not cream. Cream is too heavy and masks the taste of the tea. Although some pour their milk in the cup first, it is probably better to pour the milk in the tea after it is in the cup in order to get the correct amount.
7. When serving lemon with tea, use lemon slices, not wedges. Either provide a small fork or lemon fork for your guests, or have the tea server can neatly place a slice in the tea cup after the tea has been poured. Be sure never to add lemon with milk since the lemon's citric acid will cause the proteins in the milk to curdle.